CBreezy

That's the capitalism everyone loves to tout so much... except when it doesn't benefit them.

gloopy

But what does that mean?

Crew van lawyers seem to think SKYW "owns" the ATL gates and therefore has earth shattering leverage over DAL (give us the scope buster jets, or you'll lose ATL cause we'll become Emirates Connection!" etc.

Sep 20, 2017 is too soon for this to in any way be a gray area. SO what's the story?

gloopy

Let the ULCC's build their own gates. The going rate is only a quarter billion per gate so it should be easy.

trip

That's funny, first I've heard that one. I think your just stirring the pot eh?

Dexter

I believe there is space for another terminal between 10 and 9R. Delta has been using many more of the gates on the south side of the D terminal.

This appears to be the standard gate lease for ATL.

http://www.atl.com/wp-content/upload...ase.pdf#page17

I’m not sure if expressjet/SkyWest Will renew, but if I were them I would. As for being an Emerites connect I believe there’s and almost unused (during daytime) airport in Mem. CVG would also have space for a terminal. I believe MEM is a 2 hour flight to something like 75% of the US population.

gloopy

Bwahahahahaha!

Yes, by all means, go wild in MEM!

There's a very good reason there isn't a massive pax hub in MEM (nor was there ever, even in the NWA peak days of the city).

There's very little O&D there, and nowhere near enough to run a massive A380 hub LOL! So empty threat there.

Cargo is another story, and its geographical location is well suited for that. But in either case, a foreign dual subsidized airline simply can't come in and do mass cabotage like that. So I suppose SKYW can fulfill its manifest destiny with the scope buster jets it wants by trying to run a global shipping company out of MEM, or CVG for that matter. There may be some competitors who have a say in that, but who knows.

As for ATL, yes there's theoretically "room" for another terminal on the south side. But SWA found out pretty quick that just because DL has a big hub there, its nowhere near a self printing money O&D superhub all on its own. Its a good local market and one of many good places to run connections. I doubt there is room for an entire terminal worth of capacity over and above what's already done there, especially without at least one more runway (maybe more).

But again, look at the corruptio...um I mean the fully legitimate costs associated with building stuff at large airports across the country and you'll see its pretty pricey, even with the generous taxpayer "assistance". So if you think SKYW is on the verge of being the new breakout kid on the block that's cool. Welcome to the show.

gloopy

Not at all, which is why I'm clearly asking instead of saying its the case. There's a lot of misinformation coupled with a general lack of information on this topic. The last most even looked at it (if they ever did) was 2005-ish and the rumor mill back then was quite busy with all kinds of topics.

Occasionally when talking to some pretty knowledgeable people WRT other things, in the rare circumstance the SKYW/ATL issue comes up, the baseline assumption is that DL got played big time and "gave up" the gates and now that's leverage for SKYW going forward as the 15 year deal made at the same time draws to a close.

Then we're told "its not an ownership issue, its a lease issue" but that leaves as many questions unanswered.

After the deal runs out, what can happen at least theoretically to the gates?

Either now or after the deal runs out, what can happen if SKYW operates "non permitted types" WRT both DL and UAL for that matter? I don't think just sneaking things onto another certificate works anymore either.

Mesabah

Gloopy, it has nothing to do with leverage, if Delta could buy up every gate in every hub it has, even if to only leave them empty, they would; That's smart business. Also, Delta needs commuter JETS(not pilots), since the government requires them in some markets. So it's win-win for keeping SKYW around. The only reason Endeavor is still around is contract flexibility, and cancellation fodder in NYC. Plus, Endeavor is accumulating ever RJ that is actually owned by mainline.



As far as scope goes, the NMB, and labor law allow code sharing, thus bottom end branding was given up for top end protections. It was a mistake not to protect the brand, but that's water under the bridge.

gzsg

As part of the phased wind-down, 28 two-class Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft and three CRJ-700 aircraft flying with ExpressJet will be transitioned to Delta’s wholly-owned subsidiary Endeavor Air, to ensure a seamless transition for Delta customers. All 31 of these regional jets will be flying with Endeavor by summer 2018.

TransWorld

Why is FedEx in MEM? Fred Smith, the founder, grew up there and graduated high school. Simple as that. I am sure he thought about its strategic location in the middle of the country. But many other airports would have fit that bill.