Northwest Launches Low-Cost Carrier

[northernbizzkit1]

According to the Memphis Business Journal/airliners.net, Northwest is launching its own low-cost carrier. For now, it is under the name "Newco" and will operate 70-100 seat jets from the Northwest hubs. On the airline rumor mill, it is under the impression that "Newco" will have a dominant presence in Memphis while mainline will be in Detroit and Minneapolis...Mainline would continue to operate from Memphis on international/major destination routes, but Newco would run small-scale routes from the here requiring more than 50-seat RJs...i.e. Memphis-Gulfport.

[Rural King]

Sounds good. Potentially cheaper flights out of Memphis should be well received by the city and region.

[northernbizzkit1]

Sounds good. Potentially cheaper flights out of Memphis should be well received by the city and region.

My only apprehension is that it means fewer mainline flights out of Memphis...thus making it more ripe to pluck off the hub vine. The DC-9 flights can be taken over by this new, cheap, express carrier and make Memphis a dominant RJ-hub...

[sleepy]

My only apprehension is that it means fewer mainline flights out of Memphis...thus making it more ripe to pluck off the hub vine. The DC-9 flights can be taken over by this new, cheap, express carrier and make Memphis a dominant RJ-hub...

I think that's already happened anyway. I don't think Northwest has more than 20 mainline flights a day out of Memphis right now. It's not just Memphis either. Regional jets are the way most airlines are going.

[jmduke]

Try this out. My schedule recently has had me flying the 44 and 50 seat CRJs on the following city-pairs:

DTW-PIT, ORD-MSP, CLE-DTW, MEM-ORD, DTW-IND, IND-DCA, MKE-YYZ, SDF-DTW, DTW-LGA, DTW-JFK, MSP-JFK, BOS-MEM, so it's not just Memphis getting hosed on NWA mainline flying. All NWA hubs have RJs operating to some big markets. More work for me, but it is rather strange taxiing out at JFK in a CRJ while everyone else is in a widebody...

[northernbizzkit1]

I think that's already happened anyway. I don't think Northwest has more than 20 mainline flights a day out of Memphis right now. It's not just Memphis either. Regional jets are the way most airlines are going.

Actually, about 70-80 of the NWA flights out of Memphis each day are mainline. The remainder (I think 140 or so) are RJ flights. Remember...as of now, the DC-9 counts as mainline. Most of the mainline is coming from DC-9s and A320s, but you do see some with 757s and DC-10s.

[smeagolsfree]

I pick up Northwest crews and this confirms what they were saying. The rumor flying now is that NWA & Delta are in merger talks. Who Knows?

[jmduke]

The aforementioned Newco will apparently be called Compass. Look for ERJ175s or CRJ900s in NWA colors before too long. Too bad Memphis' Pinnacle Airlines wasn't allowed in on the 70-90 seat flying but Pinnacle appears to be in better shape than Mesaba whose 69-seat Avros are not long for this world.

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twinciti...27/daily39.html

[cdarr]

I pick up Northwest crews and this confirms what they were saying. The rumor flying now is that NWA & Delta are in merger talks. Who Knows?

That rumor has been going on ever since NWA and DL filed for Chapter 11 at the same time. I really think that kind of merger would be ill-advised. For one thing, their fleets would clash terribly...the only mainline aircraft they have in common is the 757. A combined fleet of Delta 737s, 757s, 767s, 777s and MD80s, and NW DC9s, 757s, A319s, A320s, A330s and 747s might be great for airplane-watching at their hubs, but awful for maintenance costs, crew training, spares provisioning, engineering, and just about everything else associated with operations. Parking some of the older fleets such as the DC9s, MD80s and 757s would help a little, but then you're still mixing one all-Boeing fleet with a predominantly Airbus fleet. To make things even more messy, NW has 787s on order!

I hope they don't merge because it would almost certainly spell the end of the NW hub in Memphis, and while that would mean increased competition and lower fares, that benefit would be more than offset by lost jobs, lost airport revenues, empty gates and about 50% fewer destinations served by direct flights. Meanwhile, a merged DL/NW would try to cram more flights through what is already a chronically congested ATL.

[northernbizzkit1]

That rumor has been going on ever since NWA and DL filed for Chapter 11 at the same time. I really think that kind of merger would be ill-advised. For one thing, their fleets would clash terribly...the only mainline aircraft they have in common is the 757. A combined fleet of Delta 737s, 757s, 767s, 777s and MD80s, and NW DC9s, 757s, A319s, A320s, A330s and 747s might be great for airplane-watching at their hubs, but awful for maintenance costs, crew training, spares provisioning, engineering, and just about everything else associated with operations. Parking some of the older fleets such as the DC9s, MD80s and 757s would help a little, but then you're still mixing one all-Boeing fleet with a predominantly Airbus fleet. To make things even more messy, NW has 787s on order!

I hope they don't merge because it would almost certainly spell the end of the NW hub in Memphis, and while that would mean increased competition and lower fares, that benefit would be more than offset by lost jobs, lost airport revenues, empty gates and about 50% fewer destinations served by direct flights. Meanwhile, a merged DL/NW would try to cram more flights through what is already a chronically congested ATL.

In all honesty, I think that if you saw a Delta/NW merger, Memphis would remain the same (maybe a bit smaller) just to provide relief for the extremely overcrowded ATL. I could imagine Salt Lake City, Atlanta, and Detroit being the major hubs with Minneapolis, Memphis, and Cincinatti becoming focus cities with about 200 flights a day (slightly smaller than the current Memphis operation at hub status). Yet, I'm going to agree...the merger is very unlikely on the basis of fleet. US Airways and America West worked due to their similarities...Airbus fleets with scattered 737s (and Airbus backed their merger with cash/A350 promises) and RJs...Northwest and Delta would not work unless they had the Airbus fleet doing Pacific/Western US runs and the Boeing operating the Eastern US/Europe...but i doubt this would happen...plus, there is so much liability to each carrier...they would have to be an LCC while being the 2nd largest airline in the world (hypothesis)...

But...I think even 90 seat RJs operating out of Memphis is better than nothing...I'm going to be grateful for anything thrown our way in the form of hubs...there aren't many cities our size that retained a hub...look at Raleigh, Nashville, etc.