Originally Posted by
Lighteningspeed
Initially, I don't think there will be any impact on Mesaba or Compass. Pinnacle, maybe. There will be major impacts on regionals not owned by NWA or DAL such as CHQ, RAH, Skywest, etc. NWA/DAL will consolidate regional flying and balance it out between Mesaba, Compass, and possibly Pinnacle. If SLC is kept as a hub, Mesaba and Compass will more and more take over the flying into and out SLC and flying done by Skywest and others not owned by NWA and DAL will be reduced. People talk about ironclad contracts between Skywest and DAL but there is no such thing as an ironclad contract. Merger happens, all bets are off. New entity is legally positioned to accept the existing contract or renegotiate almost all provisions of the existing contract.
Merger will have a major negative impact on regionals not owned by DAL or NWA but may have a positive impact on regionals such as Mesaba.
Im not so sure I agree with this. Delta learned their lesson about giving one regional too much power when Comair struck for 3 months. I seriously doubt they would make that same mistake by growing us and Compass to the point where we would have a majority presence in SLC, MSP and DTW. I think Comair, ASA, Pinnacle and Skywest would maintain their presence in some way, shape or form. I don't know what to think of RAH, XJT and Mesa. I do tend to think the combined carrier would want to unload 50 seaters and get more E-jets into the new DCI fleet. But thats as much as my crystal ball can come up with for now.