Originally Posted by Lighteningspeed

The 10 CRJ900s going to ASA will be based out of SLC, not ATL. Pinnacle has CRJ900s based out of ATL. CRJ200s will most likely be transferred back to Pinnacle but contractually that requires Mesaba to receive CRJ900s in return. Whether XJ will grow further or not is anybody's guess at this point and I certainly do not think you have the crystal ball to predict one way or the other.

For ASA to receive more CRJ900s in addition to the 10 mentioned, ASA would have to give up even more CRJ200s.

XJ already has 1 CRJ900 sim and 1 CRJ200 sim that can be easily converted to a CRJ900 sim. In 2009, XJ will receive another CRJ900 sim in MSP. XJ is not in the business of training other airline pilots. XJ already has 36 CRJ900 plus the 5 additional CRJ900s coming between Feb and March. This makes XJ the largest operator of CRJ900. It would make no business sense to reduce XJ at this point. If reduction is made it will most likely be in the Saabs as XJ has around 47 Saabs.

I suspect, by the time DAL is done figuring out this "right sizing fleet" concept this year, XJ will most likely get more CRJ900 to be flown out of SLC for the western routes.