Originally Posted by irrelevant

"Mach point six-four, Comair XXXX."

Duh, of course crew costs are going to be higher. Even if book rates were the exact same, when you expect your pilots to fly 10% slower than any other pilot in the DCI network, guess what? Your Comair pilots are going to be 10% less productive, or viewed another way, 10% more expensive.

Sad to write this, but perhaps Comair would be best served by replacing the 50-seaters with elephants. That would be more fitting for the circus Delta has made, or allowed local "management" to make, of what used to be a quite competent airline.