You cheeseheads may still be hurting from your second Favre-related beatdown this year, but you can rejoice that you now have yet another airline coming to town. SkyWest (yes, the regional airline) will begin flying for AirTran in Milwaukee.

It’s very clear that this is happening because of the AirTran deal, but it’s not your traditional regional contract. Then again, it’s not exactly the “innovative” and “groundbreaking” contract that these guys are proclaiming it is. This has been done before many times. The airplanes will say SkyWest on them, but you’ll have to go to AirTran to book. It’s a lot like the deal they had with Delta back in the day.

You may remember that SkyWest was flying as Midwest Connect until Republic came in and booted them out. Like most airlines, SkyWest has more 50 seat jets lying around than they need, so they figured they could just put them back into use on routes they know and love. Only now, they’ll get passengers from AirTran instead of Midwest.

The 50 seaters will fly from Milwaukee to Akron/Canton (Jan 5), Des Moines (Feb 11), Indianapolis (Jan 5), Omaha (Feb 11), Pittsburgh (Dec 4), and St Louis (Dec 4). All of those are Midwest markets except for Akron/Canton, which is a big airport for AirTran. Nice.

Some of you may remember AirTran’s last effort to use 50 seat jets. Back in 2002, they signed a deal with Air Wisconsin to fly as AirTran Jet Connect. That ended in 2004 when the airline realized 50 seat jets didn’t make much money. Some are already saying that this won’t work this time around, but this is a totally different model. This will work out just fine for AirTran, though SkyWest might not be as thrilled.

Before, it was a capacity purchase agreement which meant that AirTran bought the seats to resell under their own name and Air Wisconsin received a guaranteed profit. Now, it’s a prorate agreement. SkyWest is flying these routes at its own risk and AirTran gets to share in the revenue. So SkyWest has a big burden here while AirTran has none.

If you listen to the AirTran pilots, this is the end of the world. Their press release says “Outsourcing: Bad for Business.” Hmm, not so sure about that. They do say that AirTran passengers expect to be flown on AirTran planes and that means XM Radio, wireless internet, and business class. Hmm, maybe, but they aren’t going to get that from Milwaukee to these cities.

Granted, Pittsburgh, Indy, and St Louis have mainline service from AirTran right now, so this tells me that those flights are really weak. It’s either a 50 seater that has a shot at making money or no service at all. I’d say it’s good for business with that perspective.

I suppose it’s AirTran’s fault that the pilots are responding this way. Back when they discontinued JetConnect, AirTran said they “could operate the Boeing 717 more efficiently than the Canadair regional jets in short-haul markets.” They may have thought that sounded good at the time, but now the AirTran pilots want them to stand by that statement.

Unfortunately for the pilots, that’s just not true. When AirTran started JetConnect, they served three cities – Pensacola, Greensboro, and Savannah. Only Pensacola is still served by AirTran today. I guess those 717s didn’t work out as well as they hoped on those lighter routes.

In my mind, this comes down to just a couple of things. SkyWest has a bunch of 50 seaters lying around and is desperate to find a home for them. AirTran wants to continue to put the squeeze on Midwest in Milwaukee. Combine the two and, voila, you have a plan.

Will this work? If I had to place bets, I’d guess no, but hey, I’ve been wrong before. If I’m AirTran, I love this deal since I have absolutely no risk and I get to strengthen my network out of Milwaukee. If I’m SkyWest, well, it’s the best I can get right now, and that’s scary.

[Updated 11/5 @ 809s to clarify that this won't be sold under the SkyWest code]

Awhile ago, the discussion came up about how much more I would be willing to pay to fly out of Long Beach than out of LAX. For this trip to Jackson Hole, the answer was roughly $60 per person. For $441.40 per person, we were able to get excellently-timed flights out of Long Beach via Salt Lake on Delta.

We could have paid about $380 to fly United out of LAX via Denver, but it was worth the extra money to fly out of my home airport and to avoid having to fly all the way to Denver and then back to Jackson Hole.

The trip itself was fantastic, though it was spent mostly on regional jets. Flying into Jackson Hole is a real trip (here’s the video of our landing at left) – it’s the only commercial airport in the US within a national park (so I’m told), and it makes for a beautiful arrival. Jackson Hole itself is an incredible place. I can’t believe I’ve never been before, and I can’t wait to return again.

