Pinnacle gets more CRJ900's for DELTA

SmitteyB

Well-Known Member
MEMPHIS, TN -- (Marketwire) -- 10/01/08 -- Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) saidtoday that its Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. subsidiary will operate additionalCRJ-900 aircraft for Delta Air Lines on a short-term basis beginning inOctober 2008.

"Delta has asked us to operate additional CRJ-900 aircraft that are beingreturned from another Delta Connection carrier beginning in October," saidPhil Trenary, Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s president and chief executiveofficer. "In addition, we are able to put to work two of our CRJ-900aircraft as needed during the transition. This additional flying ismutually beneficial to Delta and Pinnacle, and we are glad to assist."

Pinnacle currently has eleven CRJ-900 aircraft in its fleet, with nineaircraft in service under its Delta Connection Agreement. Pinnacle willreceive three CRJ-900s in October and four more in November that wereformerly operated by another Delta Connection carrier, temporarily takingthe number in Pinnacle's fleet to 18. The aircraft will be leased byPinnacle from Delta on a short-term basis. Pinnacle will operate thesetemporary aircraft under the terms of the existing Delta ConnectionAgreement, although Pinnacle will only pay a nominal rent under the termsof the leases.

Pinnacle will operate these seven temporary CRJ-900 aircraft until the fiveremaining CRJ-900 aircraft that Pinnacle has on order from the manufacturerbegin delivering in January 2009. As Pinnacle's aircraft deliver from themanufacturer, the seven temporary aircraft will be returned to Delta to beoperated by another Delta Connection carrier. Pinnacle will receive the16th CRJ-900 from the aircraft manufacturer by May 2009.

Two of Pinnacle's existing fleet of CRJ-900 aircraft are currently not inservice under the Delta Connection Agreement. Pinnacle will operate thesetwo aircraft from time to time during the fourth quarter as needed tosupport the transition of the seven temporary aircraft into scheduledservice. On days when these two aircraft are scheduled, Delta willreimburse Pinnacle a pro-rata portion of its ownership costs related tothese aircraft, in addition to normal variable compensation under the DeltaConnection Agreement. These two aircraft will enter permanent serviceunder the Delta Connection Agreement in January, as previously planned.

Pinnacle entered into an agreement with Delta in April 2007 to operate 16CRJ-900 aircraft as a Delta Connection carrier and began operations underthe agreement in December 2007. Pinnacle has already taken delivery of 11of the 16 CRJ-900 aircraft on order. The larger 76-seat CRJ-900 NextGenjet has a redesigned interior for passenger comfort, and has operatingcosts that are the lowest among comparably sized regional jets, providingfor an economic, efficient aircraft in the Delta network.

About Pinnacle Airlines Corp.

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL), an airline holding company, is theparent company of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. and Colgan Air, Inc. PinnacleAirlines, Inc. operates a fleet of 135 regional jets in the United Statesand Canada as Northwest Airlink and Delta Connection. Colgan Air, Inc.operates a fleet of 60 regional turboprops as Continental Connection,United Express and US Airways Express. Pinnacle Airlines Corp. operatingunits fly over 1,000 daily flights and transport more than 10 millionpassengers a year to 140 cities and towns in North America. Visitwww.pncl.com for more information.
 
Remember what I said about airlines wanting to "grow in the middle" at the so-called Regional level and not at the majors?

Yeah, that.
 
Remember what I said about airlines wanting to "grow in the middle" at the so-called Regional level and not at the majors?

Yeah, that.

There is a lopsided amount of 50 seat vs. 70+ seat lift right now too. This 900 flying may not be growth as much as it is smaller jets being parked in favor of larger ones.

I don't know what percentage of contract carrier (some people call them regionals) flights are 50 seat or less vs. 70 seats or more but I think it will change a significant percent from where it is now.

In other words if it's 60% 50 seaters today and the rest are the larger jets,
in a few years it will be 20-30% 50 seaters and the rest are the larger jets.

They simply do not have much of a chance with $100 oil. They'll be around but not in the numbers they are now.

Straight from the Boyd report:
RJFuel20032008.png
 
Not really surprised by this. . .it's been available on DeltaNET for about a month.

Were you guys offered these at a 1 -900 for each 2 -200s parked - like another DCI company?
 
Gee... wonder whats gonna happen in december, some sort of announcement where those planes will go next :rolleyes:. Unless of course PNCL signs that contract. At which point DAL will take them away anyhow.
 
I would have to go through the service agreement again but I believe it's a 1:1 at this point. I think there was a different ratio down to the min -200's then 1:1. Since we are currently at the min for nwa/200 side of 124 I think we are at a 1:1 track. I may be wrong- need to look at the ASA, prefer going to bed right now!
 
