Originally Posted by Spoilers

Originally Posted by Boomer

Trollblazer was spot on?

Do you mean the part about SkyWest buying TSA or the part about Compass merging with Comair or the part about all our planes going to ASA or the part about Comair being merged into Delta?

And I think the only thing C-lover-42 (aka TrollBlazer's alter ego) has done is ask a lot of silly questions such as "Did anyone see this article that says Delta wants to sell Comair?"

Originally Posted by NoStep

Back at ya! (and if we don't see you, it'd better be because you're looking down at us from a 737)

Anybody else hearing the rumors of aircraft acquisition? (I know...our fleet has already been reduced, and the fleet gaurantee expites in 2011) But...we ARE talking about the company who hires/furloughs/recalls on a whim!

Alright...flame away!

Originally Posted by No Step

Here it is, (3 ALPA carriers and 1 non-union, hmmm...)


SkyWest May Be Interested in Buying Comair, CFO Says

August 04, 2010, 5:28 PM EDT
More From Businessweek



By Will Daley
(Updates with comment from Delta in eighth paragraph.)
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- SkyWest Inc., the regional airline buying ExpressJet Holdings Inc., would consider purchasing Comair from Delta Air Lines Inc. and said U.S. commuter carriers may benefit from further consolidation.
“The market is getting so competitive, and the inability of the transportation industry to generate profit requires more efficiency, which will be created through consolidation,” Brad Rich, chief financial officer of St. George, Utah-based SkyWest, said today in an interview.
SkyWest’s agreement to buy Houston-based ExpressJet for $6.75 a share in cash, or a net price of about $133 million, is the third proposed purchase of a U.S. regional airline since July 1. Delta agreed that day to sell Mesaba to Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and Compass to Trans States Holdings Inc.
“We are not advocates of consolidation if the consolidation doesn’t lead to efficiency and productivity,” said Rich, 49.
Delta considered selling Comair, its commuter carrier, in 2007, then postponed a decision while the Atlanta-based company held merger talks with Northwest Airlines Corp.
“We are certainly capable of that type of transaction,” said Rich, who has been SkyWest’s finance chief since 1991. “We think it’s a transaction that could bring value to one of our major partners, in this case Delta.”
Delta is continuing to explore alternatives for Comair, Kristin Baur, a Delta spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
‘Positioned for Success’
“Delta has stated previously that we do not have to own our regional partners to derive value from them,” Baur said. “We want to ensure that each partner airline is independently positioned for success with a competitive cost structure.”
SkyWest’s interest in Cincinnati-based Comair depends on what kind of transaction Delta would want, Rich said.
“They just sold two of their carriers, and we looked at those opportunities and obviously we didn’t pursue them,” he said. “It just depends if Delta’s objectives match up with our objectives.”
Comair operates 97 aircraft with 2,500 employees, she said. The aircraft are a mixture of owned and leased, and all are CRJ’s built by Bombardier Inc.
SkyWest rose 11 cents to $12.52 at 4:29 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. ExpressJet doubled, gaining $3.29 to $6.57 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
--Editors: James Langford, John Lear

Originally Posted by NoStep

Winglet, you thinking MAG emerges, and Delta loans them the money (a la Pinnacle/Mesaba) for another 10 year contract?

Originally Posted by teamdothis

Originally Posted by winglet

NoStep,

I am suggesting that with all this outsource-airline consolidation-merger-mania, I think people should read Section One of MAG ALPA's CBA. MAG pilots have been reviled and ridiculed for a decade, but in 2003 they made great sacrifices to secure one seniority list under one holding company. There is a lesson others can learn from the experience of MAG ALPA.

Small-Carrier Bargaining Conference May, 2003

One List, No Whipsaw! Small carriers? Seems like we were on the right track once. It's time for another Small Carrier Conference.

winglet

Originally Posted by NoStep

Winglet,
Agreed that the position faced by MAG pilots with Freedom was tough, and could have left you open to an even more untenable position like TSA faced with GoJet, MAG pilots DID end up making concessions to achieve their resulting seniority structure. And we're talking about merging existing groups, not creating alter egos.

I'm not making light of the situation, and am sure others can learn from MAG, I just don't think it's a shining example of how things should be done. Maybe a better example would be the process adopted by NWA/DAL. Yes, they're majors and the whipsaw situation was not germaine to their plight as it is to regionals, but the fact they could secure a SLI without being concessionary is a better model, IMO.

Originally Posted by winglet

NoStep,

Does your contract protect the pilot group when SkyWest decides to begin shifting flying from certificate to certificate based on the cost of labor?

winglet