Delta Air Lines has announced in a memo that it will consolidate outsourced regional airline flying. Delta has said that it will be dropping GoJet and Compass Airlines from the 5 regional airlines that it currently has contracted to operate as Delta Connection.
Delta Air Lines plans to wind down the existing contracts with Compass Airlines and GoJet over the next 11 months with the aircraft operated being operated by those carriers being reallocated to the remaining Delta Connection airlines – Skywest Airlines, Endeavor Air, and Republic Airlines.
Delta said in the memo that the consolidation is “an effort to reduce operational complexity and create better consistency with the overall product and experience for customers.” Skywest, Endeavor, and Republic will each focus on a specific geographic region for Delta Regional flying as part of the realignment.
Endeavor CEO David Garrison said that the airline plans growth in Detroit (KDTW), Cincinnati (KCVG), and Raleigh/Durham (KRDU). “Endeavor will continue to be the driving force for Delta Connection’s success east of the Mississippi,” said Garrison.
SkyWest CEO Chip Childs, said in a letter to employees that Skywest will become Delta Air Line’s primary regional partner in Salt Lake City (KSLC), Seattle-Tacoma (KSEA), and Los Angeles (KLAX). Childs added “this transition west is also expected to help with our operating efficiency and reliability.”
Compass operates 36 Embraer E175s, and GoJet operates 20 Bombardier CRJ700s and seven Bombardier CRJ900s for Delta. Contracts covering the E175s and CRJ700s expire the middle of next year. Delta has said it is in discussions with GoJet to end the CRJ900 contract earlier than its current 2022 expiration.
The reallocation of the 63 airplanes will have a significant impact on the regional airline job market. Regional airlines typically staff airplanes near 11 pilots per airplane – for a total job shift of nearly 700 pilot jobs. This is a shift as the flying will still be available, but will no longer be available with the two airlines that are being dropped.
Compass Airlines operates under capacity purchase agreements (CPA) with American Airlines in addition to their Delta Air Lines flying. The airline will be losing 36 out of the 56 airplanes they are currently operating.
GoJet operates under capacity purchase agreements with United Airlines in addition to the Delta flying. The Delta airplanes they are losing represent 27 of the 54 airplanes they are currently operating. GoJet and United have an agreement for additional airplanes that will start entering their fleet this year.
Both Compass and GoJet were hiring pilots in significant numbers over the last few years. Much of this was due to attrition as pilots advanced to major airline flying. Any furloughs due to this announcement will likely be reduced due to the ongoing pilot shortage and to this continued attrition. GoJet in particular was already set to have their fleet grow so furloughs are even less likely for them than they are for Compass.
Skywest Airlines, Endeavor, and Republic Airlines will all have additional pilot jobs open up as a result of the shift in flying.
