Hi!

I'm NOT at NWA...

I don't think their scope changed in any meaningful way.

Mesaba flew RJ-85s, with 64? seats in them. They are VERY old and fuel hogs, and are being phased out. NWA's feeders were allowed to replace these aircraft as they were retired.

I think the 64 seat is the max that can be flown as feed. Anything higher has to be flown at NWA proper.

It may be that the feeders can get MORE aircraft than just replacements for the RJ-85, but if they do get more, then NWA has to buy so many mainline aircraft (at some set ratio) of a certain size to make up for the new feeder aircraft.

Some of the NWA feeder aircraft may SEEM bigger, but they are seat-restricted, which is one of the reasons that NWA will have 2 classes in their new ERJ and CRJ aircraft.

cliff
YIP