Chautauqua Q400s
- Thread starter CO738
- Start date
Actually, I thought Colgan was supposed to get the 400s, not CHQ.
NewHampshire Black Bears
Veteran
Not so long ago, CO(CO/Express) and AA(American Eagle), were the only legacy's that had/owned their own regional airlines.
A/E has been AA's "most valuable" Weapon in their arsenal, for many-many years.
I've never understood WHY CO sold CO/EX ??
Anyone have a detailed reason why ??
thanx,
NH/BB's
A/E has been AA's "most valuable" Weapon in their arsenal, for many-many years.
I've never understood WHY CO sold CO/EX ??
Anyone have a detailed reason why ??
thanx,
NH/BB's
CO took XJT public when it was desperate for cash and out of lenders during the dark days of 2001-04. While AMR has been shoveling over $1.5 billion cash into its pension plans since 2001, CO funded its minimum contributions primarily with XJT stock which the pension plans promptly sold to unsuspecting investors. CO also sold its stake in COPA and contributed that to the pensions. Lately, CO has been funding its plans with cash (now that it's out of other assets to give to the plans and cash is easier to come by).
How's that? Well, after CO had foisted off all the XJT stock in this manner, it then exercised its option to withdraw about 25% of the airplanes from its capacity purchase agreement - and XJT stock has tumbled ever since. Turns out that CO negotiated a generous capacity purchase rate while it still owned XJT (when the rate really didn't matter) but CO unsatisfied with that rate once XJT was an independent entity.
It would be like AMR suddenly thinking the SABRE rates were too high and doing something about it as soon as it spun off SABRE.
markkus757
Veteran
- Jul 26, 2004
- 598
- 1
Colgan (not Chautauqua)
74 seats
no J class
nothing official, but I'm expecting EWR to places like:
BDL
PVD
MHT
PWM
BTV
ALB
SYR
etc.
last I heard, delivery in DEC/JAN with fisrt revenue flights in JAN/FEB 08...
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #6
Colgan - oops, my mistake. I was thinking Chautauqua (Republic) was flying the 400s.
It's interesting -- with all of the new 70-100 seat Rjs out, the Q400 turboPROP is still the most cost effective.
Yes - Co sold off XJT to raise capital for the pension program. CO has been very responsible on this and not forcing pension concerns onto me, the taxpayer. Instead, they take responsibility for their employees.
Having flown a few regional carriers, I do find XJET staff to be the most professional. However, I understand and agree with CO's reasoning to shift some regional flying to other carriers.
It's interesting -- with all of the new 70-100 seat Rjs out, the Q400 turboPROP is still the most cost effective.
Yes - Co sold off XJT to raise capital for the pension program. CO has been very responsible on this and not forcing pension concerns onto me, the taxpayer. Instead, they take responsibility for their employees.
Having flown a few regional carriers, I do find XJET staff to be the most professional. However, I understand and agree with CO's reasoning to shift some regional flying to other carriers.
You forgot US Airways. They still have Piedmont and PSA as their wholly ownes.
Kev3188
Veteran
...and NW recently joined that crowd by making Mesaba a wholly owned.
Just curious, isn't Commutair flying the other Dash-8's?
Yes. They have some of Horizon's old 200s.
BuffaloJoe
Veteran
I see that they are flying them CLE-MDT.
The sale of XJet was planned well before 9/11. The speed at which is was done after 9/11 was the only thing driven by cash needs. A lot of the rationale was a combination of fear and long term cash needs.
The fear part stems from the Comair strike at Delta. Because CO only had XJet as a partner, a strike by them could have been far more damaging. The idea was that regional pilots at regions owned by a major were starting to realize that the portion of revenue they were getting back was not what their part of the company was contributing. Because they were attached to the major they wanted to share in the large pie, not what mgmt was telling them was their piece. By cutting them off, CO could likely avoid that. The rates XJet was really good, but not a result of pre-spinoff deals. The contract between CO & XJet was part of the spinoff. They had to put together a decent deal to sell to investors (specifically investment banks who needed to then sell the stock to individuals).
The cash part was initially based on how CO was financing its fleet at the time. For most of the 90's and early 2000's, CO was selling EETC's to finance the fleet acquisitions. Eventually they were going to need to pay thos "loans" back. THe idea was to start paying a little early and avoid later shocks to the system.
Didn't hurt to have half the executives running around asking what the openning price was going to be so they could cash out quick.
The fear part stems from the Comair strike at Delta. Because CO only had XJet as a partner, a strike by them could have been far more damaging. The idea was that regional pilots at regions owned by a major were starting to realize that the portion of revenue they were getting back was not what their part of the company was contributing. Because they were attached to the major they wanted to share in the large pie, not what mgmt was telling them was their piece. By cutting them off, CO could likely avoid that. The rates XJet was really good, but not a result of pre-spinoff deals. The contract between CO & XJet was part of the spinoff. They had to put together a decent deal to sell to investors (specifically investment banks who needed to then sell the stock to individuals).
The cash part was initially based on how CO was financing its fleet at the time. For most of the 90's and early 2000's, CO was selling EETC's to finance the fleet acquisitions. Eventually they were going to need to pay thos "loans" back. THe idea was to start paying a little early and avoid later shocks to the system.
Didn't hurt to have half the executives running around asking what the openning price was going to be so they could cash out quick.
