Originally Posted by
jrl767
or they have decided that it's more profitable to deploy the 120-odd seat 737 on another route and get what they can from the 76 passengers on the CR7 who still want/need to fly at that time
That may be part of it, but the DL onslaught may be part as well.
They have a finite number of aircraft. They have a partner-competitor gaining market share at their largest hub. They need to defend their turf to increase reach and maintain their network.
They may be pulling aircraft off SEA-OAK, and making less money with said aircraft, in order to defend their turf and make DL's life more difficult. Frankly we don't know.
Originally Posted by
jasondc
$250 roundtrip means roughly $125 each way. Do you really think that's enough to eke out a profit? Even with lower fuel, it probably isn't. $200 one way / $400 round trip might be closer, but probably just barely.
$125 is plenty.
AS's mainline CASM was 10.09 cents per mile in Q1. This is a 672 mile flight, so the rate they need to recover per seat is $67.80. Divide by AS mainline's 83.8% load factor, and each pax needs to pay $80.91 in fare to cover their costs and their share of the costs of the empty seats on the plane. Load factor is pretty high on this route, so it might even be less per person to cover it.
Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
And I think a 175 (which is what a CRJ-700 will eventually turn into) is an improvement over a 734.
This would be less of an issue if AS had F in their CR7s. As you point out, an RJ can be better than mainline. The problem is AS's all-Y CR7 fleet.
If DL started this market with its CR7s, that would be more palatable than AS's CR7s. DL's have WiFi, streaming media, and F seats with meals, pillows, blankets, bottles of water and pre-departure beverages. Heck, that may even be an improvement over AS mainline.