Pinnacle bought Mesaba
 

Out of nowhere? I didn't see this anywhere on here.

wow...it's true. It's on the website.

Welcome to Pinnacle Airlines Corp. - Investor Relations - News Release

Delta Air Lines Reaches Definitive Agreements to Sell Mesaba, Compass Airline Subsidiaries - Yahoo! Finance

Delta Air Lines Reaches Definitive Agreements to Sell Mesaba, Compass Airline Subsidiaries

Customers to experience seamless transition with no expected changes in flight schedules or locations served


SymbolPriceChangeDAL11.750.00http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/inst...e;size=239x110




Press Release Source: Delta Air Lines On Thursday July 1, 2010, 8:00 am
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, July 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL - News) today announced it has entered into definitive agreements to sell two of its wholly owned regional airline subsidiaries, Mesaba and Compass Airlines. Mesaba has been sold to Memphis, Tenn.-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (Nasdaq:PNCL - News) for $62.0 million, and Compass has been sold to St. Louis-based Trans States Holdings, Inc. for $20.5 million. Pinnacle and Trans States are both large and experienced regional airline operators, with Pinnacle currently serving as one of Delta's largest regional carriers.
Under the terms of the agreements, Mesaba and Compass will continue to serve Delta customers with long-term, extendable agreements, ranging from seven to 12 years depending on aircraft type. Both Mesaba and Compass will continue to be headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul with current presidents John Spanjers and Tim Campbell, respectively, leading the airlines under new ownership.
Delta Connection Senior Vice President Don Bornhorst said, "Today's announcement reflects our continued focus on streamlining the portfolio of Delta Connection carriers serving our customers to ensure each partner airline is independently positioned for success with a competitive cost structure and an industry-leading focus on safety, reliability and customer service.
"In recent years, the Delta Connection carriers have made substantial progress in creating a consistent customer experience across our brand with more First Class cabins, enhanced food service, jetbridge boarding and other amenities Delta customers expect when they fly Delta or Delta Connection flights. This transaction is another step in positioning our regional airlines for future success and we look forward to delivering even more improvements to customers in the more than 260 communities our partners serve."
The structure of the Mesaba and Compass transactions provides for long-term competitive cost structures at both airlines, as well as incentives to reward Mesaba and Compass for operational excellence and cost improvement.
Customer Service and Routes
In conjunction with the sale of both carriers, Delta will enter into new Delta Connection agreements under which Mesaba and Compass Airlines will continue to serve as Delta Connection carriers.
Current plans are for Mesaba and Compass Airlines to operate as wholly owned subsidiaries of Pinnacle Airlines Corp, Inc. and Trans States Holdings, Inc., respectively. The transactions are not expected to result in any changes in flight schedules or locations served. Compass and Mesaba's combined fleet of nearly 130 aircraft will continue to be dedicated to flying Delta routes.
Compass and Mesaba's new owners – Pinnacle and Trans States – are long-standing regional airline operators with years of experience working with Delta and other major airlines.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., an airline holding company, is the parent company of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. and Colgan Air, Inc. Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. operates a fleet of 142 regional jets under the Delta Connection brand. Colgan Air, Inc. operates a fleet of 48 regional turboprops as Continental Connection, United Express and US Airways Express.
Trans States Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of two regional airlines – Trans States Airlines and GoJet Airlines. Together, Trans States Holdings' regional airlines' 1,400 employees serve nearly five million passengers annually to 69 cities on 330 daily flights. Trans States currently operates flights as United Express and US Airways Express.
The proceeds from these transactions will be used by Delta for general corporate purposes.

Holy cow! Where was this rumor thread when we needed it?

WOW. I said this 3 years ago. But after so much time passed I didn't think it was going to happen. No wonder we were put on ice by the nmb. They probably knew some big stuff was going on in the back ground.

Welcome aboard mesaba guys. Read the latests pinnacle update thread to see what you are getting into, as if you didn't already know.

I hope to god our contract takes over Pinnacles otherwise I am going factory for life!!

