Not totally true. I flew with the chief pilot a little while ago, and drained him for all the info I could get. He said that XJT is actively looking at flying our own routes with our own brand name using the 170 and/or 190(non-competative with CAL). He said XJT is conservative and that management wouldn't do it until fuel prices stabilized below $40. He also mentioned the obvious shakeouts occuring with the industry will allow the company to better figure out what routes if any could make money with the 170 or 190. It may or may not ever happen.
As far as an LAX base, he said it was highly cost prohibitive and that unless there is a HUGE amout of traffic going through there, they just won't do it. Again, could happen, but probably won't. He did however, mention that they've been throwing around the idea of an MEX mini-hub, which would be much cheaper than LAX. I about threw up on myself. He said the company would really like to take advantage of the open skies stuff going on in central america. That way we could fly from MEX to other places and would be very lucrative. That would be one junior base. Again, I don't personally think it will ever happen.
Later.
