Chautaqua Air (ie: Delta Connection) in Columbus to increase operations
 

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2003-- Chautauqua Airlines a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings announced today that it has reached agreement with Delta Air Lines to increase its Delta Connection operation from 22 to 34 regional jets. Twelve, 50-passenger Embraer ERJ 145's currently flying as America West Express from Port Columbus International Airport will begin transitioning to Delta Connection on April 1st. The entire transition should be completed by mid June of 2003.

more, see: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030210/102437_1.html
as well as thread in America West forum about their closing of Columbus Hub:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum12/HTML/000821.html

There is nothing in any annoucement that would indicate that DL service will increase at CMH.

UpgradeMe - Humm, I guess that we have a difference of opinion here...

Please take a look at this direct quote from the article:

"These aircraft will allow us to continue to expand Delta Connection's valuable feed traffic to the Delta Air Lines network, and additional service to Columbus that we will announce soon. Chautauqua Airlines will continue to operate its 61,000 square foot maintenance facility as well as a crew base at Columbus International Airport."

Does anyone have a clue on what new cities Delta will serve from CMH?

Most of the Chautauqua Delta operation is in Florida, fed by several flights from CMH to MCO. I would expect that the additional flights will be in Florida rather than out of CMH.

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[edited cause I'm too dumb to copy "Chau-tau-qua" duh]

[This message has been edited by LexPassenger (edited 02-10-2003).]

It appears to me that Delta is using Chautauqua to replace the DLX feeds that Song will not immediately take over. Chautauqua has been flying IND-MCO for a while now, given that is an easy one for them since Chautauqua is based in IND. (And just as easy to do CMH-MCO or other Florida destinations with their maintenance and other stuff in CMH) I decided on the route that I thought was a little more comfortable...777 to ATL in business and MD88 to IND in first.

Edited to take out last sentence that was answered earlier in the discussion.

[This message has been edited by indufan (edited 02-10-2003).]

[This message has been edited by indufan (edited 02-10-2003).]

DL did say in their press release that they will be adding flights to CMH....though they didn't say how many? My bets are CMH-DFW and CMH-BOS.

However, I agree that some of the CHQ planes will be sent to MCO. Yet, I think at some point they will have to go somewhere else. With DL's current order with CHQ plus these additional 12 planes, CHQ will operate 34 ERJ's for DL. That's a lot of planes just to feed MCO.

Chautauqua Air already flys the Delta Connection banner on routes from the Midwest to Florida, most of which were previously operated by Delta Express, and on intra-Florida routes previously flown using Comair EMB-120 turboprops. TPA/MCO-CMH, MCO-BNA/IND/NAS/EYW/MIA/FLL/SDF/HSV, and TLH-MIA.

I heard that Chautauqua might also taken over much of the plethora of RJ's that Comair flies from MCO to destinations fanning the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard. For example, 2x MCO-FLL still operated by Comair (the other frequencies are already operated by Chautauqua), 4x MCO-RSW, 3x MCO-GSO, 1x MCO-HSV (the other daily flight already operated by Chautauqua), 3x MCO-MIA (others already operated by Chautauqua), MCO-BNA (others already operated by Chautauqua), 3x MCO-PNS, 4x MCO-RDU, 4x MCO-TLH, 2x MCO-DCA, 3x MCO-PBI.

Those are the Comair MCO routes, excluding service to CVG and ATL. Plus Comair flies from other FL cities to SE destinations. Look for many of these to transfer to Chautauqua, especially since Chautauqua can operate lower-capacity ERJ's than the Comair CRJ's, particuarly on the intra-Florida network.

Here is a list of cities that Chautauqua currently serves or will be serving non-stop from MCO no later than May 2003: Indianapolis, Huntsville, Miami, FT. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Nashville, FT. Myers, Richmond, Pensacola, Raleigh/Durham, Columbus, Key West, and Louisville.

Considering that most of these destinations are being or will be served from three to six times a day and those 34 ERJ’s really don’t seem like overkill anymore.

Anyone ever fly this carrier yet?

i flew it on saturday as a codeshare (or whatever) with usair. it's your basic RJ plane service.

I flew them MCO-FLL once...

Same flavor as ComAir. In fact, I didn't realize it was a different carrier until I fished out the safety card in the seat at the end of the flight as I'd finished my USAToday...

BTW, I remember seing an article in the Sun-Sentinel (FLL Paper) some many months ago that ComAir is pulling OUT of the Florida market. If so, this move makes sense to complete the process.

The original plans "many months" ago were for Comair to become an "all-jet airline". They had previously eliminated all EMB-120s out of CVG and were left with some in the intra-Florida market. Now, I agree, that Comair might leave Florida completely but never forget the master plan of Delta to move around the Connection carriers as to not get burned by a strike, like Comair a couple of years ago. Interesting that Comair got rid of their props out of CVG and now ASA is flying ATR-72s in and out of there.

The loss of the EMB-120 in the Florida market meant that the Comair replacement, the CRJ, had a significant jump in capacity to 50 seats. This is too many seats for many flights. The ERJ's offer a better capacity match.

The planes were the Delta colors and are operated like any other Delta Connection flight. However, I always find the ERJ much more comfortable than the CRJ, and the crews seem much more with it and competent than ASA etc. I would say this little carrier joins Atlantic Coast Jet as gem of the Delta Connection group (both in staff and equipment).