Originally Posted by rickair7777

The word on the street is that DAL wants to go down to 4 regionals...

SKW and ASA are protected by the terms of the ASA purchase.

COMAIR is probably protected since it's wholly owned by DAL.

RAH is a good company, and so is XJET. But RAH/SA opeates 70 seaters, XJET has only 50's.

PNCL has 900's, which are highly desireable, but the birds are owned by DAL, and can be easily reassigned to another 900 operator.

My guess would be SKW, ASA, CA, and RAH. Everybody else would be out.


Some variables...

There's a possibility they will go with 5 DCI's, which would probably include PNCL or XJET. PNCL has 900's vs. XJET's 145s, so I'd almost guess PNCL, but if performance counts maybe XJET would prevail.

Also, maybe SKW and ASA count as one carrier? I don't think so, because their operations are almost completely seperate, so the management hassles are the same as any other two regionals.

Another twist might be COMAIR...since they have old 50 seaters and a confrontational history, maybe DAL will just liquidate them. My gut feeling is that they won't, but it's certainly possible.