Originally Posted by
swaayze
Got it, but wasn't that part of the big problem leading to the branded flying: that XJT was on the hook (perhaps not owned but under lease) for a bunch of airplanes for a period of time but with CAL flying pulled from them?
That's not how the leases work.
When CAL pulled the 69 A/C from the XJT CPA, XJT had the option to return the A/C to CAL and terminate the leases. CAL had planned on XJT giving the 69 airframes back and was going to turn around and sub-lease them to CHQ. XJT said "screw that" and started Branded and later Delta Connection flying in LAX. This is why CHQ started its CAL contract with CRJ-200's pulled from the boneyard, they were expecting former XJT ERJ's.
No matter what, our fate was sealed after the Comair strike, as CAL made it a point to not have all of its regional operations under one carrier as a result. I imagine AMR has the same ideas about Eagle.