Branson wants to try and sway Dallas for DAL gates

[Kev3188]

Ben Mutzabaugh (Today In The Sky) reporting that VX wins:
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/05/12/its-official-virgin-america-to-get-dallas-love-gates/9009529/

 

[SharoninSAT]

 I'm not surprised but I was hoping…
...we win some and lose some...
 
and here's another article...
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/city-of-dallas-gives-ok-for-virgin-america-to-get-two-love-field-gates.html/

 

[swamt]

Yup it's official, VA get's the gates. Any word on how others will acomendated?

 

[WorldTraveler]

again, not a surprise.

The question is what remains of DAL's capacity and how it will be allocated.

As of this hour, all of DL's flights in its original proposal for DAL service remain for sale.

 

[robbedagain]

well WT DL lost the battle for the 2 slots   now will they SUE  or file a Legal Challenge  similar to how you claimed they would for the DCA and LGA slots???

 

[WorldTraveler]

the flights remain for sale. UA is not using its gates to their capacity.

I stand by what I said that when DL pulls their flights and decides not to pursue it further, you can crow.

and further, WN got nothing which is what I said all along. UA cannot be force to accommodate WN; they can be required to accommodate other carriers that cannot serve the airport.

As of right now, DL has no lease. Given that UA hasn't published a schedule and has no lease, I still expect them to be accommodated at UA's gates.

And actually, IIRC, the gates belong to ExpressJet, not UA, who operates DL's current ATL-DAL flights. ExpressJet continues to struggle to meet operational requirements for DL but DL seems to be getting better performance out of them than UA is.

Don't rule out that DL's future relationship with ExpressJet might be connected to access to DAL.

 

[Kev3188]

ExpressJet (EV), or "Branded" ExpressJet (COEx, then spunoff)?

Fairly certain it's the latter??

 

[WorldTraveler]

and owned by SkyWest, right?

a look at SkyWest's annual report might be in order.

https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/830879/20140305/AR_196807/#/26/

It notes that DL has the right to terminate BOTH the SkyWest and ExpressJet CPAs for underperformance of either.

It also notes how heavily dependent SkyWest Inc is on both DL and UA.

DL and SkyWest have an ongoing lawsuit regarding payment for IROP expenses in the amount of over $30M.

 

[Kev3188]

Nevermind. One & the same. Had my lines crossed. Was thinking gates were originally procured as part of ExJet branded service...

 

[eolesen]

I wouldn't get too excited about the relationship between Expressjet and Skywest just yet. Last year, the question everyone was asking was "why did Skywest buy Expressjet?"

This quarter, the question has changed to "how long until Skywest sells Expressjet?"

 

[700UW]

Delta is already selling flights on the schedule it planned to operate if it won the gates, and that carrier will apparently now have to offer refunds or accommodate those fliers on the flights it operates out of nearby Dallas/Fort Worth.
 

 

[WorldTraveler]

would you like to provide a source for that cut and paste?

DL is still selling seats for its flights from DAL.

Perhaps you should tell them they should stop.

E,
what kind of market value do you suppose any regional carrier has these days?

And do you think DL is going to amend its contracts with SkyWest to remove its ability to fire both of them for the performance of either one?

DAL might be relatively minor in the scope of the whole regional carrier mess but it is yet one more complication that SkyWest Inc. has to deal with if DL wants access to those gates. Of course we don't know what the City's role will be either but DL doesn't have to meet any new entrant requirements with SkyWest if DL chooses to go down that path.

So, will Southwest now file its first schedule based on a lot fewer cities - and minus the abundance of other airline hubs that were in the second set of markets they would have started if they got the two gates?

 

[700UW]

It was already posted by Kevin.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/05/12/its-official-virgin-america-to-get-dallas-love-gates/9009529/
 
And let DL get rid of an express carrier, then they wont have capacity to fly the existing routes as there is a pilot shortage for the regional carriers.

 

[WorldTraveler]

the question is who came up with the conclusion that DL is out of options to serve DAL, not what paper published it.

As for regional carriers, you missed the part that DL's regional carriers have been able to deliver a higher percentage of flights operated than regional carriers for other carriers.

I'm not sure why - it may be because DL saw the problem coming and has been pulling capacity down and transferring it back to mainline at a rate that closely matches what the regional carriers are able to perform or DL has put more teeth into its regional carrier contracts.

Either way, the notion that DL is going to be more hurt by the regional carrier shortage seems a stretch that hasn't been proven.

And specific to this topic and with Pinnacle/Endeavor's restructuring, it is very possible that DL has all of the regional carrier structure it really needs and the rest could very well be finished for DL; given that SkyWest indicated that its future is very heavily tied to both DL and UA, they are very likely to do what they can to work with DL if the DAL gate access situation is one that DL pushes.

Maybe it isn't but don't be surprised if it is part of DL's contingency plans to get in.

And it might explain why DL's DAL flights remain for sale.

 

[700UW]

You will have to contact the USA Today since they published the article.