a word from Spanjers posted on mymesaba.com:
Yesterday, Northwest CEO Richard Anderson announced publicly that Northwest will
decide in the next 30 to 60 days where its next batch of unallocated CRJs will be
awarded. This timeline coincides with what we said at the managers' meetings in April --
the award would likely come in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
Mesaba had hoped to be able to place a bid for these jets, but it is unlikely that we will be
able to do so, because our cost structure is still uncertain. And Northwest has not asked us
to bid for the jets as of yet.
This is a case of bad timing. We are now beginning to work through and revise our
business plan, in which it will be assumed that we will not have CRJs in our fleet for the
foreseeable future.
Our existing contracts with Northwest remain in force, however. We continue to deliver
good operating performance for them with our Saab and Avro operations. This is a
readjustment of our forecast; it does not change the focus of our operation -- a high level
of safety, maintaining our excellent operating performance and keeping our cost structure
competitive.
We'll continue to keep you posted about new developments and how they might affect us
going forward.
Yesterday, Northwest CEO Richard Anderson announced publicly that Northwest will
decide in the next 30 to 60 days where its next batch of unallocated CRJs will be
awarded. This timeline coincides with what we said at the managers' meetings in April --
the award would likely come in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
Mesaba had hoped to be able to place a bid for these jets, but it is unlikely that we will be
able to do so, because our cost structure is still uncertain. And Northwest has not asked us
to bid for the jets as of yet.
This is a case of bad timing. We are now beginning to work through and revise our
business plan, in which it will be assumed that we will not have CRJs in our fleet for the
foreseeable future.
Our existing contracts with Northwest remain in force, however. We continue to deliver
good operating performance for them with our Saab and Avro operations. This is a
readjustment of our forecast; it does not change the focus of our operation -- a high level
of safety, maintaining our excellent operating performance and keeping our cost structure
competitive.
We'll continue to keep you posted about new developments and how they might affect us
going forward.
