ExpressJet, the airline best known for flying Embraer regional jets under the Continental and Delta brand names, is shutting down its own self-branded operations, effective September 2.
This on the heels of the cancellation of their contract with Delta. What’s left? Contract flying for Continental. Put this one on full-on deathwatch.
It’s a pleasant turn of events, though, insofar there wasn’t a sudden “sorry, we’re out of business, sorry” sign on their website, as in recent shutdowns of Skybus, Maxjet, Eos, etc. ExpressJet had the dignity of announcing the date of their wind-down in advance. (Seriously, that’s nice!) They’re still selling tickets.
This wasn’t what management was planning, I’m sure:
ExpressJet rejected an unsolicited $3.50-a-share bid from SkyWest Inc in April, saying the fair value of its stock was substantially higher than that.
The current stock quote, as of writing: $0.38. Ouch. How’s that $3.50 offer looking now?
So, has anyone out there flown ExpressJet? They weren’t flying where I ever needed to go, so I can’t speak to their product. (Here’s their route map.) For those who’ve flown them, will you miss ‘em?
(Thanks to Antonio, Katie, and Steve for sending this one in.)
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July 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I flew them last year, and they do have a very nice product. Leather seats with tempurpedic cushions (seems weird, but it’s not), XM radio, and even some food onboard. So yeah, I’ll miss them.
But don’t expect this means they’ll be going under anytime in the near future. They just re-upped their long term contract with Continental, and that’s not going to change.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
For what they were, they offered a pretty good product.
As mentioned earlier, the seats aren’t bad, although legroom was some of the worst I’ve experienced. The planes are nice and quiet though, and the did have free drinks, $1 beers, and $3 wines/liquors. They also stuffed you full of snacks. On a recent trip from Santa Barbara to Sacramento (1 hour flight), they gave me 4 different snacks, and a mint at the end!
They were also smart in choosing their routes, finding niches that weren’t covered by other airlines. It’s a shame they’re closing doors, this is the first airline to shut doors that I’ll actually miss.
July 11th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Choosing to fly routes that were not covered by the glut of other carriers may have seemed smart, but that decision seems to have backfired nicely. I’m not entirely convinced that they’d still be in business even at $60/barrel oil.
As for putting them on death-watch, no way. As you note, they fly regionally for Continental. They actually operate ~200 planes for Continental, versus 39 total for the Delta and branded operations. And they renegotiated the capacity agreement with CO recently so that many of the planes that were branded/Delta ops will be going back into CoEx service. With ~200 planes operating under the CoEx brand they are a critical component of Continental’s route structure. The only way they die is if Continental goes out. Plus Continental owns the planes and leases them back to XJet, so Continental cannot afford to have them actually fail on that front either. The losses in lease payments would be atrocious. CO would likely find a way to bail them out or buy them out if it came to that.
July 13th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
As stated above, I don’t see XJet going under, as Continental would surely bail them out. The route plan that XJet flies is a real cost savings for Continental, and the jets are owned by Continental.
My brother works for XJet, and he feels pretty confident that they are secure, although they are seeing layoffs and % cuts on salaries. It’s a shame, as I recall XJet was one of only three airlines posting earnings just a few years ago.