---

June 24, 2009
Delta #4716 Lv Long Beach (LGB) 645a Arr Salt Lake City (SLC) 940a
LGB: Gate 23, Runway 30, Dept 9m Late
SLC: Door E22, Runway 16R, Arr 9m Early
Aircraft: N368CA, Bombardier CRJ-700, Wavy Gravy Colors, Mostly Full
Seat: 8A
Flight Time: 1h20m

There is nothing like a pre-7a departure to really get things going in the morning. Seriously, I like early flights, and since our 645a flight was out of Long Beach, we didn’t even bother leaving home until 550a. After parking, it took us about 15 minutes before we were through security and waiting to board.

Once boarded, we were ready to go on-time but the captain, apparently unfamiliar with Long Beach, came on to tell us that the airport didn’t open for flights until 7a, so we would sit at the gate for 10 minutes. Nice scheduling work, Delta. When we did push back, the US Airways and Alaska early flights had beat us to the punch so we didn’t get airborne until a few minutes after 7.

It was my favorite kind of day to fly. We punched through the low marine layer and burst into brilliant sunshine quickly. Then the captain pointed the nose toward Salt Lake and we were off. The air was very still and I drifted in and out of sleep as we sped over the desert floor.

The flight attendants handed out peanuts, biscoff cookies, and drinks and they made a couple of passes for refills. Soon, we were descending into a sunny Salt Lake. We had a great view of the lake (at left) and then we looped around and landed from the north at ghetto Terminal E.

---

June 24, 2009
Delta #4510 Lv Salt Lake City (SLC) 1040a Arr Jackson Hole (JAC) 1141a
SLC: Gate E71/Door E21, Runway 16R, Dept 2m Late
JAC: Gate A3, Runway 19, Arr 9m Early
Aircraft: N611SK, Bombardier CRJ-700, Wavy Gravy Colors, Mostly Full
Seat: 13D
Flight Time: 35m

We had walked all the way back to the main gate area where we found it was time to board our connection after just a few minutes. They took our boarding passes and told us to walk to door 21, all the way back where we had landed earlier. Terminal E has a cramped central gate area. Once they take your boarding pass, you walk down very long, spartan hallways (at left) with a couple dozen doors leading to different aircraft. It’s really not fun.

We were originally on a 757 at 1120a but when I looked the other day, I noticed they now had a regional jet going at 1040a. I called Delta and since there was a schedule change, they moved us for free and gave us the only two seats left together – exit row.

When we boarded, I remembered why I didn’t like the exit row. The legroom was great but the cushion was hard, it was much louder than up front, and most importantly, the window was offset. On a flight like this, you want the window for the beautiful scenery.

We lifted off to the south and came around over the lake before heading northeast on this very short flight. There was no service onboard since it was only half an hour, and it seemed like just as we finished climbing, we were heading back down.

The view coming in was beautiful. We came in from the south and then circled around through the canyons surrounded by snow-topped mountains before landing from the north. A short taxi in and we were on our way for a fun weekend.

Jackson Hole is absolutely amazing, and I had no idea how spectacular the Grand Tetons were until I saw them jutting into the clear blue sky. We ended up taking a couple of day trips with Taylor at Jackson Hole Eco Tour Adventures. I can’t say enough about how much better our trip was when armed with his vast knowledge of the area. One hike off the beaten path took us to this place, at right. It was unreal.

Most of the time we were there, the weather was great, but Friday evening a storm came roaring down the mountain. There were sustained 50+ kt winds, hail, and a lot of trees coming down. I can’t describe how amazing it was to see the power of nature in this place. I’m looking forward to going back one day.

---

June 28, 2009
Delta #1265 Lv Jackson Hole (JAC) 115p Arr Salt Lake City (SLC) 225p
JAC: Gate 3, Runway 19, Dept 4m Early
SLC: Gate D10, Runway 34L, Arr 18m Early
Aircraft: N617DL, Boeing 757-200, Wavy Gravy Colors, ~85% Full
Seat: 24F
Flight Time: 37m

We arrived at the airport an hour ahead of our flight, boarding passes in hand. We had about a 10 minute wait at security but soon enough we were through to the fairly cramped holding area. It probably was made a lot worse thanks to two 757s loading up, including ours.

This was our only mainline jet of the entire trip, and it pulled up right on time, if not looking a little in need of paint. We were more than happy to board, though many people were watching the soccer finals until they absolutely had to go.

There’s nothing like boarding a big jet from stairs, and the 757 is one big jet when looking up from the ramp. As we boarded I noticed a wifi sticker at the door, my very first wifi aircraft. This plane had the nice blue leather seats but they were dirty. There weren’t any TVs, but I didn’t care for such a short flight.

