Mesaba loses 13 more Saabs.

[profit]

Buck is exactly right.

Management would only consider a merger if it benefitted them. It may save a few dollars operationally, but the loss is on the other side with more senior/expensive employees.

Now, I will offer this.. Its possible mgmt would consider it, but they are going to use it as a big bargaining chip against the employees (of all the groups involved).

 

[CptMurf]

Same story over and over and over....Delta and NWA don't merge their regionals, they trade planes between them and whipsaw each of them over and over .....With one regional handling service and bare bone staff for management and pilots at each it would be ten times more costly to merge them with minimal benefit to Delta or NWA. Take away some of their whipping boys? The whipsaw benefits are coveted by management. Do they need as many as they have now in order to still be productive at whipsawing? Probably not but I think they will continue to destroy rather than combine. Delta could have merged many of their regionals over the last 30 years....so could NWA. Look at all the playground games they have had with (Comair,ASA,SkyWest)...and NWA with( Express1,now pinnacle, Mesaba, the Big Sky diabolical)...NO Mergers. They buy this one, sell that one, buy it back.....buy another one and try to move all future growth to it...

Comair/Mesaba...OK anything is possible but not probable. IMO

I don't see a merger of the certificates, but...

The battlefield is different now. Mesaba, Compass, and Comair now fall under a holdings company of DAL called MC holdings. Mesaba and Compass have been under it for a little over a year now, Comair is just coming under it so they may not see the changes yet. What they are doing is all subordinate jobs (Stores, Payroll, etc. HR staying seperate I think), are being done by MC holdings staff. At the same time a new ground handling company has been formed. At first it was called RHS, but it now seems they are calling themselves Regional Elite Ground Services. This is Mesaba, Compass, and Comair now combined ground handlers. So in essence, the only thing left at the three airlines are SOC, Maintenance, Training, Flight Ops, In Flight, and HR (?maybe?). The combined overall costs go down, but the costs of each independant airline will go up, because they will not have the income or cheap labor costs of the ground ops to offset labor costs.

So overall the three are already merged, but seperate certificates. The contract carriers will be hardpressed to be cheaper than any one of the wholly owneds.

 

[CptMurf]

Trying to find links for MCHoldings to prove it exists, but it seems they have taken their website down. It used to be www.mcholdingsinc.com.

But here is some documentation that it exists (may have changed names with Comair coming on). This is the lease agreement with the city of Des Moines for our hanger. Guess who signs it, the legal councel for MCH INC.

Maybe this guy could tell you their new name...

Or here's DAL Dec. 31, 2008 10K showing a subsidiary called MCH Inc.

 

[CptMurf]

Found a better link to MCH Inc.

 

[buscap]

And I smell KY, in the from of ASA being bought back so that big D can better control the ATL operation. Bad news for us, if it happens. Life under Skywest has been mostly better. Just the IT improvements alone seem to make it worth the transaction.

And after seeing what Comair has gone through...thank you baby Jesus, we got sold!!!

Big D is now Northworst and I do like this contract flying thingy...at least for now.

 

[JonnyKnoxville]

Can we force a merger to prevent the wipsaw from continuing? Didn't pilots do that with a few different companies that make up American Eagle today?

 

[wmuflyguy]

Can we force a merger to prevent the wipsaw from continuing? Didn't pilots do that with a few different companies that make up American Eagle today?

It could be negotiated but you will probably have to give something up (crappy pay rates) to get it.

 

[N813CA]

Railroad Act I believe will take care of things eventually

 

[SEVEN]

Railroad Act I believe will take care of things eventually

That won't take care of anything. Unions are losing the battle. Take a look at the industry over the last 5 years. ALPA is weaker than ever. Maybe Obama will come to the rescue.

 

[xjhawk]

Here is Deltas fictional plan. They want to get rid of all their owned regionals so what they are doing is getting rid of the Saabs that way when they staple all their regional pilots on the bottom of the delta list, the Main line guys will not cry about having a prop plane on their property. The time frame for this is dependant on the governments program to geneticly alter pigs to fly.

 

[xjgearbtch]

Now that's funny

 

[N813CA]

In the real world Delta wants to get rid of their contract carriers

 

[ace6453]

In the real world Delta wants to get rid of their contract carriers

Ha, in the real world, Delta wants some wholly owned and some contract carriers. The wholly owned can absorb the instant growth or the instant sh*t (comair) and the contract serves to keep prices in check.

 

[Seaknight1]

I don't see a merger of the certificates, but...

The battlefield is different now. Mesaba, Compass, and Comair now fall under a holdings company of DAL called MC holdings. Mesaba and Compass have been under it for a little over a year now, Comair is just coming under it so they may not see the changes yet. What they are doing is all subordinate jobs (Stores, Payroll, etc. HR staying seperate I think), are being done by MC holdings staff. At the same time a new ground handling company has been formed. At first it was called RHS, but it now seems they are calling themselves Regional Elite Ground Services. This is Mesaba, Compass, and Comair now combined ground handlers. So in essence, the only thing left at the three airlines are SOC, Maintenance, Training, Flight Ops, In Flight, and HR (?maybe?). The combined overall costs go down, but the costs of each independant airline will go up, because they will not have the income or cheap labor costs of the ground ops to offset labor costs.

So overall the three are already merged, but seperate certificates. The contract carriers will be hardpressed to be cheaper than any one of the wholly owneds.

Stores and MX still being done by individual carriers.....for now. Though Mesaba's mx department and stores is in dire need of an overhaul. I see payroll, HR/pass bureau, finance/supply chain, crew sched/planning all being handled by MCH. I heard all the MCH employees have Mesaba badges now; is this true?

 

[flap operator]

There is no more MCH. We're all under the DCI umbrella now and I would expect more and more rationalization as the merger continues. We already see it with DCI and Compass HDQs moving to MSP. I wouldn't be surprised if something was in the works with the Comair HDQ.

As for Comair and Mesaba merging... In RGS earlier this year when ALPA was visiting M.N. mentioned that Spanjers actually made a bet with M.N. that there would be NO MERGER between Comair and Mesaba. Seems like all this rumor stuff is coming from one side... and that's the Comair side.