The upcoming Delta Connection shuffle.
 

I have been hearing from a variety of sources that Delta is in the process of doing quite a bit of realigning of the DCI carriers. Especially in light of the DCA-LGA slot swap. At Compass we are looking at a lot more SLC and western flying. I hear Go Jets is probably going to be DTW and or NYC. And that even SkyWest will have a NYC. Has anyone heard anything definitive?

Whatever outcome is the absolute WORST for your airline, is generally what Delta will decide to do.

This.........

Yep sounds about right, an east coast airline going west and an west coast airline going east.

Hopefully if this shuffle happens it involves a 9E SLC base, would love to move out there again and be a part time ski bum!

This sort of churn is actually beneficial for DAL in the long run...uprooting crews encourages major-eligible CA's to bail instead of settling into a comfortable situation to become expensive and pesky regional lifers.

Is DAL smart enough to actually factor this in? Who knows.

It also prevents any single regional from completely "owning" a hub or route in the event of a strike.

True but it causes immense additional costs and delays/cancelations by pulling a company so far from its crew/maintenance bases. Now if Delta wants to operate in a much more expensive way for the sake of avoiding a strike that hasn't even come close to happening since Comair in 01.... Well no wonder the passengers see right through the customer first B.S. they have been peddling.

As a former Comair-er..I know this all too well. I understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it! :)

The way Delta treats their regionals may be "good business sense", but it's also deplorable.

This is Delta Business 101: minimize subcontractor control (see Comair) and maximize whipsaw.

They are the best at it.

Delta/DCI SOP. the same thing will happen again before the summer. Semi-annual shuffle. Get used to it. And agreed. It won't be what you want.