No guy ,just being realistic, ALT will never shut down Why do you think it will not? The CS1000 will make a big impact on RJ flying.

 

There are a lot of assumptions made here. First, you assume that this is all Delta's fault. No one here knows what is happening behind closed doors in Utah. How do you know this withdraw wasn't orchestrated by Skywest to rid itself of union infighting at XJT? Second, you assume that they sent ASA up to LGA for the purpose of killing them off? That's assuming D-0 is he only aspect the airlines care about. What about controllable completion? I'd be interested in seeing how the LGA stats compare to GoJet when they were there or to Endeavor.

I don't think they (Delta) did this maliciously. They had already shared their intent to draw down the flying. It has been shared here several times that Expressjet approached Delta to accelerate the expiration of the contract. How is this Delta's fault? Should they have told them no, we care too much about how this will be perceived by the pilots? The L-XJT operation is bleeding. You're already losing your Delta flying. What better way to staff an operation that doesn't have an expiration date than to send flying back to Delta?

 

The logic that DL sent EV into NYC to give them an excuse to end the CPA doesn't make any sense. By that logic, 9E shouldn't exist anymore. Clearly there is more to this than performance numbers because 9E's numbers are not stellar right now, according to our homepage at least. Plus, if we are being 100% honest here, Delta doesn't need an excuse to end a CPA. EV could have been the top performer and they could have still ended it. I don't buy into the conspiracy part of that - occam's razor: the simplest solution is usually the correct one. Delta asking EV to open a LGA base so they could kill them off isn't a simple, cheap, or easy solution.

This whole thing feels partially like a move on SkyWest's part to get XJT into line. I don't buy into corporate double talk in press releases, but if I was running SkyWest this feels like a good decision in the long run if the L-ASA side was in danger. If Delta already made their mind up about ending the relationship, then what St George did actually probably protected some jobs. What was the alternative? Letting the CPA expire and handing the ASA side of things out to dry with a handful of CRJs in DFW? At least this way they have a single seniority list and aircraft for everyone to fly. It makes the operation a little more lean and focused, which is a good thing in this new-found-world of regional consolidation.

 

Delta has dumped a ton of regional service as well, I see at least 20 destinations in my logbook that Delta no longer has any service to.

 

We've seen this all before. Managers and bean counters don't make emotional decisions. They don't even make strategic decisions. They look at the money and do whatever they think will elevate the stock price, even if it's only temporary. Have you seen SKYW's stock? Outperformed every airline for years now. The guys in Utah are no dummies. They see where this is going. Why wait until 2019?

ASA's DL flying has been languishing for years now. DAL is flying 717s to places the regionals used to fly turboprops to. (And my DL friends on the 717 are all whining about the 5 day/5 leg trips). EV in ATL has been shrinking since that airplane arrived and mainline has been growing. Now the CS is coming and there's even less need for RJs. It's not spite, it's simple economics. ASA is the most expensive Connection carrier, (because of longevity) and that's why they are being cut. We saw the same thing at Comair, though it happened a lot sooner due to the politics of the strike and the decision to pull down CVG as a hub. (Comair also connected more passengers on Comair than to DL flights). EV's performance isn't worse than GoJet or Endeavor. That's a lame excuse. They just cost too much and DL gives lip service to quality, but prefers cost. ASA can never compete with the other carrier's longevity.

I'm sure it feels personal to the employees at ASA, but it's not. The XJT pilots seem to feel like they won, but they didn't. They are just another legacy regional that got a 5 year reprieve. Like Air Wisconsin. But the execution dates are still scheduled.

The industry trend is absolutely bring flying back in house to mainline. Not only do you have better control of the product (see Dr Dao incident), you eliminate the longevity at the feeders by hiring or eliminating the senior pilots. There will always be feed at the network carriers. But it's never again going to be like it was in the 2000s. Pilots may as well accept this and make plans to move on. I've already heard too many very senior ASA friends living out the "this is fine" meme. I feel for them. Many of my Comair brothers and sisters were in denial and were left standing when the music stopped. Learn from them. Apply everywhere and take the first job offer you get. If you don't like it there, keep applying. Get out before a thousand pilots hit the street.

 

This is the most spot on assessment of the ASA situation I've read so far. It was and will always be about costs. ASA was without a doubt the highest cost regional and SKYW and leadership at ASA likely knew that Delta would not seek additional lift past the end date of the CPA.

Every RJ operator has a product life cycle (this can be mitigated by staying cheap and/or willing to accept less. Example: PSA, Endeavor or Mesa) and ASA was simply at the end of theirs because they could not keep their costs in line with everyone else in their market. There is a lot of blame to go around, most of the blame falls at the feet of Delta as they continue their never ending quest to raise profits at the expense of everyone else, especially their contractors.

Best of luck to the pilots still at ASA...apply, network and leave and don't stop trying until you're out of there.

 

I would say most of it falls at the feet of Skywest who purchased an airline and, instead of merging the entities to help costs stay competive, they alienated their union properties, made them fight amongst themselves and created division. None of that is Delta's fault. Delta is just bringing flying back in-house and yes, the most expensive contactor is the first to go.

 

Believe me, nobody I've spoken with around here feels like they won. I feel for my brothers and sisters at ASA, and welcome you all with open arms. Hopefully now we can concentrate on our common enemy at Inc.

 

This is what I've been saying for a long time. There are tons of cost savings in getting rid of redundancies, economies of scale, and leveraging third party contracts. But one thing got in the way. And in the end, only employees lose out in that.



I second this notion. Asa is definitely getting the worse part of this but no one I've spoken with at xjt feels like they've won anything other than a reprieve, as was mentioned earlier.

 

Iah E145 captain here, I feel bad for y'all. Hate how it went down. At least you still have a job though, If you want it... or while you search for new opportunities. This industry can be brutal. Keep your head up CRJ brothers.