lowecur said:They may just sell off the CRJ's as the 170's come on line, and eventually close WO down. There is an overseas market for them, as was proven with the recent sale of 9 at FLYi.
You're right (DL may sell some of them), but they'd better do it soon. While the foreign market might still have room, it won't be long before it's saturated with 50 seaters. However, if DL intends to spin-off Comair/ASA, they can't shrink them too heavily. Who wants to buy shares in a company that is being dismantled?
I agree with FDJ2 that ASA will probably get some additional CRJ700's (but no more than 15-20). How many will be used as replacements and how many are growth is anyones guess.
Here's my mathematical guess on the 70 seater distribution:
Comair/ASA 58 (as of Dec 31, 2004)
ASA picks up 17 more CRJ700's
ASA/Comair total of 75 CRJ700's
CHQ (Republic) has 16 on firm order
CHQ converts the 34 options to orders
CHQ has a total of 50 EMB170
This brings the connection carriers right up to the 125 limit set by DALPA. Of course, more may come if mainline grows.