Whatever happens, it wont be a "FlyI redux". Atlantic Coast Airlines would not have turned a profit, if it continued to operate in the UAX system for the rate reductions bankrupt United Airlines wanted. United chose cheap over quality (no big surprise), when Atlantic Coast management refused to lower their rates. ACA looked for another partner, but the result would have been the same. The company, and employees, went ahead with the plan of creating Washington Dulles Airport's only hometown Low Cost Carrier, while fighting off an aggressive hostile takeover attempt by Jonathan Ornstein and MESA Air Group.
That being said, 6 months later we had no mainline partner and had successfully transformed the entire airline into a LCC. It was a big gamble, the company entered the LCC market with 88 CRJs and the addition of A319 jets soon thereafter. With so many airplanes to fly, there were up to 14 flights a day to many of our destinations. The load factor for a "start-up" airline just didn't support the operating cost, especially due to immediate fare cuts by United, AirTran, Northwest, etc. on matching routes. Some of those carriers had pockets deep enough to sustain massive operating losses over a long-term period. High operating cost of the CRJ-200s and the rising cost of fuel were factors, as well. In the end, the result was bankruptcy and liquidation. However, it is a much different story than what is happening at XJT.
Good luck to the ExpressJet pilots, by the way. Like Independence, your company tried to take what's screwed up about this business and do something about it by offering a superior product at a competitive price. There are definitely some similarities, but there are way too many differences to call it a "redux".
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