That carrot looks different for everyone right now too. And I’m not just referring to Endeavor. The regional environment is changing rapidly. Delta needs to move more in house for both mainline and Endeavor. Giving Skywest or Republic incentives helps Delta’s competitors also. They have more control of Endeavor

1000% agree

Might be a weird question but why doesn’t endeavor, as a wholly owned by delta, do any west coast flying when delta has 2 (and 3, if you count slc) west coast bases.

Also as a Pilot for a wholly owned regional over here, what is the generic response to you guys by delta?

Answers in bold

Delta went the direction of "regionalizing" their regionals. So there's very little overlap. That keeps costs lower because of base overlaps. But also, pretty much the only recruiting tool oo has in it's bag these days is west coast bases. They know that rah or us moving in would have an adverse effect on their ability to recruit west coast pilots.

this point doesn’t make sense. Why does DL care if OO can hire pilots. Those same pilots, if a west coast base is what matters to them, would go to OO, YX, or 9E if they all had bases. If anything, you would think DL would want to make hiring easier for 9E not the others. Those others also fly for the competition.

You're kidding right? Why does delta care that one of their largest regional pilots can staff it's flying? Cause reasons... It costs them less than nothing to allow OO to keep it's west coast dominance. They don't have to fund a 9E expansion, and it keeps oo stable. Done and done. Believe it or not, delta does talk to rah and oo. They do have a stake in their success.

A pilot that goes to OO supports Delta ⅓-¼ of the time. A pilot that goes to 9E supports DL all the time.

This. Exactly.

That must be why DL is in retention talks with YX and OO. I heard they are considering giving them a flow also. They really want to help these guys recruit… {sarcasm}.

DL doesn’t care if the flying is us or them, as long as it gets done cheaply, and the customer is happy. If 9E opened a SLC base, the only thing it would do is help 9E attract more pilots, and give pilots who want the west coast another option. As long as it’s a DC plane, DL doesn’t care.