100% with tyketto! livery could be a whole lot better!
Agreed. I've seen some MSFS modelers over at the POSKY forums come up with better livery designs than that.
Back on topic, though. Logistics are going to be a problem here, on 5 different fronts.
1. Hubs. CLE is now in danger of becoming the new PIT. Obviously, DEN, IAD, JFK, EWR, IAH, ORD, and SFO are all safe here, but unless they ferry all of their regional service through there, CLE will have a hard time staying as a hub/focus city. I would half expect a LCC to eat this up. TRS can take advantage of this by advertising the hell out of CAK, but I don't see another LCC wanting to start up ops or increase ops there. NKS isn't that far away at DTW, and SWA is focused on expanding at BOS. USA isn't going to touch it, especially after their flop at PIT. On the upside, this does gain UAL another hook into Australia, since CMI has a hub at GUM.
2. Regionals. This is way too much of a clusterF***, it will take 2 weeks just to get started on it. Anywho, here's the problem. Too many regionals: SKW. BTA. RAH (with CHQ, and RPA). GLA. ASQ. CJC. ASH. TCF, GJS. LOF. How this will be ironed out is anybody's guess.
3. Airlines. In the early 2000s, COA was vehement when they vowed that there will be no Airbus aircraft in their fleet. Thankfully, they got sued by the EU on that, which COA lost. Either way, there will be some MAJOR crosstraining here, as COA pilots would need to get used to flying Airbus aircraft, should they completely integrate. I don't think they will, because most of their overseas networks won't overlap. With that in mind, I do not believe UAL's recent order for A350s will be affected by this, because assuming that COA's routes remain intact, there wouldn't be any spare aircraft to replace the B772s UAL has (keep in mind that UAL was the launch customer for the B777, so theirs would be one of the first off the assembly line). I also don't think the A350 order will be affected, as they are going to be used to replace UAL's B744 service, which is currently only to Oceania (read: YMML, YSSY). However, COA already announced their inagural B787 service, while UAL's B788s are to be received after COA's start service. UAL's B788s are to replace their B762s and B772s (UAL was the launch customer for that type, so by the time they get the B788, their B772s will be shy of 20 years old).
4. Alliances. If this doesn't cement COA's entry into Star Alliance, nothing does. CMI, being a wholly owned COA Subsidiary, is going to follow. However, would BTA follow? Also, last time I checked, CMP (Copa) was 51% owned by COA. Will they follow suit and join Star Alliance, giving them a presence in S. America?
5. Most important for me.
What will happen to Ch. 9?Other than that, the livery just plain sucks.
BL.
