Originally Posted by
pangolin
There’s 20 that UA owns that were taken from mesa now off the CPA and could go go Commuteair in a hot minute.
20 could be a start, but I doubt that it would be enough to be sustainable without additional aircraft. I’d still like to know how many 175’s United actually owns. Also, if those aircraft are being successfully operated by another company, why move them? All regionals are having significant problems with attrition. The new FAA weights make the single class 50 seaters and the 550 even more unattractive due to their weight restrictions. Considering these limitations and multiple announcements from UAL about the future of the UAX fleet, wouldn’t consolidation reduce the staffing problems more so than trying to maintain the current number of regional partners with a shrinking fleet? When the 200’s are finally phased out, SkyWest will just be a much smaller customer for UAL. When the 145’s are phased out, what business reasons would UAL have for shifting equipment to CommutAir rather than handle them like they did ExpressJet and Air Wisconsin?