Yeah...then why did a JP Morgan stock analyst UPGRADE our stock the day the merger was announced? His reasons were that our contract basically has NWA by the balls and the only way they can reduce the total number of a/c is by order of a bankruptcy judge. So, unless NWA intentionally re-applied for bankruptcy (not sure if that would even get approved) to deflate their stock value prior to the DAL buyout, there is no way they can reduce our fleet size any further.
According to everything I've read, they cannot reduce the number of planes with 50+ seats at all...and it has to be a 1 for 1 trade.
Honestly, I feel safer at 9E than other places for one major reason--we're the cheapest on the 900 and 200 of anyone who flies for DAL or NWA. I'm not saying that's a good thing from a long-term perspective, but if it keeps us alive through the merger we'll have plenty of time to strike after all is said and done post-merger. Our feed contract with NWA is the hardest to nix out of all of the regionals flying for the combined company (hence the stock upgrade the day of the merger announcement).
In addition, Delta's current CEO is the guy who gave us the RJs when he was at NWA (back when Mesaba was NWA's red headed stepchild, btw)...and he's also the guy who out of nowhere gave us 16 RJ900s outta ATL instead of Skywest/ASA, who have operated out of that airport forever. The rumor is that Anderson got Phil his job b/c they were biz school friends. That might not be true at all, but Anderson's actions towards 9E (the company, not the pilots!) have been favorable since his NWA days.
Anyone who thinks Mesaba and Compass and Comair won't get raped after the merger just because they're "wholly owned" doesn't know crap about the aviation industry...those are exactly the companies they can bleed with the least consequences. Pinnacle is a private company with a good chunk of cash on hand, a near airtight feed contract, and a cheap workforce. From a pilot's perspective 9E has problems (contract), but from a bigger perspective (will this company exist in a year) I think 9E will be alright.