I feel dirty. Just purchased a Y fare IAH-JAN, and didn't even get Rows 12 or 1 on the ERJ-145 for my outbound :eek:. Oh well - Between that and renting a car, it's still cheaper than the $475 IAH-MLU fares that involved a Colgan Air Saab.

I say DL will be in dire straits by the end of the year.

Xjet branded flights will be gone by 9/1.

I suspect UAUA will survive somehow, but end up in bankruptcy. Then again, if they don't make nice with their staff, it's a crapshoot.

So, if UA bought the pacific network from PanAm years ago, who's going to buy it from them?

I have an idea. CO keeps taking new domestic aircrafts - 738, 739ERs, perhaps the 753s from ATA - but they're not growing domestic capacity. They need longhaul aircrafts, but only two 772s next year and 6 much later, while the 787s arrival date keeps pushing away.

Now, CO has 36 73Gs. It's the smallest fleet of any of the sub-type (if you count all 739s as one type, future and present), and it can be fitted with extra tanks to do longhaul runs (NH's NRT-India, Privatair's AMS-IAH), and it's not as efficient as the 738/9s for domestics...

Why not convert them into longhaul aircrafts with about 16 BF seats and remainder as coach?

Here are the routes that can be flown with them:

- Hawaii. A 764 is too big for IAH-OGG, but a 73G can make it work. Maybe even a 2nd EWR-HNL, 2nd HNL-GUM. Restart HNL-NGO, plus other secondary Japanese cities with no non-stop to HNL at this time. And possible new destinations in the South Pacific that has few competition right now.

- Southern S. America. IAH-SCL, for example. MVD maybe out of range.

- Europe and N. Africa. For all the markets that are too big for a 762/4, and too far for the 752. And they can also be flown to 752 destinations in the winter which are not daily right now. I'd think it'll be easier to negotiate business contracts if a route is daily year round.

On the 73Gs where do the extra tanks get installed?

Do you think they'd pull the 764 Mikes off of the IAH-HNL routes? Would they really want 20 BF seats going anywhere else?

I could see IAH-OGG being done if CO sees a market there (though HA seems to have a heavy presence).

If they do add BF seats to the 73Gs the economy capacity goes down by what? 3-4 rows?

I have no idea where the extra tanks go. :)

IAH-HNL are 764x2 now. They'll stay. 73Gs only for secondary routes or extra EWR-HNL.

4 rows of BF seats is like 220". It'll take the current 3 rows of FC plus 3-4 rows of Y.

So, instead of 12F/112Y, they'll become 16J/88Y or 16J/94Y.

It will never happen, but it's nice to dream. Such aircraft would be right-sized for:

EWR-KEF
EWR-HEL
EWR-ORK
EWR/IAH-SVG
IAH-ABZ
IAH-SCL
IAH-MAO
IAH-BEL
IAH-BHZ

And many more places such mythical birds will never fly to. :D

Why not take this idea one step further and have the 73G's as an all J product (ala PrivatAir) and run the oil routes. IAH - DXB. IAH - KWI (?). etc.

Knock eos in the head before they even have a chance to stand up in the marketplace. :o

Those routes will be out-of-range and require a fuel stop somewhere, limiting its appeal. And there's enough enough routes and markets for significant number of aircrafts. But I think they can probably find enough routes to have single configurations of J/Y for the whole 36-strong fleet.

Haven't you been taking exams for like 7 years now? When the heck are you finally graduating???

Hey now, I've been taking exams now for seven years.

I just came accross this website which allows you to hear live ATC communications. It is pretty neat.

For folks in the CLE area who don't mind a (relatively) short drive west to a small college town in the heart of Indiana, the trade winds of Hawaii are calling (cheaply). Check out the MR forum for a SBN-HNL deal.

Hey, what are you complaining about? You should like perpetual college students! In a way, they help pay your salary... and mine too. ;)

Anyway, the odds of CO restarting hourly IAH-EFD/HOU service 10 times/day with a 735 are probably 10 times greater than J.Edward not being a student. :p

I've pushed it back as far as I possibly can!

...but the folks have made it quite clear that I go off the "family plan" when I finally do graduate (and that's either at the end of 08 or spring 09). So when the dust settles I'll have a m.s. in Accountancy, CPA, oh, and hopefully a job.

And then "baby bird" will be paddling his own canoe as Mom says.

No comment :p

The catch is being a student is like an airline being in Ch. 11: it's a great place to be. One can engage in business as normal, albeit with minor limitations, and not be burdened by the majority of the liabilities and consequences found in the real world.