Originally Posted by
701EV
DSPS, your theory is wrong.
You say you've been at ExpressJet for a while. I don't know if you were ERJ or CRJ? Some of your info is fishy.
I was in the Delta system for 22 years on the ASA side. About four years ago Delta started replacing RJ's with 717's in a few markets. Those markets lost frequency with the 717's coming into play. Those cities still have the same amount of seats. DCI at its peak did 52% Of Delta's flights per day. When I last had access to that info it was down to 44% of Delta's flights per day. Delta took back the flying and markets lost frequency. Now with the A220 on line we will see more flying go back in house.
701EV
The 717s were in a unique situation, however. Delta got these relatively modern/new aircraft for a really good price because the aircraft was out of production.
The A220s also have a unique story—a half billion dollar subsidy financed by the Canadian taxpayer.
Delta has been very smart about these aircraft by acquiring them at really attractive prices by taking advantage of unique marketplace conditions. AA and UA missed these two boats, so now they’d have to compete with Delta on disadvantaged terms (ie, they’re gonna have to pay more than DL to acquire similar aircraft).
That’s going to be rough to make the numbers work. If AA and UA can’t make similar sweet deals for aircraft, the only way I can see they making up for the higher cost would be flying 100-seaters by paying pilot who fly them less than Delta. But good luck getting pilots/ALPA to go for this. Probably not going to happen even if scope is tightened in exchange.