Originally Posted by entropy
its not really any different. I wasn't saying that in the short term they could sub the planes, but if the service didn't work, they don't lose their investment in the planes, they just swap them into standard 737 config.
I'm not sure how the pilot scope clause would work, theoretically, a 48 pax plane could be piloted by non-CO pilots.
Agreed on the ability to reconfigure if the idea of an all J 73G-ER didn't work out; I just don't think that CO would ever do it, given their approach of keeping fleet commonality (and thus operational flexibility) to a maximum (which I think makes sense).
Perhaps, as ContinentalFan has written, a subsidiary could be formed to operate all J flights, or, more likely, a licensing/code share agreement with an outfit like PrivatAit, or even MaxJet, or Eos.
Regarding the issue of the pilots' contract I don't know enough about the details of this, but I'm not sure CAL (or passengers) would want junior pilots making about $23,000 a year flying TATL EOPS routes.