Yea, those are both Comair routes...my question is (on another note)..why would they cut the airplanes from Comair?

Why not cut out a regional partner that they're paying a PROFIT to?

They buy comair for 1.8 billion dollars, then cut the airline down, shrink it, take airplanes away and then try to sell it!

It makes all the sense in the world to transfer all the DCI flying in house (CMR/Compass/Mesaba), you can control it easier (more stuff around without worrying about contracts) and you can moderate your costs more efficiently as well.

Hopefully Delta is getting its head out of the sand and will stop paying the CHQ, Xjets, skywests and shuttles. It seems that they may already be on that road with pinnacle and freedom..but who knows.

ASA and Skywest will probably be around for a while, which is fine cause ASA is vital to ATL but the fact that the useless E135's are still flying for DL has me scratching my head.

 

First off, DAL has been trying to get rid of it's wholly owneds since the comair thing in 2001...if it's not entirely logical, it is an emotional thing. DAL considered themselves the elite of pax airlines and they got spanked hard by a bunch of ex-commuter prop pilots...they hold a grudge and probably STILL want payback.

Even if long-term they did prefer to use wholly-owned regionals, short and mid term they have a problem...

It's called CONTRACTS. DAL has actual written, signed, legal CONTRACTS with all of it's non-owned regionals. The duration and strength of the contract depends on the bargaining position of the regional when the contract was signed...

SKW/ASA probably has the strongest, because they were in a good bargaining position when they negotiated to take ASA off of DAL's hands.

Other regionals which may have taken on DAL flying in response to losing other flying may have been desperate and willing to sig almost any contract...mesa/XJT.

The first regioanls to go will be the ones with weak contracts, especially if they have weak performance to further errode their contractual rights.

Next will probably be the wholly-owneds...not specifically because DAL wants to get rid of them (maybe they do, maybe not), but because it is the cheapest option....

If DAL axes an independent regional with a strong contract they will have to either buy them out ($$$) or fight them in court...strong contract = hard to beat in court. Probably just cheaper to downsize a wholly-owned.

My guess is that most cuts will come from mesa, PNCL, and XJT and any further cuts from CA. It's still too early to tell about post merger, but I would think the DAL and NWA are least discussing their future joint regional plans.

Chapter 11 would void all contracts of course ...in which case DAL would just do whatever it wanted. SKW and ASA own the gates in SLC and ATL, so getting rid of them would be hardest in any case.

 

I just read the article, and I think that these were previously announced aircraft cuts. No new cuts were announced here. They announced earlier this year (Jan or Feb I believe) that they were parking 70 RJs.

Certain routes are being axed, but nothing about airframes.

 

If memory serves, the original cuts announced in March were for 45 rjs. It's now up to 70. The mainline number being cut didn't change but the rj cut number increased by 25. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm to lazy to look up the press release from March.

Alright I got off my a$$ and found the info.

There was an announcement in Jan for a rj cut of 35 jets. Then in March it was a cut of 15-20 mainline and another 25 rjs. The latest announcement amends the March announcement by adding 45 rjs to the potential cut list. Now whether that's a 10 rj cut increase (70-[35+25]=10) or a 45 rj cut increase (70-25=45) I don't know. The former I suspect. It appears however there was no mainline cut increase.

 

That may be so. However, I seem to remember 70 RJs as the figure that was tossed out in a press release earlier this year. Oh well.

 

Alright I got off my a$$ and found the info.
There was an announcement in Jan for a rj cut of 35 jets. Then in March it was a cut of 15-20 mainline and another 25 rjs. The latest announcement amends the March announcement by adding 45 rjs to the potential cut list. Now whether that's a 10 rj cut increase (70-[35+25]=10) or a 45 rj cut increase (70-25=45) I don't know. The former I suspect. It appears however there was no mainline cut increase.

 

maybe the total of 70 is what you recall

 

The 70 number is a new (never before announced) total figure of rj cuts. Whether that total of 70 cuts includes the 35 cuts announced in Jan. is not clear. Ergo, this weeks announcement constitutes an additional elimination of either 10 or 45 rjs from the fleet. My guess is 10.

btw, I spoke to an ATL CP this morning who confirmed, per a company-wide leadership conference he attended yesterday, that DAL will be hiring in the fall to cover the 777 deliveries.

 

Good to hear... But Delta is starting to reduce some 777 flying...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080620/ga_delta_china.html?.v=3

 

Hate to burst your bubble, big guns, but the article only stated that ATL-Shanghai service will be cut from X to Y days a week until next spring. I did not see anything about "reducing...777 flying."

There's more to the world than Shanghai. I think you'll find that DAL will manage to discover a different (but profitable) route to use those 777s on during the days they've cut from the Shanghai schedule.