The industry-wide consensus is that more flying will be done by wholly-owned regionals (and less by contract regionals) with AA leading the way, DL hot on their heels and UA exploring but currently somewhat hamstrung in making it happen. What is fundamentally different about AS's business model/vision/strategy - especially after acquiring Virgin - that would lead to AS selling their regional entity (QX), rather than making it more robust? Why would AS be committed to buying 30 E175's (with options for 30-ish more) if there was a chance they'd sell QX & get out of the wholly-owned regional business?
Comair is historical context that the wholly-owned regionals and their parents companies both keep in mind on some level, but the future isn't the past and - looking ahead - I struggle with the idea that AS would ever sell QX. Are the internal dynamics between AS & QX really THAT jacked up?
Also, rather than acquire another regional, isn't OO more likely to purchase more E175's to replace all the CRJ-200's? (Or is OO waiting until UA's check for ExpressJet is cashed to do this?...)
Originally Posted by
DashAviator
Air Group's preferred business model is to whipsaw Horizon against SkyWest, to keep costs low for their regional feed. Could Alaska sell Horizon to SkyWest? Yes... but this is unlikely to happen as long as we've got $1B worth of Q400's on the property. Once Horizon becomes an all-jet regional (or mostly all-jet), a sale becomes more likely.