Compass to start flying
 

http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1102675.html

New regional airline can start flying
Northwest Airlines announced today that its Compass Airlines subsidiary has received its operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin offering flights.

Northwest Airlines announced Thursday that its Compass Airlines subsidiary has received its operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin offering flights.

In May, the new regional airline is expected to start flying twice daily between the Twin Cities and Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., with a 50-seat jet.

So when will the first flight be? I'm sure many of DC based flyers would be interested... Can we have a Compass DO too ;)

Can we wait until they have a CRJ-900 or ERJ-175? Its hard for me to get excited about a ride on a CRJ-200. ;)

Ditto the CRJ comment. Being compressed inside of a tin can IAD>MSP isn't really something to look forward to...

The CRJ900 is on the Seat Maps page. Will this be the aircraft?

The press release said that it will be operated by a 50 seat aircraft, which is the CRJ-200. I think Compass is scheduled to get the -900 and -175, though.

1xCR2 for now, 36xE175 coming.
 

Northwest sent one CR2 over from other regional ops just so they'd have a plane... :)

Mesaba will be flying the CRJ-900s, Compass will be flying the E-175s when they come in.

DanTravels is right that Compass will be operating one CRJ-200 to keep the company active and the operating certificate current until their E-175s come on-line.

And Pinnacle drew the short straw?

Mesaba's already had the short straw -- they lost the Avros.

Well, Mesaba will very shortly be a wholly-owned express carrier for NW. And we know that Compass is obviously owned by NW. So, it's easier for NW to keep it all in the family. Contracting with Pinnacle, then Pinnacle deciding they can get a better deal elsewhere, would really leave NW up a creek with these new a/c.

NW owns all of Pinnacle's aircraft, which puts NW in a pretty powerful position. Its also the reason Pinnacle has desperately been trying to diversify.

I know there was another thread about the first flights on the CR9 to YUL and such. I just found MSP-MDW for 98.00 all in on the new CR9 in July, for those who want a cheap test run.

It does make you wonder... would Compass have been undertaken if they had already acquired Mesaba? Maybe reasons remain due to bargaining, but it seems kind of silly for an airline the size of Northwest to have two wholly-owned commuter subsidiaries.

Why is that?

Other airlines (US comes to mind) have a number of wholly-owned subsidiaries. I think it's all dependent on your business model for regional operations.