The word is that Compass will fly these jets and because of the scope and flow all eligible Compass flow pilots will immediately go to mainline.

I tried reading this four times and ????

These jets WILL NOT be operated by anyone dba Delta Connection. Ain't gonna happen.

I'm gonna second that TSA is a regional carrier and this should be posted in the regional forum.

I posted it under major for more reasons than one.

So as to have this discussion ^^^ since TSA now owns Compass. An airline many DAL pilots are not happy was sold off.

The other reason is what size did TSA buy? And who are they buying it for? Is it themselves? If so, did UAL, USAir and DAL just fund a competitor say in STL? Which means this isn't a regional airline, this is budding national or LCC they're trying to form.

And most major pilots won't go over to the regional thread so they'll miss out on the news.

From ATW:
The LOI was finalized with little fanfare on Dec. 27, 2010, according to the MRJ corporate newsletter that did not identify whether TSH ordered the 70- or 90-seat variant of the aircraft.

In addition to the engine order, Pratt said TSH signed an exclusive 12-year maintenance contract covering the powerplants.


"We believe that the MRJ is a game-changing regional jet with its incredibly fuel efficient next generation Pratt & Whitney PurePower geared-turbofan engines, together addressing the vital needs of the environment, as well as the critical needs of passengers and airline operators," TSH President Richard Leach said in a statement.

If that thing is a regional jet, I am an astronaut.

BINGO! I was waiting to finish reading all the posts, but you beat me to it. Can we finally drop the -RJ from these aircraft designations. There is nothing "regional" about these airplanes. I know it's been said many times, but it bears repeating. These aircraft (and all the others for that matter) belong at mainline.

The question is which pilot group do they think they can sell this turd sandwich to? I doubt they're going to run their own op given the history of these things. Even RAH with a strong balance sheet is having trouble with their Midwest abortion in MKE.

LOL!!! There is nothing "Regional" about "Regional" anymore! Unless you want to call the U.S., Mexico, Caribbean and Canada...The North American Regional. Operationally, there is no difference between Mainline and "Regional" except flying the NAT Tracks. The bread and butter for airlines is flying overseas and as long as they can keep their cost down flying domestically...they will. Using "Regionals". Scope is gone...all you can do is hang on to what you have now and hope that they order more airframes for mainline. If feel sorry for the bottom 25-50% of mainline seniority list, I guess the only hope for progress is retirement because all the growth seems to be outsourced. This whole deal stinks of corporate slime. TSA had these jets ordered way before Compass got sold. But somehow Compass got sold to TSA. Sounds like a game of corporate chess...now to figure out their next move and figure out how management is trying to blur the line between Major and Regional. As long as pilots can do this, you can be stepping side by side with management....we are still to far away from being a step ahead. Too much work needs to be done with unity. Rant over.

Gloopy, it has been done for a few decades now. DAL owns jets, we then let a regional operate them, which in turns pays us a "fee" for this jet, which covers the lease. It does go farther than that, the fact is that after they pay us that "fee" we in kind pay them a them this fee back as an expense of the ASA. This is for the jet we own.

For the jets that the third party carrier owns, we basically pay the lease payment in a "fee" as part of the ASA. DAL is still committed though the ASA to the lease payment and committed to it by that agreement, but now it is a cost item and not one that hits DAL's debt side of the ledger. It is a commitment and part of the operational expense of the ASA.

It is accounting 101. The debt from those jets does not hit delta's debt ledger.

Bringing this forward. Could they do this with new metal? This time doing it with the regional becoming a debt holding company? Maybe. They could also use other outfits as well. Point is that you can take the debt off the balance sheet, make it a cash flow expense item depending on how it is allocated. Yep, delta loses the depreciation of an owned asset. It is not the smart answer. It is always better to own your assets and take the depreciation.

It could also be that TSH just wants to get in line for all of these jets so they can sell the slots at a premium to their mainline partners.

Yes, mainline seniority list pilots flying at the regionals operating 100 seat jets. From a business perspective this makes a lot of sense, especially if all the liability falls on the regional.