I got a buddy who flew these CRJs and apparently these particular ones are maintenance hogs. I dunno if its just cause they're some of the first nextgens or because we're in contract negotiations or what, but they got written up all the time.
 
Were you guys offered these at a 1 -900 for each 2 -200s parked - like another DCI company?

The ASA with NWA doesn't allow for that sort of deal. There's a minimum floor of jets (I think 124, but it's been a while, so Kell will have to correct me). With the planes already transfered to MSA, they can't drop the fleet anymore.
 
It's a temporary deal from what I hear. We're supposed to transfer them back to "another Delta Connection carrier" when we start getting the ones that we deffered delivery on. Interesting thing is, it was DELTA that had us defer the deliveries. Hmmm.

And I have to agree with jynxyjoe. I have a feeling we'll see the "We get to keep them if you sign this" deal....again. There's a clause in our contract that will let NorthDelta swap -200s for -900s, and I BELIEVE it was 1:1. We're already at our minimum number of airframes per the NWA ASA, so they can't reduce the number of planes we've got flying without re-negotiating the deal, which is always a possibility around here.

My bet: they try to use these -900s as a carrot come the new year with no contract, we don't fall for it, Mesaba gets more -900s.
 
It also made sense that Pinnacle got these 900s because most of the new flying will be out of CVG. I talked with Jerry Atkins himself and he said he had to give Delta a "friendly reminder" that ASA/Skywest(he also confirmed the contract included SKW flights) flying is right on 80% in ATL.

He also said some other things about what Skywest Inc. has planned for the future but nothing that would start any hot rumors. PM me for more details.
 
Pinnacle = cheap
Pinnacle = insane ontime performance record lately (which I think we're gonna have to tank to get a contract in a LEGAL way somehow)
Pinnacle = Run by Anderson's pal Trenary

Honestly, if I were in the -900 I wouldn't bid the CVG TDY. There are probably some angry Comair guys up there, and they do have a right to be angry.
 
It also made sense that Pinnacle got these 900s because most of the new flying will be out of CVG. I talked with Jerry Atkins himself and he said he had to give Delta a "friendly reminder" that ASA/Skywest(he also confirmed the contract included SKW flights) flying is right on 80% in ATL.

He also said some other things about what Skywest Inc. has planned for the future but nothing that would start any hot rumors. PM me for more details.



We (PNCL) will not have a CVG base (beyond TDY's) in the forseeable future. I have some good sources on that. With that statement said I would love to see the chalk board where these guys are toying with all of our futures!
 
We (PNCL) will not have a CVG base (beyond TDY's) in the forseeable future. I have some good sources on that. With that statement said I would love to see the chalk board where these guys are toying with all of our futures!

I would love to see that thing too. The only problem is there is so much chalk dust in the room from writing and erasing the plan no one can hold their breath long enough to enter the room.

Oh yea and as for the comair's guys being pissed. We are but I would hope that none of them would be pissed at the pinnacle guys. We are however extremely pissed at Delta's management. Ever since Delta bought us it has been nothing but bad news. If any of the comair guys give you trouble I assure you it is only a very small minority.
 
It's a temporary deal from what I hear. We're supposed to transfer them back to "another Delta Connection carrier" when we start getting the ones that we deffered delivery on. Interesting thing is, it was DELTA that had us defer the deliveries. Hmmm.

And I have to agree with jynxyjoe. I have a feeling we'll see the "We get to keep them if you sign this" deal....again. There's a clause in our contract that will let NorthDelta swap -200s for -900s, and I BELIEVE it was 1:1. We're already at our minimum number of airframes per the NWA ASA, so they can't reduce the number of planes we've got flying without re-negotiating the deal, which is always a possibility around here.

My bet: they try to use these -900s as a carrot come the new year with no contract, we don't fall for it, Mesaba gets more -900s.
Here's what our President told us happened during our management meeting on Thursday. Comair was going to get them at first. He said he asked Don Borhorst three times to make sure or he wouldn't have sent out a memo to all employees. Comair was positioned at that time to take them on and fly them. Some penny pinchers at DL HQ questioned the validity of increasing flights while they were trying to cut them (Oil was spiking at that time) So RA made the decision to hold off awarding the aircraft. Oil comes down and now it's a matter of operating costs and staffing. Pinnacle has the manpower due to Pinnacle getting ready to ramp up and receive the delayed aircraft in the new year. Pus Pinnacle was the cheapest as far as operating costs so, Pinnacle was awarded the -900's from Freedom. DCI has told all the DCI carriers that these aircraft are indeed there temporarily till Pinnacle start receiving their remaining -900 from Bombardier. So in January they are up for grabs again or they already have a home that only RA knows where.
 
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