Who knows, maybe there will be a mainline carrier looking to buy some -900s which they can operate on the mainline with 90+ seats in them.

 

The difference in fuel efficiency and mx costs between a -9 and a 900/170/175 is enormous last time I checked. The difference in pay between Mesaba/RAH/Compass vs. mainline is significant as well. Not sure on scope though. I can't see -9s running on regional routes, now or ever. Unless oil goes down substantially.

Rumors have also been thrown around about CRJ-1000s on mainline taking -9 routes.

I'm not getting riled up about anything...I'm just surfing the net looking for fallback jobs in case things go further south than they already have.

The fact that Oberstar wants the merger halted should be a sign to everyone that this will not be good for NWA. NWA execs don't care, b/c they'll get a handsome buyout, but Oberstar is a politician, with an electorate...and electorates typically don't like it when jobs are lost in their home state.

 

And maybe it's time to take it back, seeing that the guys who gave it away are mostly retiring now, and are in a minority at the mainlines.

 

He's also grandstanding for votes, so when the merger goes through, he can say, "Look, I tried to stop it." He has no power to stop this thing, outside of introducing a bill in Congress. That's been tried before and usually fails. Only the DOJ can stop it, and when both NW and DL claim that they will go BK again without it, DOJ will approve it.

 

Yes, the difference in fuel costs and MX may be significant. But -9s are paid for and new RJs are not. I'm not sure if one balances out the other--probably not. But if you can fill up a feeder route once a day on a DC-9 vs two or three RJs per day...that's when the savings will occur.

As to pay differences...I never claimed it will be easy, but we're only worth what we negotiate.

 

The more mainline flying that is kept or added the better off the industry is for pilots.

 

Not sure where you'll put the + seats

Why has NW not replaced -9's with -900's already ? Why has DL had a 100 seat pay scale but no 100 seat planes ?

It's all money, and unfortunately, "cheap" contract labor and planes, and mainline unions that agreed, have won out so far. With jobs at a premium, mainline pilot groups may alter their ego about flying little airplanes. But they'll have to operate competitive aircraft (i.e., not -9's with $4 gas).

US Airways is flying E19x's already.

 

The fact that Oberstar wants the merger halted should be a sign to everyone that this will not be good for NWA.

He has been opposing this, or any merger for that matter, since merger talks first surfaced. All the politicians care about is keeping low cost fares for the consumer. They could care less if an upstart comes in, creates havec within the industry and then closes up shop. It keeps ticket prices low. They could care less about stability. Anyway, he has no authority. He can only make noise.

 

The days of the majors footing the bills for aircraft and fuel at the regionals are quickly coming to an end. After 9/11 it was cheaper to outsource alot of the flying but that trend is changing, especially with the 37-50 seaters.

 

There were many that were "dissapointed" in Delta bringing Pinnacle in the first place. Sorry about your luck, but it was a silly idea from the start! There were already airlines flying around in Delta colors out of ATL that were ready and able to take on that flying.

I was just as dissapointed when Delta closed DFW, SLC, and LAX as ASA bases withing a 3 year period.