Also for what it's worth, J.R. was quoted as saying with the flow kicking back in, the furloughs should be done.

At least for now.....

 

What will that do for the downgrades though? I'm guessing there will still be plenty of shuffling with the continued parking of Saabs. I can't see enough people flowing up to offset all the Saabs leaving. Maybe if the Southwest/Continental/Alaska, ect. poolies here finally getting class dates along with the flow, we can basically hold par. But the few going to Delta with the flow I can't see doing much but delaying the inevitable downgrades/layoffs. The real question is which Saab base closes on which date.

 

I agree, I think a base closure is the next item on the list. I can't see us keeping roughly 8 Saabs in each base by the end of the year......

 

How many saabs does xj still have?

 

It more depends on how many they are still using. Which is 27-28 next month, 26 by the end of the year.

 

I didn't necessarily mean to say that Delta wasn't basing it's decisions on business and that they were basing it on emotions. I know Delta doesn't feel turboprops fit their model, this is where I feel the Northwest part has gotten lost in the New Delta. It seemed Northwest was content to make a small amount of money on any number of things and New Delta seems to want to make big money on less things, not sure which actually works better. Again, that's just my perception of it.

As for Mesaba being an all jet fleet in 2012, yea I think that's the outcome when all the saabs are gone, Presto! all jet fleet. I don't think that is a positive implication of adding jets, more like.. and then they'll only be jets left, thereby accomplishing an all jet fleet.

I'm sure you're aware that Delta is capped on 76 seat RJ's, so until they take a bunch of new aircraft at mainline or the status quo changes on scope (which I personally hope it doesn't) then Mesaba isn't getting any more jets.

The Freedom 900's have already been reallocated, I guess you could say that they'll need to cover the 50 seat erj flying that freedom was doing now that it sounds like that contract is really dead... but who knows who of the delta shuffle carriers will get that flying assuming it is even put out for rebid.

I know I sound like a downer, it's only semi intentional, I think there's a lot of Kool Aid out there... I personally don't worry about any of it but I recognize that whatever will be will be, and that the fate of the airline is out of my control.

 

It was my understanding that getting rid of the Saabs was not so much a dislike of turboprops as much as it was a way to cut capacity. They had two options, give back the Saabs and fly a 200 or they could renew the Saab leases and park a 200, which was already being leased. The second option left them paying leases on two aircraft, one of which was not being flown. It makes the decision pretty easy. I'm not entirely convinced they will get rid of all the Saabs. However, I have no idea what the terms of the current lease is or if extending the leases is even an option.

 

OMG bad luck post page!!! It must be the devil

 

I am well aware that people have said on this forum that 76 seat CRJ9s number are capped. CRJ7s numbers on the other hand are not capped.
At any case, I wasn't talking about getting new ones from the factory.
I was referring to the concensus amongst some XJ pilots that I talked to that XJ maybe getting CRJ7s and CRJ9s being reshuffled from other DCIs. Sure, this is bad news for the ones losing the aircraft, but that seems to be the modus operandi for DAL.

I was also not referring to Mesa. RA already said before that DAL would like to cancel Mesa contract and that Mesa lift will not be replaced. DAL just wants to get rid of E 145s that Mesa flies for DAL.

What will happen to XJ is all speculations at this point, but I do not share the pessimism some have displayed here because when you read all the interviews given by RA in the past, he made it clear that he wants to keep most of the DCI flying inhouse in the future. However, there is a distinct possibility that Mesaba will be down to roughly 650 to 700 pilots in the future.

 

Sounds like you might share some of it....