Originally Posted by
dovic91
Does anyone really think that UAL purchased a major stake in Expressjet, awarded them 175 flying, and put a simulator across the street from their training center just to have them fly 25 aircraft? Think about it, does that make sense, financially or otherwise? The plan all along was to have ExpressJet be the 175 operator for United, at least as far as for the companies they owned a major stake in.
I think the big thing that happened 1st was that XJT was not able to grow in 2019. In spite of having over 400 people start training in 2019, they lost as many as they added. So there was no way XJT could staff more 175's without tanking the 145 flying. Add to that the Mesa offer to get the financing to take over the 20 United E175 orders, plus Mesa had staffed up on 175. Subodh said it was his decision to let the 175's go because XJT could not be competitive in the 175 space with only 25 airplanes.
So IMO, it was the failure to grow in 2019 that sealed the fate of the 175s. Could that have been a different outcome if mgmt. had pursued Letter 2 closure in early 2019? What part did the MEC activities to warn new hires away play in this? We'll never know.