Delta trims regional jet fleet

[PA16]

Trimming the fleet should save Comair about $110 million over the next four years. Most of Comair's 50-seat jets are leased and those being retired will go back to aircraft leasing companies. The cuts at Comair come after Delta sold off two other regional units (Mesaba and Pinnacle) earlier this year. Delta was not able to find a buy for Comair....
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[Kev3188]

We've had some interesting discussions about this at work over the last couple of days. Comments have ranged from "f--- Airlink" (what we at PMNW used to call all connection carriers) to wondering about future flight activity.

Here's a few from me:

1. Does OH have a "flow through" of any sort for pilots to DL M/L?

2. If not, with M/L hiring, will they be given any kind of preferential treatment?

3. What does this mean for overall capacity for DL in whole? A cut, or will others just backfill the loss on the OH side?

4. How much of the current losses by OH (and potential gain) are a drag/gain on the DL system?

5. I personally am not a fan of 50 seat flying, but also am not sure shrinking to profitability is a successful strategy. At what point does OH just throw it in, and what affect in whole would that have on the rest of the DL network (kind of tied in with #3).

 

[WorldTraveler]

I am not sure if OH has a flow-thru agreement and doubt if DL would state that they are giving preferential treatment but OH pilots are probably higher than average seniority because the company is older than most regional carriers and was an early RJ operator.... I'm sure many pilots do regularly move on to the majors but the combination of OH's age and RJ experience plus OH's operations in the congested NE probably make OH pilots reasonably attractive on their own.... yes, I know that is a generalization and there are other carriers that fit that description as well...

My guess is that the OH capacity cuts were already factored into the DL capacity guidance... DL has been pretty aggressive in stating they intended to get 50 seaters out of the system. If you look at most of the major airlines' traffic reports, the regional carriers operate about 12-15% of the total system capacity right now.... given that DL has hundreds of regional jets in its operation (flying under contract), removing 50 of the smallest jets will probably have a fairly small impact. When you factor in that DL is adding seats to the MD80 and MD90 fleets and buying used MD90s to replace D9s, there probably isn't a big change in capacity overall.

It does say that the trend to larger aircraft is accelerating which both reduces CASM - allowing DL to compete more effectively with low cost carriers - and reduces frequencies which should help w/ ATC congestion.
At the same time, there really is not a need for as many smaller regional jets as the industry consolidates. Cities in the middle of the country that have had service to 2-3 hubs for each carrier mostly on RJs don't need that level of service when you combine carriers... such as DL/NW did and UA/CO will do. Small to medium sized cities like GRR, OKC, BNA etc that have largely seen a shift to RJs over the past decade will now see a shift back to more mainline jets although the number of flights will be reduced. As with many things, the trend is to fewer large hubs using larger aircraft than to have lots of smaller hubs that needed alot of RJs in order to make those hubs work.

Overall, the winding down of the age of 50 seaters is good for mainline airline employees and won't be missed by too many passengers... with enough notice and planning and growth at the major and low fare carriers, regional carrier employees might successfully transition but the poor health of the overall economy will make it a challenge for some....