Houston-based ExpressJet ends self-branded service

Take a good look at the airplane in the picture below, after September 2nd, you won't see it anymore. Houston-based regional carrier ExpressJet is pulling the plug on its self-branded service.Until 2002, ExpressJet was a Continental Airlines subsidiary known as Continental Express. Even after becoming an independent company, it continued to operate regional services for Continental Airlines under the Continental Express brand. Its stand-alone service was an idea borne out of neccessity after Continental reduced ExpressJet's role as a Continental Express operator in 2005; faced with the prospect of idling a quarter of its fleet and laying off hundreds of crew, ExpressJet decided to enter the airline market under its own name.

It made intuitive sense: using smaller-capacity Embraer regional jets, ExpressJet would operate nonstop service between city pairs that were not economical to be served by mainlane carriers with larger aircraft; for example: Austin - Tucson, Kansas City - Jacksonville, Albequerque - Oklahoma City, Sacramento - San Antonio, or LA/Ontario - Omaha. ExpressJet's branded service allowed travelers flying between these two cities a one-seat ride, without the hassles of transferring through a larger carrier's hub-and-spoke network. Service began in 2007.

Operating in a nache market, however, had is perils. On some city pairs, there were barely enough passengers to make the service worthwhile. Some cities, such as Corpus Christi, proved to be unprofitable to serve even with the smaller ERJs. On other city pairs, however, the opposite problem occured: ExpressJet's service between New Orleans and Birmingham was very successful and caught the attention of Southwest Airlines. Southwest then began operating its own New Orleans - Birmingham service, forcing ExpressJet to drop that route. Ultimately, however, the same rising fuel costs that have hammered the airline industry as a whole forced ExpressJet to cancel its year-and-a-half-long stint as its own airline.

Several cities will feel the effect of ExpressJet's shutdown. New Orleans, San Diego, Sacramento and LA/Ontario were airports with a significant ExpressJet presence, offering nonstop service to several destinations that no other carrier could match. "ExpressJet offered twice as many nonstop routes than any other airline operating from Ontario," the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. "Once the airline departs for good, travelers through Ontario Airport should expect more of what they used to experience -- a stop or two."

In addition to its stand-alone service, ExpressJet is also ending its contract as a regional carrier for Delta. ExpressJet will continue to operate as a regional carrier for Continental Airlines and will continue to operate a charter service.

An acquaintance of mine works for ExpressJet as a dispatcher. I hope his job isn't affected by this service cut.

What do New Orleans and Denton have in common?

According to the US Census Bureau, New Olreans and Denton are two of the top ten fastest-growing large cities in the United States. New Orleans, which continues to repopulate following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, grew by 13.8% in the year that ended July 1, 2007, making it the fastest-growing large city in the United States. As of a year ago, the Census Bureau estimated the Big Easy's population at 239,124. It is doubtlessly even larger today, but is still nowhere near its 2000 population of 484,674.

Denton was the tenth-fastest-growing large city in the United States. The Census Bureau estimated its one-year growth rate at 4.7%, with a population of 115,506 as of July 1st of last year. The fact that Denton has been growing so rapidly (it crossed the 90,000 threshold in 2000, when I worked and lived there) is not a surprise to me; the fact that Denton is considered a "large city" by the Census Bureau is, on the other hand, a bit of a surprise. And Denton wasn't even the fastest-growing city in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for the year ending July 1, 2007, either: McKinney, next door in Collin County, had a growth rate of eight percent, making it the third-fastest growing large city in the nation.

And here's another interesting tidbit from the Census Bureau:

In terms of sheer numbers, Houston led the nation's cities in numerical increase during the period. Houston added 38,932 residents in the year ended July 1, 2007 to reach 2.2 million.

In spite of that, Houston might not be the nation's fourth-largest city when the 2010 census is taken. The Census Bureau estimates that Houston is currently tied with Phoenix, Arizona at the number four position with 1.6 million inhabitants each.

New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are still the first, second and third-largest municipalities in the United States, respectively.

Well, at least it waited until I got back to Houston

The hard drive on my work laptop crashed yesterday. One minute, I'm happily working away. The next minute, I hear a screechy grinding noise and my computer freezes up. Great!

