Originally Posted by
captive apple
Skywest is not *adding* 200s. 500 pilot jobs worth of 200s went to storage with covid, if we pull some back out we are still negative.
Everyone likes a good internet debate but I think most would see the CRJ as the more likely fleet to shrink.
Not adding 200s.... except for the ones that keep showing up with PSA tail numbers....
And of the 55 that came off contract with DL, 36 of those are filtering through the paint shops and showing up on line in new UA paint. I think you also forgot that TSA and ExpressJet got shut down and it’s up to OO and C5 to backfill that void as soon as things recover. And we all know C5 doesn’t have the resources to spool up quick. The other 19 went back to Pinnacolaba.
SkyWest has also added several new EAS routes on the deuce in the last 12 months that they will still have to fly as demand returns. JST, RST, MCW, FOD, ALS, VCT, etc
As soon as things come back, DL is going to be begging OO to find some 550s for them to fly from DTW to IND, and OO will say something to the effect of “sorry, you didn’t renew the leases on the 700s that we were flying for you, so we placed them with another carrier, oh and there are literally 0 CRJ 700s on the planet for sale right now, sorry. We can fly a deuce on that route for you though?” And Delta will begrudgingly accept because they are maxed out on scope, their bonds are rated as junk, and they need to exploit every source of potential profit.
This industry is cyclical and SkyWest is the only airline that seems to understand and prepare for not only the downturn but also the upturn.
When a mainline CEO like Ed or Scott open their mouth you need to understand that what they are doing is something called lip service and that they have no real commitment to what they are saying, especially when they forecast the death of the 50 seater which has been done numerous times already in the last decade before the virus.