That's not utterly implausible.

 

how do they get out a a 12 year contract with OO? Guess just pay them off and DL picks up all the city's that would be lost by ditching QX/OO.. All around sounds like a bad deal for the small PNW communities…

 

My guess is it would go like this.

Horizon gets rid of Q400

​​​​​​Horizon sold to OO as part of the Alaska / WN merge, the leased a320s are gone
The new company will be a hybrid of hub and spoke vs the LCC model. It will require 175s to go to some small cities on the routes that cannot be filled with a max7. Inter-island as well with the 175. Skywest provides this under whatever name Alaska/southwest company wants.

New company now has a regional airline so southwest can get the flow it wants and skywest will need to continue recruiting
Open seating allows new company to upgrade and downgrade equipment based on load factor much quicker than competitors

EAS routes up that way and the small cities will be serviced by skywest charters in a crj200

Skywest only then has to fight envoy to keep it's monopoly on the entire western US regional market.

OO e175 sims should be operational in SEA soon. Just a guess as to what is coming

​​​​​​

 

That’s a big fat negative. SWA scope won’t allow that and we sure as hell aren’t gonna give on that.

 

It will be a cold day at Pinal Airpark in Marana, AZ before SWAPA allows regional feed.

 

Merge as new company would change the current union contracts. With a recession and Republicans in control after midterms I expect unions will lose power as unemployment rises

I think they will need a feed as shortage grows. From rumors I hear it's getting hard to get people to show up to class

 

Most of this thread is silly. I'll never understand why pilots online love to speculate and spread FUD.

There's no way AAG just negotiated a new TA with QX just to turn around and sell a unionized carrier to anybody. That's like negotiating for a used car and in the middle of the deal the cost of gas and maintenance goes up 60 million. They'd run away from that deal so fast the earth would spin faster beneath their feet.

 

Most companies tie up labor groups contracts before selling. It's very common. Now who looks silly?

 

Skywest will never buy another airline like they did previously. They could buy assets and offer DEC in base honoring longevity for long term CPAs but never a traditional acquisition. Skywest is probably more interested in who will fly the 550s and how.