Happy New Year!

In 2008 people had a lot of hard times and others have had many blessings. We are happy for the people who have good memories and hope that things will improve for those with bad ones.

We hope you have a wonderful 2009!

CRJ 900's

Delta gave us (ASA) a Christmas present of sorts 2 days ago. We found out we will FINALLY be getting 10 CRJ-900s starting in April of 2009. 8 of them will be factory new from Canada.



Skywest CRJ-900. Photo via airliners.net

The 900 is a stretched version of the 700 which is a streched version of the 200. I like to call it a CRJ on steriods. They are seriously long. And they've been flying for over a year so we are excited to finally be getting some. Long overdue.

CRJ 200 -- 50 seats (what I fly currently)
CRJ 700 -- 70 seats
CRJ 900 -- 76 seats (config of 1st/economy varies, don't know what we'll have)

What does this means? Well, growth for one and ASA will finally have planes with a First Class section. We were supposed to get first class this past year but it fell through for reasons too detailed to post here. Nearly all the other Delta Connection (aka DCI) airlines already have some aircraft with 1st class.

The only "gotcha" part of the deal is that ASA has to lose 20 CRJ-200's worth of flying by Spring 2010. But that's an eternity in this industry so ASA will likely find a home for those aircraft somewhere other than Delta and it'll be a net growth transaction. We can fly for anyone b/c Delta no longer owns us.

In the last year or so, we've lost some of our flying to other DCI carriers b/c of our lack of 1st class so we're hoping we might get some of it back, namely the international stuff. Turks and Caicos, Belize City, Monterrey to name a few.

This is good news in light of current economy. Now to decide if I want to stay on the 50-seater or try something new, assuming I can hold it relative to my seniority. We'll see.

Christmas in HD. Sort of.

Allison and I bought each other a new TV for Christmas, taking advantage of the huge discounts on, well, pretty much everything right now. We've been looking at flat screens for I don't even know how long so we're happy we finally got one.

We also decorated the house for our first Xmas here in casa del greene. A little fake garland and a real tree and wreath. I find excuses to use the front door now just for the smell.

Back to the TV. We bought a wall mounting deal from Costco yesterday and I installed it this afternoon. Allison helped me hoist the beast up to the mantle and then up onto the bracket.

I have a 4-day trip starting Tuesday the 23rd so it will be the first time I'm away on Christmas since I've been an airline pilot. :-( I will spend Christmas Eve on the riverfront in Cincinnati and Christmas day in Oklahoma City. I've never been to OKC. Allison has plans to be with Patrick and Lydia in Nashville and then her parents' in Dallas while I'm away.

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas 08'. We'll see you on the other side!

Click the picture to see more pictures.