I think it's very strange. Jerry Atkin could have written a personal check for both of them. He probably has that much in his wallet. There must be a reason why SkyWest wasn't interested...

Has nothing to do with skywest not being interested. It has more to do with Skywest having a monopoly on Delta flying. They know things are going to be changing soon and dont need skywest doing 50% or more of their flying.

What things are going to be changing soon?

Apparently nothing. The race to the bottom continues. (no disrespect, just mean that the proliferation of alter ego operations continues unabated).

So what happens to Comair? Surely they won't keep just one WO. Especially the most dysfunctional one.

What does this have anything to do with alter egos?

just for starters when skywest pilots insurance goes through the roof at the end of next year and they see their alpa brothers negotiated insurance staying the same that will start some things up. Things are going to get interesting union wise at skywest in the next year.

They may make SAPA an official, NMB recognized union, but they won't vote in ALPA. Mark my words.

WOW .... I log onto our crew website today and it says "Pinnacle welcomes Mesaba" ... Unreal ... There's a conference call at 1130 EST, if anyone wants the info to call in, let me know I'll PM ya. For the record I work for Colgan...

Welcome guys/gals ... I hope this helps all of us!!!

I don't care who we bought...I am still not wearing that stupid hat!!!!....I kid I kid...you Delta guys look sharp in your hats....really you do...

That Delta flying is spread out amongst a plethora of pilots and operators able to replace each other as an alter ego and as such, no one has any exclusivity over flying which is needed to improve pay and working conditions.

Wonder if Mesaba's Saab's are now going to find their way over to Colgan.

They said in the press release that long term plan is that Mesaba will be the turboprop operator and Pinnacle the jet operator. No mention of Colgan. I would think they will merge Mesaba and Colgan, then change the name to Mesaba. That eliminates the Colgan stigma.

OH is most dysfunctional LOL, how do you figure that... they keep it as their part time airline like always, fill in the cracks, grow on short notice shrink on short notice, they could liquidate...

I don't want anymore Saabs, maybe the silver ghost if it's still around;)

That is what they mentioned on the call. They said they would like to replace Colgan's Saab B models with Mesabas B+'s

So they say we're staying separate for now, but if either company integrates with Mesaba? Hopefully this doesn't translate to bad news for the guys at the bottom of any list.

Correctamundo.

Whipswaing insures future pilots will live in their knees and beg for what they can get. 100 seaters will be flown for peanuts in the future and that's bad for both mainline and regional pilots.

There are 4 players :

1. customers
2. shareholders
3. management executives
4. labor

The first 3 win through whipsawing and #4 is the loser and that's perfectly acceptable to the first 3.

Sorry............thanks for playing.

If we become Mesaba, does that mean we get the Mesaba Saab CA pay rates? I sure hope so.

Not exactly, towards the end of the call Phil did mention that both groups (Colgan/Mesaba) will merge lists based on the ALPA integration process and that the NMB will decide if new elections will be held.

We are merging lists, that is a fact. Be glad that both groups are ALPA or someone would be getting screwed.

Is this the investor call your talking about?

You love Rachael Ray and hate Ford Tri-Motors :p

Anyone else think the audio feed from the conference call is crap? Its difficult to hear much of anything.... funny how we can afford to buy an airline but not worry about A/V presentation at all...

Since Pinnacle is ALPA, why don't all three merge?

They said they want to keep a prop certificate and a jet certificate. It looks like since Mesaba was getting rid of the Saabs that Colgan will take Mesaba's name and the jets will be folded into the Pinnacle type certificate.

Pinnacolgaba?

I can only understand the Mesaba guy

Comair is moving to DTW, We buy Mesaba, our contract neg. get put on ice. It's been an interesting few weeks.

Who keeps coughing, it's hard enough to hear this phone call........

Excuse me while I go barf.

The person who is choking on this feel good baloney... surprising that more of the sheeple aren't also hacking up a lung...

Why the hell is Phill on speaker phone? You cant understand anything!

He is not on speaker, he is in a convention room addressing a group of people.

I held my hand up when he asked if anyone has ever flown on the CRJ.