Originally Posted by
WEACLRS
I heard another "rumor" (for what it's worth - maybe not much) that Expressjet is going to finally agree to CAL's demands for a reduction in costs to keep CAL from pulling any more jets from service. Express Jet has been unable to interest any other carrier in their service due to their "high costs" and the stand-alone operation is too costly to continue (read - not making any money).
Sounds like a pretty shaky rumor. Might be stemming from the arbitrator decision that settled the dispute over rates with CAL. Ended up costing XJT $14.2 million from us "over charging" big, whiny CAL. As far as not being able to interest any other carriers in our "high cost" operation, you may want to tell Delta that. Info here is that they can't get enough of our "high cost" services (and they're paying the same rates as CAL on the CPA birds!!!
). True, the branded flying is not making money...yet. But that was expected and planned for. Last I heard from Jim Ream was that they expected to lose money for the first 3 years but were prepared to lose money on it for 5 years.
As far as the EWR Q400s, latest word here is that the plan is to redeploy the XJT birds on routes better suited to the RJs instead of sending them to places like ALB, PVD and MHT where they just aren't that efficient. Talked to a CLE agent yesterday who showed us the list of new service out of CLE. Yes, some of those routes will be going to CHQ and Commutair but some will more than likely go to XJT with the redeployed EWR aircraft. Could be more CLE pipe dreams but thats the second unrelated source I have heard this info from.
Of course, as with anything in this business, take everything you hear with a healthy dose of salt and it could all change tomorrow.
PS
With Delta and United getting pretty fed up with Mesa's general state of clusterf*ck, I would definitely say there are opportunities for a quality carrier like XJT if CAL decides they want to cheapen their product even further.