G'day mate?

[GaTechKid]

ExpressJet wants to send 20 aircraft to Australia.

http://www.travelweekly.com.au/dirpl...18_10_2007.pdf

[wheelsup]

I saw that. Looks like they think CAL might dump more of their flying? With only 20 airplanes that's normal attrition for what, a few months over there? So probably won't impact any of the current pilots.

[Seggy]

Not good.

Can one say Cabotage?

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by Seggy

Not good.

Can one say Cabotage?

?

XJT will re-lease the aircraft to a "company" just like GECAS leases aircraft all over the world to other countries.

I don't think this is cabotage. Think "Virgin USA" or whatever that new Virgin airline here is called.

[SmitteyB]

I don't think this has much to do with COA, I think that Ream's realizing that Branded flying with RJ's on undesireable routes is no good.

Good luck to all the XJT employees.

[Seggy]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

?

XJT will re-lease the aircraft to a "company" just like GECAS leases aircraft all over the world to other countries.

I don't think this is cabotage. Think "Virgin USA" or whatever that new Virgin airline here is called.

Then what would prevent a US Airline from leasing aircraft/crews from Trans Siberian International Airline?

The way I am reading it I don't like the sound of this.

[mikecweb]

Originally Posted by Seggy

Then what would prevent a US Airline from leasing aircraft/crews from Trans Siberian International Airline?

The way I am reading it I don't like the sound of this.

What are their minimums?
Is their callsign Snow Ski?

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by Seggy

Then what would prevent a US Airline from leasing aircraft/crews from Trans Siberian International Airline?

I'm not sure, but according to wikipedia Australia is one of two countries that allow "passenger airlines owned by foreign entities to operate domestic flights". Which is probably why XJT is looking into Australia.

[Seggy]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

I'm not sure, but according to wikipedia Australia is one of two countries that allow "passenger airlines owned by foreign entities to operate domestic flights". Which is probably why XJT is looking into Australia.

Well if that is the case then I would be open to it.

Cabatoge scares the crapola out of me.

[aussieflyer]

Its not quite that easy though in setting up for ops over here. The problem is that the government is quite protectionist about the national carrier qantas and generally trys to block open skies, in reality.

What really happens is that, yes, international carriers can operate domestic legs down here as part of their international operations but they cant operate a wholly domestic operation.

To get a domestic AOC takes a heap of work and is generally up to the government of the day...Virgin blue had a heap of trouble getting themselves up and running and were blocked for every little conceivable issue the whole way along. Eventually the got up and running and are going gang busters now.

The problem arises that the Qantas domestic product in either its QF or Jetstar brands is rubbish and the government has to protect their interests somewhat lest they lose heaps of market share. slowly they are getting pushed out and QF is moving mainly to international ops and spinning off its domestic stuff.

i say bring XJT on...the only issue is that pilot staffing is really short down here because of the huge expense of flight training and the rubbish wages that the so called 'regionals' pay...everyone just ends up going overseas to places like CX and Emirates.

Anyway, rant mode off

[Nick]

I highly doubt this would be the arrangement should this plan be put in motion, but the possibility exists to start each trip with a deadhead to Australia and a deadhead back to CONUS.

NWA uses this for the B-757 trips out of NRT. The pilots deadhead from wherever they are to NRT and do 10 days of flying and then deadhead back. With the deadhead time in there, it is a 70-80 hour line with not a whole lot of hard work flying two legs in and out of NRT each day.

Again, that would not be the arrangement by the sound of this (if it ever materialized).

[meritflyer]

Originally Posted by SmitteyB

I don't think this has much to do with COA, I think that Ream's realizing that Branded flying with RJ's on undesireable routes is no good.

Good luck to all the XJT employees.

Yeah, you're probably right.

With load factor up over 70% in Q3 v. Q2, several hundred thousand new subscriptions to their frequent flyer program, and multiple new cities for service... ya, something must be wrong.

[FlyChicaga]

Where in the article did it say that XJT was giving this airline 20 of our current airplanes? I didn't read that.

Yes... branded is suffering...

[jtrain609]

DIdn't you hear? FlyI tanked, so Express has to also.

[meritflyer]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

DIdn't you hear? FlyI tanked, so Express has to also.

Oh crap.

[JBUCREW]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

DIdn't you hear? FlyI tanked, so Express has to also.