Luckily, my company's IT folks were able to install a new hard drive, and I'm back in business. I'm also fortunate in that I was fairly good about backing up all my local files onto my company's servers, so I haven't lost anything that was absolutely critical to my work (although, to be sure, I have lost a few files I would have liked to have kept). The worst thing is that it's been a real productivity-killer for me at a time when I have a lot of work to do. Reconfiguring preferences, mapping to servers, connecting to printers and transferring files back to my local drive is a time-consuming pain in the ass.

I kind of wish they would have just given me a completely new laptop. Alas, no such luck.

Greetings from Dubai International Airport

I don't know what's slower: this airport's wireless internet connection or the drink service at this bar.

Anyway, my flight boards shortly, and I'll be on my way back to Houston. Via Atlanta, of course. It turns out that the nonstop service on Emirates is booked solid through the end of the summer.

I'm looking forward to seeing fireworks with Kirby tomorrow night. Not that I'll be jetlagged or anything...

Is Oklahoma City a major league town?

I guess it is now.

Meh. I never liked the Supersonics anyway.

Obama versus McCain... In Dubai?

The Washington Post's David Ignatius unveils an interesting, if not far-fetched, idea apparently making the rounds in the royal palaces here: why not invite Barack Obama and John McCain to hold one of this fall's presidential debates in Dubai?

The idea for this debate emerged in conversations and e-mails over the past week with officials in Dubai. It appears to have the unofficial blessing of Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid, the emirate's ruler. Dubai's leaders "realize the importance of such an idea and are ready to receive the candidates and organize the event," one senior official told me.

There is, of course, no chance that it would actually happen. I'm not aware of any case where presidential candidates for any country any have held a debate outside of their home nation, American voters (most of whom, sadly, can't even find Dubai on a world map) would likely find such a spectacle confusing and off-putting, and the logistics with arranging such an event - travel, security, media set-up, not to mention the time difference - are overwhelming. But I do think it is a novel and even worthy idea. What better place than Dubai, after all, to discuss crucial regional issues such as America's future in Iraq, its relationship with Iran, the fight against terrorism or its dependence on Middle Eastern petroleum? Ignatius thinks it's a good idea, too:

I hope that McCain and Obama will think seriously about these unofficial feelers from Dubai. The Middle East is a mess, sad to say, and dealing with the problems of that part of the world will be job one for the next president. We Americans like to talk about the miracle of our democracy, but putting that democratic process on the road would make it real for billions of people.

I especially like the idea of Iranians watching on satellite TV as Obama and McCain debate the future a few miles away across the Gulf. Now that would be good political theater.

(hat tip: UAE Community Blog)

For those who think Houston is hot:

When I checked the local forecast on weather.com this afternoon, I was greeted by this:

I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in August...

Sixty days out

So much has been going on in my life over the past few months that I really haven't given much thought to the upcoming college football season. (That might be a good thing as far as my Coogs are concerned, because the more I think about UH football the more excited I get, and historically the more excited I get, the worse the team actually does.) Today I looked at the calendar and pleasantly realized that only sixty days currently separate me from August 30th, when the Coogs host Southern University at Robertson Stadium and another season of football (and tailgating) begins.

I still am unsure what to expect from the Cougars and new head coach Kevin Sumlin this fall. I'll give that more thought when I write my annual Cougar football preview up sometime in August. It's always interesting to see what other observers have to say about the 2008 Houston Cougars, however, which is why I enjoyed reading this entry in the New York Times College Sports Blog. The blog ranks the Cougars #64 in the 120-team Football Bowl Subdivision this fall, and provides this prediction:

With experience on both sides of the line, a talented quarterback and a senior-laden secondary, the talent seems to be there to even make a run for the Conference USA title. However, this raises the question (an issue that must keep fans awake at night): how much of a drop-off – if any – can Houston expect with a new coach? While Sumlin has shown he can recruit, can he keep the offense rolling? The Countdown has a hard time believing that, despite getting a terrific young mind in Holgorsen, the Cougars can be as successful on the offensive side of the ball in Sumlin’s first season as they were under Briles. For that reason, I have Houston finishing second behind Tulsa in the West for the second straight year, though it will have no difficulty reaching bowl eligibility for the fourth straight year: 8-4, 6-2 in Conference USA, with one of those losses coming at home to Tulsa in mid-November.

