Mesaba and Compass To Merge

[Flyprdu]

Fresh off the rumor mill express. There is talk on other forums and confirmed through alternate sources that Northwest's contribution to regional consolidation will be the merging of these airlines. So to review:

36 - E175s
36 - CRJ-900s
17 - CRJ-200s
49 - S340s

Quite a diverse fleet for a regional. Your thoughts?

 

[MJ42]

Fresh off the rumor mill express. There is talk on other forums and confirmed through alternate sources that Northwest's contribution to regional consolidation will be the merging of these airlines. So to review:

36 - E175s
36 - CRJ-900s
17 - CRJ-200s
49 - S340s

Quite a diverse fleet for a regional. Your thoughts?

Dump the 17 200's!

But anyway...Source(other than rumor mill)?

 

[Hovernut]

All your planes are belong to us!

Part one of the grand poo-bah of consolidation.

 

[GOULET!]

All your planes are belong to us!

Nice grammar. All the planes belong to who? Mesaba and Compass are already under one holding company (Mesaba Compass Holdings). There would be some serious contract issues for this to go through. This is a more realistic combo than Republic buying Compass.

 

[Flyprdu]

Hey, before you get on your grammar high horse.... you might want to polish up on your internet lore.

Insert Virtual Foot Here

 

[GOULET!]

Flyprdu 1, GOULET! 0.

 

[WIPilot]

I'll believe this when I see something official.

 

[Hollywood82]

Flyprdu 1, GOULET! 0.

You don't even blink, do you?

 

[Flyprdu]

Flyprdu 1, GOULET! 0.

LOL, little inside, I know. Your avatar is much cooler.

 

[Hollywood82]

What will happen to the guys in the mesaba hiring pool? I ask because I'm a bit worried now.

 

[GOULET!]

Like stated earlier, don't believe this one until it's on paper. It's easy for people to look and say these two should be merged cause they are wholey owned. While it's possible, I wouldn't get too fired up about it yet. Hope your not swimming too long.

 

[trip]

Nice grammar. All the planes belong to who? Mesaba and Compass are already under one holding company (Mesaba Compass Holdings). There would be some serious contract issues for this to go through. This is a more realistic combo than Republic buying Compass.

What makes it even funnier is when some dork gets his panties in a bunch! Ha Ha!

 

[ttuite]

What will happen to the guys in the mesaba hiring pool? I ask because I'm a bit worried now.

Think, think, think, why would anybody in NWA or DAL management want to merge any of the commuters. The whole reason for having them set up the way they are is to stimulate competition. Compass is already using Mesaba's office workers to do a lot of the duplicate office work. What efficiencies would be gained in a merger? Not to pour water on you , but you should be much much more worried about whether or not you will even have a job to go to. The way the airline business is right now we may all be out of a job very soon. It always amazes me that some if the younger folks on this and other boards seem to worry about whether the pilots at Compass, Mesaba, Republic, or Mesa are going to get unfairly ahead. As a pilot new to the 121 world you need to protect yourself with a back up source of income independent of the aviation world. If you are in this business primarily for the money ( I am not saying that you are) you will be very very unhappy during your career.

 

[Flyprdu]

Think, think, think, why would anybody in NWA or DAL management want to merge any of the commuters?

The rules are changing. The expenses of having 13 direct flights to Sioux Falls have overcome the revenue generated. You may not see a reduction in capacity, but most certainly frequency. Therefore, majors are going to start pulling some of the routes back they gave away in the 90's, when fuel was 1/4 of the cost of what it is today.

Legacy carriers are sheep. And typically, American is the "big brother" of carriers - and the rest just fall in line. American is cutting domestic, and as well as trimming its wholly-owned regional airline. Expect the other legacy carriers to fall in line. NWA has already announced the accelerated retirement of the -9-30s.

This merger, if true, might be the sign of a wholly owned shakeup at NWA. As far as the "whipsaw" of having multiple regional carriers to play against each other, there is a point of diminishing returns. I think heavy fuel costs have created an environment where such sophomoric tactics, like whipsawing, is actually more expensive than having a well-run airline.

 

[HAZ-MAT]

All your base are belong to us.... yes sir.. 9 years and still going strong!!

 

[labbats]

Had a knock on the door at noon today. It was a FedEx overnight from Compass. I turned down the interview in Oct or Nov last year when I learned there were no more street captains and was surprised to hear from them again.

The envelope contained 3 sheets of paper with a list of work rules and an invitation to apply again as a FO. What is that all about?

 

[BOHICAgain]

Had a knock on the door at noon today. It was a FedEx overnight from Compass. I turned down the interview in Oct or Nov last year when I learned there were no more street captains and was surprised to hear from them again.

The envelope contained 3 sheets of paper with a list of work rules and an invitation to apply again as a FO. What is that all about?

You resume was probably found in the bottom drawer and they thought what the hell

 

[Flash]

All your base are belong to us.... yes sir.. 9 years and still going strong!!

You don't know your grammar! Geez, have these people been living under a rock? This is the best use of grammatical posting!

 

[ttuite]

The rules are changing. The expenses of having 13 direct flights to Sioux Falls have overcome the revenue generated. You may not see a reduction in capacity, but most certainly frequency.

What does this have to do with the economics of a merger? Instead of having 36 aircraft maybe Compass will only end up with 25. Mesaba may shed their 200's. So they will just be smaller companies. They still share the back office costs. They will both show a probable profit in the NWA system allowing NWA to move their money from one pocket to another. There is a whole lot more beneficial to NWA than just the cost of flying the aircraft.

 

[DoinTime]

I would bet that NW is looking for some way to dissolve their responsibility of a flow back in the event of a mainline furlough. I cant imagine that 200+ training cycles to accommodate NW furloughees on the E175 is very cheap.