I just received the annual aircraft issue of National Business Aircraft Association Magazine (NBAA) and the prices you quote above are correct. I just want to add, before anyone says you can buy a 700 or 800 for that amount, the FULL price quoted for the 737-700 was $75M and for the 737-800 was $80M. They also had the 319/320 prices in this issue and they were in line with the above prices, but I don't recall exact figures off hand. We all know that Delta pays a fraction of the above prices.

It struck me that we could buy 2 190's for the price of one 800. Now I know there is so much more to consider when purchasing a piece of equipment, but I would be looking hard at the 190/195 or the C-series.

I'll just say that I believe there are other dynamics behind this "non decision". Perhaps it's buying time for negotiating power, perhaps these aircraft just are not what they want (they won't see a comparable a/c from Boeing or Airbus in there careers) or perhaps they see from a purely business perspective that it just doesn't make sense to have Delta pilots fly Delta aircraft. Perhaps it just doesn't make much sense to aircraft at all, just sell the seats. At the rate that Skywest has grown since I've been on the property, they could easily take over the remainder of the flying in the next decade. Maybe we keep the 777's & 787's for old times sake.