Comments on: Another one bites the dust… gradually.

By: Chad

Chad — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:32:17 +0000

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.

By: Seth

Seth — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:41:17 +0000

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.

By: Antonio

Antonio — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:07:26 +0000

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.

By: Cranky Flier

Cranky Flier — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:39:41 +0000

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.