Originally Posted by
Lighteningspeed
I still do not think merger will happen. DAL management does not want to buy into additional headache of trying to merge very senior Comair pilots with senior XJ pilots. A stronger possibility will be for DAL to sell one of its wholly owned regionals. We all know DAL was unable to sell Comair. No one wants to buy Comair at this point. Comair is saddled with a long list of very senior pilots and way too many 50 seat RJs. So that leaves XJ and CZ. Who will go first is the question.
It's not a headache for management. They simply say that Comair and Mesaba are merging, and the union hashes it out. No headache on their part. That's what arbitrators are for.
Also, some XJ guys seem certain that Compass will get sold just because the E175 burns slightly more fuel then the CRJ-900, and because Comair and XJ have a common fleet. That's no reason to sell Compass, and reduce the amount of 76 seat jets flying in the system. You have to understand that the 76 seat product is VERY important to management, and they want all that they currently have. The 76 seat jet allows 2 class service, and the ability to sell 1st Class tickets is important to them. It's also important to have 1st class available for frequent fliers to upgrade to.
Compass will also be valuable in NY, because a long taxi in a CRJ900 is far more UNcomfortable then in a E175. Plus, the overheads are better. And who would they sell Compass to? RAH? Why sell a valuable product to a direct competitor? RAH is not going to be able to just pop those E175's into the DCI system. RAH would have to keep the flow, otherwise DAL loses a large amount of 76 seaters.
Selling Compass would cause a MUCH larger headache then simply merging Comair and Mesaba.