Andy, you are not a Mesaba employee nor were you privy to hearing EXACTLY what I said come from the CEO of Mesaba. If you believe something you create from reading APC or USAToday, great. I'll take my information about Mesaba, on this issue, from the top of Mesaba's ladder.

It wasn't done, for now, by Mesaba because they didn't WANT it. Period! We're not talking about a big presence there anyway.

If you think otherwise, please call John Spanjers at Mesaba and tell him that he must have been mistaken by telling his employees that.

I swear to God that some of you folks would try to argue that the sun was green just to be contrary.

JEEZ!!

 

Deep breath......ok......now......We probably shouldn't take everything Mr. Spanjers literally nor should we take everything he says to heart. Granted, he does know what's going on better than we do but I'm sure he does say things that aren't always true. Or things that he has his own opinions on. Not necessarily facts. It just doesn't make sense that one of the regionals has say in where they WANT to fly. Delta would probably laugh if John Spanjers called Richard Anderson and told him he didn't want Mesaba to pick up flying in JFnK.

 

Doubt he'd laugh he'd just say "fine then we are taking back those extra 5 CR9's and oh we'll also need 5 of your original ones to give to Skywest. Thanks for the call, when should we golf next?"

Guys at this level there is no demanding, just a gentle request...

 

Yea man, look...all i'm saying is that Mr. Spanjers..is probably used to a NWA way of running things.

Delta is a whole different ball game. The sooner everyone realizes that Mesaba (and Compass), are now WHOLLY owned by Delta Airlines, and are no longer in complete operational control, will be better off.

Do I need to find, post and disprove all of the BS quotes and promises we've had at Comair the last 5 years from our FIVE CEOs? You are in for a rude awakening if you think Delta plays nice in the sandbox.

They do what they're supposed to do, they run a business. If they need someone to cover flying, and their spinning revolver stops on your airline..your CEO won't be able to do ANYTHING about it.

 

And you think NWA was any different? Stop trying to lecture Mesaba on how mainline deals with their regional. We weren't even a subsidiary and we were forced into Ch11 by NWA. How's that for control? We GET IT.

 

I know this is 4 pages ago but... THERE WERE RJs WITHOUT GPS?

We've always done the Canarsie Climb white needles at ASA.

 

Why is it that some Delta regional guys need to lecture Mesaba on what its like being beat up by mainline? Do you think Mesaba has had golden parachutes following us around since the company started in 1944? Just do a simple google search on the history of Mesaba and see what the company has gone through!!! Northwest Airlines was and still is one of the hardest airlines on its Unions they never played nice in the sandbox....oh and most of the same people that beat down the Unions over the years at NWA are now in new positions with Delta!!!!

 

K

ya'll are thinking that it was meant for the lot of you...the "lecture" was meant for ONE, who seemed to think the opposite of what you ALL are saying.

What was said was not meant to take away or discredit the crap that XJ has gone through, but to enlighten someone who thinks (contrary to history with NWA) that XJ management has a say in the "big picture".

 

I think our mgmt does exactly what DL/NW tell them to do. HOWEVER I do believe our mgmt gets to help in the execution of what they're being told to do.

For example:

Blue tail a/c on Airlink flights and vice versa. As a nice consolation prize for DL not allocating those 10 extra 900s to XJ, XJ was left in a precarious situation with only a 5 a/c blue tail subfleet. Tail routing to mx bases would have been a nightmare had XJ not been able to work with DL for appropriate bridge cities. Do you think it's coincidence that the SLC operation is connected to MSP, MEM and AUS? Saab bridge cities from DTW and MEM. Do you think it's coincidence that we're bridging saabs into DCI markets from NWA markets? According to JR, XJ was able to work with DL to fly to bridge cities to make the a/c flow and staffing work.

So... I believe again, while our mgmt will bend over backwards to make DL happy, they do get to voice an opinion, to make what DL wants, actually work. If they didn't it would be completely counter productive for DL.

 

The keyword is opinion though. Mesaba may have fronted an idea that Delta said made financial and operational sense and were given the green light. Delta may have also come to XJ and said "hey, we want you to fly some DCI routes and old Airlink routes so we can have that airplane flying x amount of hours per day with minimal ferries" (and unnecessary fuel burns). Either way Mesaba "worked" with Delta to get it done, but doesn't necessarily mean the idea was their own.

Don't forget that once the merger happened, there was no longer such a thing as a NWA route. Delta wants decently efficient schedules as well, they'd prefer the airplanes to be flying revenue, not parked or ferried.

I would certainly hope that a regional airline's management would at least have some original thoughs and ideas regarding the operation of "their" airline. But, I am absolutely of the opinion that if Delta decides NOT to act on the ideas given by regional management, that they (DCI mgmt) has no choice but to go with what they're told to do.

Now if we're talking in house ops, policies and procedures..that's a different story. But in terms of "strategy", routes and fleet (barring contractual obligations) I think that's all under Delta's roof.

**Looking at what is being done at Comair, contractual fleet obligations also mean nothing, they'll find a way around it. :-\