I've written this at least ten times, but here I go again:

-- NW’s CRJ have predominately replaced turboprops & opened up new routes. There are VERY FEW examples in which the CRJ have replaced mainline aircraft, and virtually all of those flights were lightly traveled. In other words, as much as people complain about the CRJ operating the early-morning MSP-IAH flight, look at the alternative that NW implanted on the early-morning DTW-IAH flight three years ago: it disappeared.

-- Since 9/11, NW has taken delivery of more domestic mainline aircraft than it has retired… yet the number of mainline flights has decreased significantly. The 30 aircraft being retired are simply not needed, and haven’t been needed for quite some time. It simply makes better business sense to increase the utilization of the aircraft, rather than pumping maintenance money into excess aircraft (including rotating some in-and-out of the desert).

The significance of the premature DC-9 retirements is that NW doesn’t foresee a recovery in their ASM anytime soon (to/from markets served pre-9/11). Given CO’s aggressive intercontinental expansion, and expedited aircraft (including the ex-TZ aircraft) delivery, it also means NW will likely fall behind AF-KL and CO and become the world’s sixth largest airline. It does not mean NW’s whoring itself out with CRJ (although CRJ will be a big part of its so-called Shreveport-to-Shanghai strategy).