I would not even try to explain any further the present state of Go Jet as they have been a train wreck since conception. I will say this, when an airline issues a training module to their pilots (Sky West 550 differences) they do so with a very specific reason as to why they have done so. The clock is now officially ticking and anyone who goes to Go Jet after hearing this fact does so at their own risk of being on the street with no notice or recourse. It is plain and simple; the FAA requires differences training any time something in the SOP changes to the level of needing some sort of verification that it was done to a level of proficiency. If I am not mistaken, I believe most if not all of the 550's flown by Go Jet are leased from Sky West. Sky West does not want those jets to sit idle if Go Jet ceases to exist. Even though they have a fuel limitation there are certain shorter routes where they can be used without that limitation interfering with the flight. Similar with what happened with the 145's that had a smaller fuel load. They were used on certain routes only. For instance, KSTL - KORD.
The fact that they are unable to fulfill their business model can be attributable to many reasons. I realize that the regionals are having problems retaining pilots and attracting new ones to fill their needs. If the 550 was going to be the next generation of 50 seat jets as they claim, it would have made inroads by now. The fact that the 550 transitions have stopped, and Go Jet is only flying 20 (maybe) airplanes on a full-time basis shows just how precarious their role is with United. My suspicion is Sky West has some aircraft which are close to being retired (old tired CRJ200's). United has already said the days of pure 50 seat jets are numbered. They won't need any more pilots to fly the 550's which Go Jet is operating today. A simple solution to a long-time thorn in United's side as they can't be pleased with the past and present history of Go Jet. They know very well the state of Go Jet just like Delta did. Delta booted them a while back but up until now United could not find pilots to fly these airframes outside of Go Jet up until now. It looks like that is about to change as requiring pilots to be duel trained on 2 different aircraft (550 and 700) is only done when that is a definite event. With all the other regionals hiring who are not in danger of being eliminated in the next couple of years it makes no sense to go to Go Jet and expose yourself to their training and then at a moment's notice find out you are unemployed. Why not just start to build seniority at any of the other large regionals (more than 20 jets) just in case you find yourself stuck there for a while. It has happened before as 9/11 was not something anyone could forecast. I have been thinking Go Jet has been on life support for a while now. With this announcement they have been disconnected from the breathing machine and will suffer the consequences of their past actions. I truly feel for the employees who will be dealt the same pain as management but let this be a warning to all to move on to greener pastures as the history book on Go Jets long and sad past is about to close.