Hi all. I know. I was AWOL yesterday. Just trying to get a bit ahead of the earnings onslaught from last week and today.

We now have more details on the new 50-seat operation that ExpressJet is getting ready to unroll this week.

Was just talking to someone in the industry this morning, and he remarked to me that he was somewhat surprised that there had not been more written about the new operation. I agree.

In a nutshell, ExpressJet is going to take 44 of of its 50 seaters it used to fly for Continental (you may recall that Continental modified its contract with ExpressJet, eliminating a total of 69 regional aircraft, effective this year.) and they are starting a small point-to-point regional operation of their own.

Gutsy move.

Last week CEO Jim Ream was not very long on details about the new operation, and the official roll-out for news is set for Thursday.

But, thanks to Scott McCartney at the WSJ, we do know more cities that are involved in the new operation. They include Ontario, Calif., near Los Angeles, which will apparently be the new airline’s busiest city, with nonstop flights to 14 cities.

Other cities that will see new service are: Albuquerque, Austin, Bakersfield, Birmingham, Boise, Colorado Springs, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Fresno, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Louisville, Monterey, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Spokane, Tucson, and Tulsa.

For those with enquiring minds, I’d point out that that bulk of these cities are current Southwest cities.

Interesting.