Truthanator

Passengers will buy the cheapest ticket almost every time. They will b!tch and moan about the little planes, but almost every time on routes like the ones mentioned, price will win. If it's less than an hour or so, it's not that big of a deal.

It's a chair. In the sky.

ugleeual

^^^THIS^^^ leisure travelers look for the cheapest ticket... then look at convenience second. Biz travelers are loyal to their frequent flyer program first... even if it makes them travel in small planes and/or on multiple legs... even if a competitor has a direct flight.

robthree

Only if the direct flight is on an equally crappy plane.

At a previous carrier I was home based. I'd fly UA mainline from BOS-ORD or -EWR and an RJ to CVG to keep my Mileage Plus status, and the occasional upgrade on the mainline leg, instead of on a DL RJ nonstop. But when I had to go BOS-MIA, I'd get a ticket on an AA 757, unless I was certain to get an upgrade on UA on the EWR-MIA leg.

Biz travelers won't stay with an airline that has RJs in a market when a competitor is offering mainline equipment on the same route. It doesn't take that many flights to achieve elite status, and there is no point in being elite if you're only riding on RJs.

Aviatorr

Exactly!!!!!!

GrassLandings

DAL doesnt really limit RJ's range other than how far they can fly before they run out of gas. DTW-MTY, MSP-YVR, SEA-FAI are about as far as you can stretch a E175.
But I agree with the fact that regionals should not be flying these routes when jets twice the size are doing the MSP-FSD type routes. Once DAL gets the CS I expect the 76 seaters flying to take a backseat on those longer routes and shift to shorter routes where the CS is just slightly too big

Flytolive

Exactly, but AA isn't flying RJs in these markets and currently UA isn't flying anything in some of them. Don't forget how many customers UA lost with the gross mismanagement of the last six years. Crawl, walk, run.

Av8rPHX

DL had 9E doing MSP-JAX for a while..that should probably be on a 717 or something


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horrido27

At the end of the day, we have a hole in our fleet plan.
We go from 76 seater RJ's with a BF product, to 73's (Guppy) with 118 seats including BF.

There HAS TO BE an aircraft somewhere in between!

50 seat RJ's might be the right aircraft to open a test market, or for a few short/small markets.. but at the end of the day, if you go from test (50 seater) to regular service (76 seater) and then try to grow, do you jump up to a 118 seater?

I wonder if SK and the company won't try the next contract extension with Scope relaxation? Embraer is betting on it (along with Mitsubishi).
And when the company comes to us with the next extension (@2019?!).. what will the makeup of the UAL Pilot Group be? The New Hires Group will outnumber the Legacy United and Continental Pilot Groups.

65 CRJ200's, even if it's a shuffle between Regional Carriers, is a bad bet if there isn't a follow up plan that includes some sort of missing aircraft flown by mainline.

JMO
Always
Motch

Half wing

Right now there are about 2100 new hires. In 2019 there may be 3400 at best. Still a long way off before new hires out weight Legacy pilots. Also, what is you point? New hires know just as well the dangers of relaxing scope. They were stuck at the regional level longer because of relaxed scope. The last thing most level headed regional pilots want is bigger planes at their airline. It would mean more time before being able to get to the majors. Lastly, who is mostly at risk of being chopped if scope is relaxed further? The new hires. The new hires will vote against scope. I worry about the senior people the most who just see dollar signs. Luckily, I think most of us know scope protection is priority one.

Sunvox

I admit to tending towards positivity in life, but here's how I read the tea leaves . . .

Kirby says the plan is grow to compete. 737s were not working out as well as planned and the used market heated up so the back room negotiations are ongoing for the A319/737-700 fleet growth. Scope choke is holding 76 seats until 2020 at best and management, including Kirby, knows that 50 seaters are not the longterm answer.

So . . .

1) They want to grow.
2) They are limited until 2020 by Scope Choke
3) They are negotiating as we type our prognostications.

My guess:

You see a comprehensive order at all levels by the end of 2017 that increases WB 1% a year, SNB 2-3% a year, and plans for the replacement of legacy UAL 75s, and all that at better pricing than the previously negotiated deals because Boeing and Airbus got a little ahead of themselves.

We'll see if I'm smokin' crack soon enough I think