BlueMoon

Unless you still can't charge enough to cover your costs

mooney

One thing you are not considering is frequency of flights. Just because you have 150 pax wanting to go to Burbank throughout the day on 3 RJ's( 9 am 3 pm and 6 pm or whatever), does not mean 1 737 would be full of 150 pax going there. People have different needs to be there at different times of day. If I need to be at Burbank at 9 am for a meeting, and the 737 gets there at 10 am, well I'm finding a different airline that gets me there when I want to. Most likely that airline offers smaller equipment on a higher frequency. 3 flights a day on smaller equipment can cater to a larger customer base than 1 large flight a day. Also, 1 flight a day to a city vs 3 can make for some awful connecting schedules to that city. You may have to wait 5 hours in XYZ for that 1 connecting flight to BUR, or even overnight in XYZ.

SkyWest

You right of course. I'm probably being pretty unrealistic about the idea of diverting RJ flying from mainline routes back into smaller markets. I still want to be able to do the flying but I always feel uncomfortable about cramming them in back there for longer hauls. I get so sick of hearing the comments: "Kinda' small for a two hour flight..." LOL! All I can think is... Yeah, I agree. On the other hand, I'm employed.

Another poster also mentioned that all our 50s are paid for. This is absolutely correct and is a little fact that I had forgotten. When the flying's not "at risk", it makes perfect sense that the company would opt to fill them to capacity and go tearing off on longer and longer routes. If only it were our more comfortably outfitted (<70 seats) and more efficient 700s that made up the bulk of our equipment, I'd think it would be better for everybody as long as it didn't infringe on scope. Is there really a good solution in today's market?

mooney

Yes raise ticket prices so that a 1/2 full or whatever 737 makes as much profit as a full CRJ. However the public has it ingrained into their brain that it is their right to get a ticket from LAX to JFK for $97 round trip. There would be congressional hearings into fraud if airlines rose their ticket prices. I was once non reving from San Diego to MInneapolis. Overheard a family of 4 talking behind me about the ticket price. 14 year old daughter asks her mom how much the tickets cost. mom: "$750" daughter:"per person?" mom:"no $750 for all 4 of us." daughter;"OMG that's robbery!" mom:"I know but they know they have you trapped, it's too hard to drive there and the train isn't an option.". It was all I could do to keep from asking them how much their gas and hotel costs would be if they drove that 2000 mile 3 day trip times 2, plus 6 wasted transportation days round trip....more than $750.....

now this solution probably wouldn't help that much but I like to tell that story...

SkyWest

I couldn't agree more! Absolutely! For as much as I think we've all thought of this however, I'm sure I know where the balance of the higher ticket prices would end up. It'd float straight to the top. Maybe I'm wrong...

Systemized

[QUOTE=SkyWest;1026875]all our 50s are paid for. QUOTE]

are any of the -700s & -900s paid for?

I would guess the embraers are?

SilverandSore

And your airline would be out of business even sooner. You see there's this thing called competition. Fine, raise your prices and see how full your planes go out. Meanwhile, the other airline sticks it to you and suddenly you're shrinking to profitability. Good luck!

mooney

Apparently you didn't read the last sentence of my post, and failed to see I was also talking about all airlines hypothetically, not just 1....you see there is this thing called reading in context to the rest of the posts.....they weren't about just 1 airline, its about all the major ones who use RJ's, and the only way to make a half full 737 make the same profit as a full 50 seat CRJ. Apparently I wasn't saying it tongue-in-cheek enough for you to realize I was making fun of $99 round trip tickets and public reaction to a higher yet still fair price, and not a real business plan for 1 airline...

And even if you do think my post was a serious simple one size fits all business plan for the majors, and tell me everyone will go fly Jetblue, SWA or Spirit, have you ever tried getting from Memphis to Seattle or Tampa to London on one of those airlines?And all the majors started charging mucho dinero just to check a bag...how much money did that lose them when people started flocking to the "bags fly free" airlines? oh wait I think that got them about a 5 billion dollar profit last year...