Originally Posted by alfaromeo

There is another factor. Delta wants to get of 50 seat RJ's faster than the contracts allow. A recently departed executive, his name rhymes with "Bitewurst", signed a bunch of really bad agreements with RJ carriers. These current transactions might allow Delta to early terminate some of the 50 seat jets and in exchange give the buyers 76 seaters as a consolation prize. Since we are at the limit for 76 seaters, they can't be new purchases, they have to come from existing aircraft. I have no idea if this played into these transactions, but it wouldn't surprise me.