Personally, I don't think the strike had as big an impact on Comair's future as did lack of control and lack of leadership. If one looks back, after the entrepreneurial spirit that originally brought the jet to the regionals was eliminated by Delta, Comair leadership never did much of anything to keep the airline at the head of the pack. In fact, by 2006 it appeared though every department at Comair had a horse to hitch to the wagon, each department was hitching to a different part of the wagon. By 2007, every department was flogging their horse as hard as they could, and tearing the wagon apart in the process. The lack of leadership lead to poor morale in every part of the organization, and the one thing Comair still did really well - perform in tough situations, disappeared. Comair has not had "operational control" of its destiny since Delta bought it.

Here's just one example, from a pilot's perspective. Flight operations demands crews fly slow...roughly 10% slower than every other regional airline in the Delta "family", or perhaps more appropriately "harem". Meanwhile Leadership screams that crews are getting paid too much. Guess what? If it takes me six extra minutes per hour to do the same job a CHQ, YV, ASA, or SKW pilot can do in that same hour, crew costs are going to be ten percent higher even if book rate and experience level are equal. Don't tell me I'm paid too much when you're also telling me not to be productive. It makes you appear you never advanced farther than third-grade math.

Just because those airframes were on the books to be delivered to Comair prior to the strike doesn't mean Delta couldn't have scribbled down a transfer agreement on the back of a cocktail napkin and rolled those airframes over to ASA. Seems like that happened with some -700's or -900's just a couple of years after the strike if I recall correctly.

Comair quit out-innovating other regional airlines, and the competition caught up. Comair became bloated with ineffeciency...far beyond the flight deck...just look at that ridiculous monstrosity of a G.O. building they built.

The contract that was achieved in 2001, due to the strike, or in spite of it, was a contract that, at the time, helped make Comair a potential career airline for many pilots whose personal situation made staying a better option than pursuing what few opportunities there were for a number of years after 9/11. From that perspective, the contract contributed to the "longevity", or as I prefer, "experience" handicap Comair has today.

It didn't help that after the pilots at Comair raised the bar at the regional level, Chautauqua pilots voted to slip under it with their next contract. Perhaps had 9/11 not occurred, they'd have been more willing to do what it took to get a better contract than Comair had. Perhaps not.

Those are some of my thoughts. Feel free to disagree.