Originally Posted by
sigler
70-seaters are already at their limit. That limit will be even lower in the near future. The 550 is a good product, but has serious range issues. Lots of routes currently (pre-Covid) served by the 145 can’t be flown by the 550. I agree that United has major issues to sort out with its regionals, but your proposed “solutions” don’t really work given the two factors above. And it’s Alaska.
First off I have actually got a lot of my information not from thin air. These are not assumptions these are current conversations going on behind closed doors. So its not my personal proposed “solution”. Nothing is set in stone but the conversations have started. You should really listen to earnings calls, town halls, and management meetings. Secondly the range of the 550 is about 1,000 mi while the 145xl (the best version) is 1,887 mi. And even though there is a difference it is not enough to save the 145. The plan is to disconnect from small cities/towns that will not have a lot of flights or are close enough to drive to a hub. People in small town areas will lose some of there options. The only reason these routes are still even getting flights is bc the CARES act agreement. For example instead of servicing flights from Panama City to IAH, IAD, DEN, EWR and ORD with rjs to get people to the connectors. You will see just IAD and IAH connectors from that smaller city. There will be an overall reduction in routes in Oct but the remaining companies will get the lion share. Mainline is planning on also reducing their overall fleet size and service areas. 550s will replace the 145 in the UAX fleet. Its not going to happen over night but over a 6 month- yr period. Im not going to argue about this bc I know what I know. But like I said in my original statement keep being in denial and dont kick and scream when your WARN letter shows up
in the mail.