Don't know about ExpreeJet but been like this for years, hell decades, at ASA. I think they call it inept management, whether it was G&J, DAL, or now SKYW management.
Remember it's not how we got here....
After the IPO spinoff from COEX up until early 2007 when the 69 airframe removal option was exercised by CAL, the management at XJT got high praise for doing such a "good job of running an airline". Although that praise really wasn't that well deserved. Because they were operating under the CAL umbrella, piggybacking EVERYTHING off of CAL, all the while on a cost+10% arrangement. The +10% was later lowered, but not too much. It's pretty easy to run a place when ALL management has to do is keep planes going from point A to B while your one and only mainline partner basically holds your hand the entire time. Take a look at SKW profit margin, or RAH's, it's nowhere near 10%.
Granted, there were some pretty tight restrictions on that old CPA as far as the completion factor to be maintained by XJT, etc. But when you're operating at that kind of a profit, with that little overhead, it's easy to run an efficient/effective operation. In the 2005 time frame, there were around 1500 departures a day under COEX. System wide, there was less than 10 MEL'd items a day fleet wide on 274 airframes. Now, it's a bit of a joke how many broke planes are being flown around.
After the 69 airplanes option and XJT was basically left to "fend for themselves" just like Jerry, the Reverened, Hulas (rims goats), Ornstein, well, they became just like every other regional airline out there. Fighting for scraps, operating cheap, and basically the same as every other cluster fukc out there.
But as the SureJet management people say, "Remember, it's not how we got here".