I think that's a fair assessment. Aside from the fact that hiring a coach with no previous head coaching experience always poses something of a risk (although, given Sumlin's background, I do believe the risk associated with his hire is minimal), the fact is that the Cougar offense is going to have to learn and become comfortable with a new coaching staff's scheme, and do it without last year's offensive stars like Anthony Alridge and Donnie Avery. That means, plain and simple, that the offense is going to struggle for at least the first few weeks of the season, if not the entire year. If the Coogs can overcome that obstacle and put enough points to repeat least year's 8-4 record, then I certainly won't be complaining.

Moreover, my biggest hope for Sumlin and his staff isn't their offensive production. Rather, I want to see them do something to rectify the "Unholy Trinity" of turnovers, penalties and lousy special teams play that plagued the Coogs under the Art Briles regime. If Sumlin and his staff can work on these fundamentals and exorcise this demon of sloppiness from the team, then maybe offensive production won't be as big of a concern. A few more yards on a kick return here and a few less turnovers there, not to mention more successful field goal attempts and fewer drive-killing penalties, can add up to points, and wins, on their own.

Despite the uncertainty of hiring a new coach, bringing in a new staff, and installing a new offensive scheme, I'm looking forward to the start of the season. College football is my favorite sport and besides, I've watched enough cricket, soccer and rugby over here to last me awhile.

A great way to start the day

The taxi driver who was taking me to work this morning nearly got me killed. He was too busy eating his apple, listening to the radio, talking on his cell phone or whatever else he was doing to pay attention to the traffic around him, and just narrowly missed causing a massive accident at the always-congested intersection of Sheikh Rashid and Oud Metha Roads.

Friends, family and acquaintances of mine worry about me being over here because they perceive the Middle East as a dangerous part of the world or because they see a potential for terrorist activity in the UAE (although a recent terror alert issued by British authorities might have been based on a barroom hoax).

But the truth is this: the biggest hazard to my well-being - or for that matter, anybody's well-being - in Dubai is not violence or terrorism, but traffic. Between poor driving habits, myriad driver distractions and ever-present congestion, Dubai's roadways are by far this city's most dangerous aspect.

George Carlin

I just discovered that George Carlin has passed away at a Los Angeles hospital.

My shock and grief over his death is suitably expressed through his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television:"

SHIT PISS FUCK CUNT COCKSUCKER MOTHERFUCK TITS!

George Carlin was one of my favorite stand-up comics. When I was a kid I used to sneak to the downstairs television after my parents were asleep just so I could watch his profanity-laced HBO specials. I appreciated his observations about the absurdities, oddities and hipocrisies of everyday life. But I found him especially poignant and compelling when he talked about language and the way people used - or misused - it:

Mr. Carlin was a surprisingly effective physical comedian, prowling the stage with a microphone and delivering his punch lines with body English and facial acrobatics. But the heart of his humor was verbal. One of his favorite bits was an extended riff, a mock tirade, against what he called “soft language — the language that takes the life out of life.” Soft language was the substitution, say, of “bathroom tissue” for “toilet paper”; it was calling the dump the landfill and saying you were experiencing a “negative cash-flow situation” when what you really meant was that you were broke.

Mr. Carlin had dozens of examples, and he could cite them for minutes on end, alternately rueful and disbelieving. But what came through, even as he shook his head and used one or more of the seven forbidden words to say how stupid we were, was his love of language itself and how various and evocative it was. Even the expletives — or perhaps especially the expletives.

His contention that Vietnam veterans would have received better care if the condition known as "post-traumatic stress disorder" was still called "shell shock," as it was during the era of the First World War, has always been a favorite of mine.

I didn't find Carlin's more recent material to be quite as funny as his stuff from the 70s and 80s. It was darker, angrier, more contemptuous. But it was still relevant. Carlin never became irrelelvant. That is something he will always be remembered for.

For some reason, I've always had an affinity for foul-mouthed shock-comics Sam Kinison, who died in 1991, is still one of my favorites.

Carlin apparently died of heart failure. He was 71.

UPDATE: Carlin's New York Times obit is here.