I did hear that... after saying something like that I hope you do tank.
At some point in your career you will go through a furlough and see just how much fun it is.... whatever

[N826AW]

<p>&lt;p&gt;

Originally Posted by JBUCREW

I did hear that... after saying something like that I hope you do tank.&lt;/p&gt;</p>
<p>&lt;p&gt;At some point in your career you will go through a furlough and see just how much fun it is.... whatever

&lt;/p&gt;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood his post. It seemed to me like a tongue in cheek comment directed to the people who auomatically assume ExpressJet's branded flying will fail because FlyI did.</p>

[meritflyer]

Originally Posted by JBUCREW

I did hear that... after saying something like that I hope you do tank.
At some point in your career you will go through a furlough and see just how much fun it is.... whatever

Lay off.

jtrain stated pure fact. ACAI tanked hard. They had no promise from day one. Their business plan was doomed from day one. XJT will not follow suit unless our managers said "hey, lets not take any lesson learned from ACAI and do the same damn thing... yay!!"

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

DIdn't you hear? FlyI tanked, so Express has to also.

If any other airline had a 60% load factor, you'd be saying they were in trouble.

I think SmitteyB might be on to something here. Some of those planes might be pulled off the branded routes that aren't doing well. Let's face it, there are quite a few. No one said "branded's tanking." The XJTers jumped to that conclusion on their own. In fact, merit and jtrain were the first ones to even mention it. What flavor kool aid are they serving down there in IAH?

What he (and me, too for that matter) are suggesting is the management at XJT are seeing an opportunity to make money off of airplanes that aren't generating enough revenue. It's exactly the thing I would expect Ream and Co to do. Shift assets that aren't turning a profit into an area that will turn a profit. Doesn't mean that branded is "tanking." Just means that some routes aren't making money and those a/c would be better allocated elsewhere.

Stop being so defensive, guys.

[jtrain609]

Originally Posted by JBUCREW

I did hear that... after saying something like that I hope you do tank.
At some point in your career you will go through a furlough and see just how much fun it is.... whatever

I forgot the sarcasm tag boss.

[JBUCREW]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

I forgot the sarcasm tag boss.

Here ya go chief

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0071020?rpc=44

Im sure you've seen it, but.....

[jtrain609]

That's good, constructive. Express will pull out, and if they don't, oh well.

That's life.

[meritflyer]

The branded flying is a minor issue to the company's future. The largest risk XJT faces, as in any single customer regional, is the ability of Continental to cancel the CPA completely or reduce flying. Basically, it comes down to Continental wanting to hold all the cards as addressed by XJT's CEO, Jim Ream, today in the earnings conference call.

The one impressive thing that XJT has been able to do is keep gross revenue up to pre-branded numbers and growing. Their biggest challenge is capital expendatures with respect to the branded flying. The market wanted around $407M while XJT posted $441M. One of the challenges XJT faces now is the costs associated with running an airline such as fuel which under their CPA agreements with Delta and Continental, they are unaffected by. From a market perspective, this is impressive and at this rate will effectively increase XJT's annual revenue from '06 earnings of $1.6B to '07 earning of an estimated $1.8B.

The next objective for the company is to control costs, secure long(er) term CPA's and identify the routes that branded ops fly that can/will support point to point service, which I estimate will be predominantly west coast based.

As for the loss. It could really be expected at this point. It actually was a little more than I had anticipated but will be more clear once XJT's 10K is filed with the SEC.

Needless to say, things will be extremely interesting over at XJT over the next two years.

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by meritflyer

The branded flying is a minor issue to the company's future. The largest risk XJT faces, as in any single customer regional, is the ability of Continental to cancel the CPA completely or reduce flying. Basically, it comes down to Continental wanting to hold all the cards as addressed by XJT's CEO, Jim Ream, today in the earnings conference call.

I'll go back to what I've been saying for a while now: Wanting CAL to take planes away at this point in time is NOT a good thing. Unless you've got something on paper with another airline FOR SURE (not "I've heard Delta wants us to take more flying," a signed or almost signed ASA is what you want), losing those planes is gonna hurt.

[wheelsup]

Now Jim Ream is saying they may take the company private. Pretty cheap to do it too, if I can read the basic stock market stuff correctly, it would only take about $180 million to purchase all the outstanding stock ($180 million market cap). Is that correct? That seems pretty cheap, although when you look at it, XJT doesn't really own anything aside from a paint shop, a mx facility, and some buildings for its headquarters, if they even own those.

Scary prospects.