Originally Posted by
rickair7777
However...AMR has been trying to sell off eagle for several years. In order to make them a viable acquisition, they need to be setup like a stand-alone regional. Nobody would consider buying AE if they were locked into a contract where they had to pay highly unpredictable fuel costs.
The problem is that Eagle has a fleet consisting of a very large percentage of near obsolete and very high cost per seat mile small RJs. Most small jet providers are guaranteed a profit through fee for departure schemes where the mainline pays for every seat on the airplane regardless of whether it's sold or not. In essence, they are subsidized by the mainline jets. Interesting to note that Southwest, the most healthy of the majors, has no very high-cost per seat mile regional jets.