We took off like a rocket and zig-zagged our way out of the valley. As soon as that 10,000 foot chime went off, I decided to play around with the wifi. That didn’t get very far. By the time I had connected my BlackBerry to the network, we were at cruise. I went to the sign up page and it took me a couple of tries to register a new account. Just as that happened, I got to the last page where you have to pay $7.95 to use a mobile device, and the flight attendant announced we had begun our initial descent. I wasn’t about to waste my money just so I could send a quick Tweet from 30,000 feet, but at least I was able to see that the system does, in fact, work.

Soon enough the Great Salt Lake appeared on the right and we landed after coming around to the north. We got off and remembered how nice Salt Lake City airport can be when flying in on big jets before we had to head down to the dungeon that is SkyWest Terminal E. It was a very crowded day down there with constant PA announcements for a ton of oversold flights looking for volunteers. Ours was not one of them, and after a few minutes, it was time to board.

---

June 28, 2009
Delta #4723 Lv Salt Lake City (SLC) 3p Arr Long Beach (LGB) 352p
SLC: Gate E76/Door 24, Runway 34L, Dept 4m Late
LGB: Gate 23, Runway 30, Arr 2m Early
Aircraft: N445SW, Bombardier CRJ-200, Wavy Gravy Colors, 100% Full
Seat: 10D
Flight Time: 1h30m

It was a full flight, and we pushed back only a couple minutes late. The captain was talkative and said that it would be a little bumpy at first but it would smooth out quickly. He was right. We took off to the north, had a couple bounces, and then we were on our way. The single flight attendant did one service and then asked if anyone needed refills on her way back up the aisle.

Soon, we passed just southeast of Vegas and had a great view of the Strip. We came in over the High Desert, went south, came west over Orange County and then over Huntington Beach on our way in.

We landed on time and so ended a long stretch of traveling – 24 flights in the last three months. My goal is not to touch an airplane during the month of July.

Delta Bumps Up Los Angeles – Las Vegas Flying Again
First they were cutting back, now they’re growing. What’s going on here?

Airlines Respond to H1N1 Influenza A Differently
Reactions around the world to the “swine” flu have been very different depending upon the region. See what everyone is up to.

Continental Shows Weak Numbers, Easter Benefit
Continental’s April numbers looked better than March, but remember the Easter shift before getting too excited.

Frontier Shows April Traffic and Revenue Weakness
April wasn’t a great month for Frontier. It’s hard to draw conclusions just based on this month, but I’ll certainly be paying more attention as we move into the summer peak.

SkyWest Starts At-Risk CRJ Flying for United
Looks like SkyWest is doing what it has to do to place CRJs back into service. And now that means prorate flying.

April 2009 Airline Traffic Numbers
Traffic numbers are out for April and they weren’t too bad.

An interesting little merger attempt popped up on Friday that, as Holly Hegeman says, looks like a squeeze play. SkyWest has announced that it wants to buy ExpressJet for $3.50 a share.

The airline was hovering just over the $2 a share mark before the announcement, so this is a nice little premium. ExpressJet, however, thinks it’s worth more than that and has turned the offer down. It got more interesting on Friday afternoon when it came out that Continental is also behind this thing.

Continental hasn’t been happy with the relatively hight costs of the ExpressJet contract, and it has apparently told ExpressJet that it will remove 51 of the aircraft under contract beginning in December 2009. At the same time, it went and cut a deal with SkyWest on a broad new deal that will only go into effect if the takeover occurs. So, SkyWest buys ExpressJet and offers to fly for Continental for less. Continental tells ExpressJet that they either do it or they’re going to start walking. Wow, it sucks to be ExpressJet.

I have to think that if SkyWest wins, the ExpressJet standalone operation will probably be toast. That’s really too bad, since I’ve always thought it was a good idea. But with oil where it is right now, those 50 seat jets (and really, any plane in general) don’t look very good anywhere. And SkyWest probably will want to remain focused on the feeder operation, I’d think.

But why does SkyWest want a bunch more 50 seaters? No matter what the reason, I’m sure the ExpressJet guys are feeling very, very somber right now.

It continues to amaze me that every time an airline comes out with anniversary livery, it looks exactly like the ones that have come before. First, we had ATA’s 25th anniversary. Now at the time, this looked good, because it was the first of its kind. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a shot of the actual plane on their website so I settled for a model from the retail shop.)

Then Horizon came along and decided to introduce a 25th anniversary scheme that once again brought out the streamers. True, the colors were a bit different, but it was basically the same thing. (This one came from the Alaskair.com site.)

Now, SkyWest has come along and decided to roll out a 35th anniversary plane. Thanks to AirlinersGallery.com, we have an early look at the bird.

It’s the same friggin’ thing! Come on, you guys can do better than this, can’t you?