Originally Posted by
FlyingKat
Independence Air. Ran CRJs only for 6 months before getting 319s and blew through millions. Also Air Whiskey tried flying CRJs for Air Tran in the mid 90s and lost their shirt in the process and the agreement was discontinued.
Independence started off in huge debt; owed lots of money on equipment and aircraft. Both comparisons you’re talking about were fee for departure carriers with tons of debt. Bad recipie. The Air Tran deal was not a go it alone endeavor, it was a bad CPA, but did stem the bleeding for AW while they reorganized.
Via owns all the aircraft outright, has very very little debt, and is flush with cash. They weren’t flying full. Check the FAA load reports.
AW was FFD, not the same either.