Comments on: SkyWest to Start Flying for AirTran in Milwaukee

By: cheesedork

cheesedork — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:40:25 +0000

i just want to know why AirTran hates Midwest so much?

By: enplaned

enplaned — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:01:01 +0000

If this is Skywest’s best alternative for their unemployed RJs, it says something terribly, terribly sobering about Skywest’s prospects.

By: David SFeastbay

David SFeastbay — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:03:19 +0000

@ Hunter: True, but like you said it's hard to judge as the mainline carriers could just drop a city but this way there is still a feed. The mainline planes/crews could be used else where so it doesn't always mean a job loss, just moving the larger planes to different markets.

By: David SFeastbay

David SFeastbay — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:58:38 +0000

@ CF: By keeping the planes in Skywest colors that is what the public will see in their minds. So if AirTran decides to drop a flight/route/city the public wouldn't see it as a AirTran (logo) plane going away but the Skywest plane going away. That could be good for AirTran if all this doesn't work out for them.

By: Will Skywest do any Better than ExpressJet? | Flight Wisdom

Will Skywest do any Better than ExpressJet? | Flight Wisdom — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:53:38 +0000

[...] ExpressJet a few years ago, Skywest is experimenting with flying under its own brand. But not to the same degree. Skywest has contracted with AirTran. [...]

By: Nicholas Barnard

Nicholas Barnard — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:06:40 +0000

Its quite interesting. I wonder if we’ll start to see the traditional branded express operator break back down to the even older regional operator in conjunction with the express operator…

By: CF

CF — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:55:42 +0000

NM wrote:

Will the SkyWest CRJs get AirTran colors?

Nope, SkyWest colors.

By: NM

NM — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:40:59 +0000

Will the SkyWest CRJs get AirTran colors?

By: gary

gary — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:33:29 +0000

I hope that Air Tran/skywest give a good look at ATW or GRB. Our airfares are very high. Access directly to MKE and Air Tran would be great.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:26:15 +0000

@ David SFeastbay: David, you make a generalization that mixes apples and oranges a bit. While in this particular example, the regional partner is flying routes that would not be flown by the mainline carrier, that's not always the case. We're seeing more and more examples of mainline carriers replacing their aircraft and pilots on routes with regional partners. So, I don't think you can generalize the way you do that pilots should never be upset or worried about job security. I've watched mainline UA service all but disappear in SLC. They've gone completely regional to LAX, SFO and ORD, and about 70% regional to DEN. I guess one could argue that this is just in lieu of UA dropping SLC service altogether, but I'm not sure that argument would hold water in this case.