azj

I'm sure you will all be thrilled with this news... DL has elected to not renew 13 more saab leases due in 2010. This means that a total of 23 will be returned to Saab in Sweden by the end of 2010. This also likely means more CRJ200s for you and perhaps even reduced or eliminated service. No news on a replacement, only speculation. There likely won't be news on that front until they shrink us further and demand pay cuts (more) in order to be "competitive" to operate the new airplane. Oh, this also means more lay-offs for Mesaba employees. Can we ever catch a break?

pbd456

i love those saab when i was living in cmx
they are 34-seater. weight restriction often. overbooked often
and earned lots of ecv.

i will miss them.

n7371f

Replacement? Dream on...

Delta can cut capacity by dropping 13 planes whose leases expire in 2010. There won't be additional lift brought in to replace the 23 SF3's.

Look for marginal routes to get cut and small cities in the upper Midwest to get the ax.

troyintn

I think it will be more in the lower midwest/ north part of the south east. Cities that are served by DTW and ATl. Charelston, WV comes to mind as a city that does not need all the hubs. looking at small cities in KY, TN, OH, VA, NC etc.

raehl311

It's already happening. EAU is down from 4 flights a day to 2. CMX is down to 2.

EAU-MSP was always a luxury when the drive is 90 minutes; I've always been amazed there is air service at all when it would be far more efficient to code-share a shuttle bus.

hazelrah

I think it's important to note that Mesaba was profitable before Northwest drove them into Bankruptcy.

I'm not so sure that it is the case that the Saab routes are marginally profitable; more likely they just don't fit with Delta's plan.

It is also the case that many of the communities served really don't have viable alternatives to air travel.

DTWflyer

Expect several Saab-only markets to be dropped over the next year.

Already gone: LBE, YKF

MKG, PLN, YXU are down to 2x a day
YQT goes down to 1x a day

MKG, CMX, EAU, PAH are all expected to lose NW/DL service to DTW or MSP as they will likely be release by UA CRJ service to ORD since they will most likely win the EAS contract.

Its clear, DL has zero interest in servicing the small communities like NW did for many years. Granted, yes the economic downturn has hit many of these markets hard, but DL has zero interest in keeping turboprops in the fleet, zero interest in serving small communities, and has many too many 50 seaters that they can't walk away from.

NW is gone. We will miss you.

MikeMpls

375 destinations and shrinking. The merged airline will not be the sum of its parts.

motytrah

Did they ever move any of the Saabs to the south?

thezipper

azj,

Thanks for the update... after the 23 get returned, how many will still be left in the fleet? My hometown in MI is served by them (APN) and DL just put in for more EAS $$$ to serve that area of Northern MI. Is this route now going to be flown with CRJ's ?

azj

At the end of 2010, there will be 26 left in the fleet. Again, this move seems to be in line with rationalizing the network. They can consolidate many cities with saab and CRJ service to just CRJ service spreading the flights amongst the hubs. Also, it seems that where they can, they'll pull the saab and replace the market with reduced frequencies on the RJs (Thunder Bay, Ontario is a good example.) Then, what's left over that MUST be flown by the saab will be served with the remaining 26. That is of course... until they make a decision on the 2011 leases.

It's hard to tell which hub is getting hit the most. It seems that all 3 are taking a beating with these reductions. MEM however, will only have about 18 daily departures. Well below what it used to be. The entire saab operation can fit into 1 gate now, with 6 parking spots. In the past we parked 12 at 2 different gates. The effects are seen in DTW with many cities becoming CRJs like ERI, BGM, ITH, ELM and others.

fti

Same with STC-MSP - three flights a day, 62 miles, 48-50 minutes gate-to-gate and 15-20 minutes in the air.

Cow 98765

All these airport codes! Most people know JFK or LHR but some of these mentioned are obscure. IPC, MHK, OTZ, LIL, VST anyone? (I'm sure many FT will know all of them!)

fromYXU

Look at the HELP tag at the top of the page. There is a link just for you!

Airport Code Lookup

bmchris

How do they return the planes to Sweden? Do they fly them with multiple stops? Or ship them by sea with the wings detached from fueslage? Something I always wondered about...