Originally Posted by
word302
Uhh, you realize SWA is taking a huge loss on the interisland flying? While I agree that it will eventually be done by a different aircraft it's gonna be awhile. We don't have the planes for the current schedule we want to be flying. How long do you think it's going to take to have enough 73s on property to take over the inter-island stuff?
Uhh I "realize" you are being condescending, I choose not to respond in kind.
They only have 17 717s. So my guess is we could cover it now if the yield on that flying justifys it. We have plenty of low yield filler routes in our system to pull from or move to Skywest/Horizon. I'm not sure if inter-island flying is subsidized by the state. Its not hard to get the extra tails out there either as I think it is likely that the A330 routes from the islands to the west coast don't last and they will be filled by narrow body flying (bummer). The idea that you can fly 17 of anything narrow body and get the economies of scale necessary to justify the cost of operting a seperate type is what I don't buy (till a door plug blows out eh?). Alaska/Horizon learned this lesson with its forray into the CRJ in the 2000's.