Don't you think that had more to do with Delta having a little payback from that strike back in 2001 (or was it 2000? - I forget)? Delta feels like they learned a lesson - they put all their eggs in one basket in ComAir at CVG and got burned.
You are REALLY reaching if you are blaming Delta and ComAir's financial issues on the Mesa pilot group. Nice try though.
Airlines don't make major fleet decisions based on spite. Delta put a significant portion of Comair's flying up for bid to the cheapest bidder during bankruptcy. Not surprisingly, Mesa won a some of that flying. They won the flying because they were the cheapest, it's that simple. Part of the reason they were cheaper than Comair is because they don't pay their employees as much. Another reason is because they had extra airplanes they needed to place due to losing their contract with USAirways.
No one will ever know, but it wouldn't surprise me if Mesa's contract with Delta was only break even or possibly even at a loss. Remember too, Mesa agreed to absorb the leases for the ACA Dorniers in early 2005 to get their foot in the Delta door. There is no way they could have been making a profit while paying the leases of 30 airplanes they didn't even fly. Also, Mesa agreed to fly Dash-8's they didn't even own, some of which proved to be unairworthy.
Given all this it's not surprising Mesa's performance was lacking. They basically put themselves in a position where they couldn't adequately staff an airline because any additional costs would put them in the red. Meanwhile, when Delta decided they wanted to cut flying the first place they looked was Mesa. In bankruptcy Delta could justify poor performance as cutting costs. Out of bankruptcy, Delta could use Mesa's poor performance to justify terminating the contract, once again cutting costs.
Mesa has basically been running a business model which relied on employees showing up for work every day, unfortunately they treated their employees so poorly that many left at their first chance, further hurting Mesa's abysmal performance.
None of this is Mesa's pilot's fault, they don't make business decisions at Mesa, though many of them will pay for managements poor business decisions. Like it or not, many pilots won't be upset to see Mesa suffer. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them.
I was in the hiring pool at ACA when they lost their UAL contract. In fairness there is blame to be spread in that case, but Mesa played a part. In 2005 when Mesa took over D328 lease payments I was at Skyway. In 2006 when Mesa "won" Delta flying, I was furloughed from Comair.
I hold no ill will toward Mesa pilots, but I'm no fan of Mesa management. If there are any Mesa pilots on this forum who are interested in Compass, PM me, I'll be happy to refer you.
