Comments on: ExpressJet Ends Branded Service

By: Herkemer

Herkemer — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:33:35 +0000

As a soon to be former employee of this airline, the comments are great to hear. I had the pleasure of starting up ONT on day one and closing GEG on the final day, and it was by far the best experience I’ve had in my almost 10 years in the industry. Both airline employees and passengers were second to none!

By: Stbgta (soon to be getting tire again)

Stbgta (soon to be getting tire again) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:43:02 +0000

One of the best air service (logistic and personal) I ever had (expect for fist class on “foreign” carrier)…comfort of seat and extras were almost on the same level as B class on major domestic airlines, go figure.

Now I have to deal with cattle bus southwest and other cranky domestic carriers and non-direct fly and already feeling cramps everywhere and tired.

I am very disappointed to see this excellent airline going away. Hopefully you rise again in future and I will be the first one to get on the plane again.

Great Job you did for “average, common” flyers.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:13:09 +0000

I am extremely sorry to see this great airline go. Gone are the days when you can actually have leg room, no elbows in your side, friendly people, pilots who actually talk to you and most of all DIRECT/NO STOP flights without having to pay enormous prices and then getting only peanuts or crackers. I will miss this perfect airline and will be first in line when they emerge from the ashes again. Thank you ExpressJet – wings well flown.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:32:23 +0000

I definately agree with the anonymous commenter. If oil was at prices when ExpressJet first started, they would really be in profits now. They have an outstanding product, and they had a sound business plan to provide service out here in the west.

By: mechanic x

mechanic x — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:21:15 +0000

here we go again with the independance air thing again. cranky is right, as usual. i really don’t think the planes are all that bad of a choice. i think it all just boils down to bad timing. flight loads were reaching the 80 percent mark, even more in a couple of cases. not bad for a startup after only one year. fuel is killing us all. sad, sad, sad. to any friends who went to the west coast to try and pull this off, my hat goes off to you. amazing job. hopefully, we’ll see you here back home on the job. good luck to you all.

mechanic x

By: David SF east bay

David SF east bay — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:45:07 +0000

Gone are the days when there were a number of small carriers offering local/regional service. They were not the ‘big’ guys so it was more like flying with friends. They provided a good service in an easy friendly way. Everyone could name some in the area of the nation they live, but now we are heading to just one or two airlines in this country. We are to big for that to happen, but it gets harder every year for someone to offer a local product. The big guys run them out of business with over capacity and matching fares even if they loose money on every ticket. Once they are gone the big guy pulls out.
It’s a shame.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:37:13 +0000

Just to be clear and put assumptions aside, load factors for June ’08 were above 80% on branded! That’s awesome!

Had oil remained at $60, even $80 a barrel when this little operation was conceived it would be expanding right now on profits!

This operation is meeting and marginally exceeding expectations of load factor and market share, though in the current environment, not profits. There is no other airline/(jet)aircraft in this land of ours where this is not the case… accept SWA, whose margins are also slipping away.

Expect to see a large presence of XJT Charter operations in the west coast.

This information comes directly from the mouth of Jim Ream this afternoon in Houston, TX at a standing room only meeting with employees at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Personally, I buy into the future objectives of this company; generating future revenues from premier charter service THROUGHOUT the United States and neighboring territories/countries. The Cal CPA will keep the majority of XJT planes and employees busy.

Should the bottom be in sight of this current economic crisis, expect both ExpressJet Charter, Continental Express and Continental Mainline to exceed industry standards and expectations.

Should the price of oil continue to rise unchecked, the dollar continue to weaken, and international factors continue to escalate, expect NO US carrier to survive…. even the all mighty Southwest Airlines. They are not immune to the environment, only able to tread water a few moments longer than the competition.

By: CF

CF — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:16:03 +0000

I knew I’d get an Independence Air comment on here. Let’s be clear. There is very little to no similarity between Independence and ExpressJet.

*Independence chose to launch high frequency service from a central hub while ExpressJet chose to launch low frequency service on point to point routes

*Independence launched flights in direct competition with United Airlines resulting in a tremendous increase in capacity while ExpressJet launched flights on routes that had no nonstop service from any other carrier

*Independence threw it’s entire fleet into this operation resulting in a very fast ramp-up while ExpressJet only had a small portion of its fleet dedicated to the branded service for a more conservative start

I’ve never understood the comparisons between these two at all, because the similarities are almost none.

By: DRG

DRG — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:48:33 +0000

I was more shocked by the misleading Reuters headline saying that “ExpressJet Suspending Commercial Operations.” No corrections later, either. Made my heart skip a beat!

By: Jonathan Heckman

Jonathan Heckman — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:31:43 +0000

Not surprised. But I have to agree with Corey on this one. When they first started, the ERJ145 was a great choice, but who knew that the price of fuel would nearly double so soon. Yet I agree that the Q400 would do well. Those planes sip fuel. I’m going to miss their extensive service from TUS.