Will US Airways bid on Comair?

[deltawatch]

Delta says it may spin off Comair. 90% of Comairs routes over lap with US Airways. Couldn't Doug Parker jump in and steal the deal, then merger it with one of his express carriers, then eliminate lots of over lapping capacity. Wouldn't such a move get similar results as his offer for Delta, but on a smaller scale and for a smaller price tag?

 

[wings396]

The current US Express system is large enough already. The last thing this company needs is another Express operator on the property. Another carrier with an armada of RJ's can only lead to more lost Mainline flying, stations, and Jobs. If DL does sell-off Comair, you can bet they will have someone else lined up to take over their routes. Comair has too large of a portion of DL routes for them to vacate. The CVG hub is primarily operated by Comair, and I can't see DL just letting that just go away overnight. In the end all that you will have is MORE overlap, not less.

 

[deltawatch]

Can they block a hostile take over by Doug, how much $ will it take for Delta to dictate who ends up with it. It could be in US Airways interest to buy it, down size it, and sell off half their fleet. Comair was created by Delta for one thing, to attack US Airways shortly after the Piedmont/USAIR merger.

Just a thought .....

 

[nycbusdriver]

Delta says it may spin off Comair. 90% of Comairs routes over lap with US Airways. Couldn't Doug Parker jump in and steal the deal, then merger it with one of his express carriers, then eliminate lots of over lapping capacity. Wouldn't such a move get similar results as his offer for Delta, but on a smaller scale and for a smaller price tag?

90% overlap?

Ever heard of the Department of Justice?

Ever heard the term "antitrust?"

 

[EMBFA]

When they say "spin off", they mean just that. Spin it off to someone else and no longer own it. It would still operate as Delta Connection, no one would know a difference. Delta owned ASA and spun it off to SkyWest. Still part of the Delta network, just not owned. It would be like US Airways selling Piedmont and PSA (which they own)to another Express carrier. Comair (or any other regional jet provider) does not have its own routes, those are Deltas routes to put whoever they want on them.

Last thing US needs is more Express carriers and outsourced mainline jobs. They drag the product into the gutter and lose customers, particularly Mesa. Morale will never be good while Republic is on the property with thier direct replacement of mainline jobs. US should be flying all of the EJets and PDT/PSA should be flying the Q-props and CRJs.

 

[IMisstheAladdinTrays]

When they say "spin off", they mean just that. Spin it off to someone else and no longer own it. It would still operate as Delta Connection, no one would know a difference. Delta owned ASA and spun it off to SkyWest. Still part of the Delta network, just not owned. It would be like US Airways selling Piedmont and PSA (which they own)to another Express carrier. Comair (or any other regional jet provider) does not have its own routes, those are Deltas routes to put whoever they want on them.

Last thing US needs is more Express carriers and outsourced mainline jobs. They drag the product into the gutter and lose customers, particularly Mesa. Morale will never be good while Republic is on the property with thier direct replacement of mainline jobs. US should be flying all of the EJets and PDT/PSA should be flying the Q-props and CRJs.

Enough said!!!

 

[EMBFA]

Again, Comair is for sale only as a Delta Connection carrier. Whoever ends up owning it will operate it pretty much as-is, like when Delta sold ASA to SkyWest.

But expansion for USX in-house would be relatively easy in a few ways. Due to Independence and carriers dumping 50 seaters, there are tons of 50 seat CRJs that could be aquired cheaply for the WOS. The 50 seat jet market is pretty much over though. What US needs is a huge fleet of Q400s to replace RJs on shorter routes, and use its existing CRJs on longer Express routes.

The Q400 is a 74 seater that breaks even when only half full. Its the most economical commuter aircraft out there and is a better ride than the CRJs.

If they wanted a single carrier to operate Express, they could acquire Air Wisconsin, merge it with PDT and PSA into one, get Q400s keep up EMB deliveries and have it covered.

Dont get me started on the E170/175, they should be mainline planes like its sister the E190.

Dont look for US to embark on any expansion into the midwest. They see Express as mainline replacement, not expansion. US philosophy is that there is too much capacity, they dont want to add to it, and that part of the network will be covered by the next merger partner. For now they are happy to codeshare with United for that part of the country. Delta, on the other hand, wants a Delta painted aircraft in virtually every air strip in the United States.

 

[BMIBABYgirl737]

Comair was not created by Delta. Comair was started in 1977 by the Muller family in the Cincinnati area for business travelers. They started with some Najavo's, then flew some Metroliners, Saabs, Brazila's, then as the launch customer in 1993 for the CRJ. Comair has a very rich history with the CVG area and employ thousands at that airport. Comair started codesharing with Delta in I think it was 1981? Comair was at a point before Delta purchased them that they were going to buy Spirit Airlines or spin off as their own carrier, and actually they owned a couple of their(Spirit's) aircraft. Delta stepped in 2000-2001 and bought them for a billion dollars. They will never get that much for Comair, and they have been trying to sell Comair since they filed CH11 in 2005.

 

[EMBFA]

Comair was the first airline to get RJs back in 1995. To thier credit though, the pilots stood up for themselves and struck Delta (when was it? 2000 maybe?). At the time airlines favored owning thier commuters and centralizing them at one base- at the time Comair did CVG, ASA did ATL, SkyWest SLC etc... same with UA IAD was ACA, ORD ZW... When Comair struck, it paralyzed Delta because they did such a massive chunk of Delta's flying, it pretty much shut down thier Cincy hub.

Thats why all of these airlines today have a dozen or so "regional partners" that they spread throughout thier systems. They dont want to rely too heavily on one or give them the leverage of controlling specific routes or hubs. They dont want any of them or thier unions to feel important in the scheme of things, they want all of them competing for scraps, driving down thier costs to outbid each other.

Delta, non-union, hates unionized Comair. They already downsized them significantly, and continue to add outside Connection carriers (they just added Pinnacle). They would love to sell it off to one of the contract Connection carriers and decrease thier reliance on them.

 

[pilot]

LCC has no business looking at other airlines.

They can't even run the one they have.

 

[NCFL]

Why would US want OH? A bunch of CRJs. A slew of labor issues and service problems. US already has PSA to fit that bill.

 

[gabby]

Why would US want OH? A bunch of CRJs. A slew of labor issues and service problems. US already has PSA to fit that bill.

Things are bad at PSA but what we don't have is service issues. Look at the all the times for the regional airlines and you will find that PSA is #1 at least 10 months of last year.
As for labor issues, while not so bad as the US-AW problems we do have major problems with hotels and scheduling and staffing. All are because of poor management and penny pinching. And we all know that this style of leadership is for short term only.

As for Delta selling COmair... Just a scare tactic.

 

[brokenwrench]

Delta, on the other hand, wants a Delta painted aircraft in virtually every air strip in the United States.

Delta Continues to Post Improved Numbers
http://www.planebusiness.com/subscriber/20.../26/page4.shtml

For the full year of 2007, the airline anticipates system capacity to be up 2% to 4%, consolidated domestic capacity to be down 2% to 4%, and consolidated international
to be up 16% to 18%. Mainline non-fuel CASM should be down 2% to 4% in the June 2007 quarter, and down 5% to 7% for the full year.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

I'll give you guys something to (really) "ponder"

(whoever said Comair IS CVG, is correct)

Having said that,....WHY would DL want to (possibly) give up Comair/CVG ??

(Here's a hint)...It WON"T include LCC !!!

NH/BB's