Delta Air Lines has announced that it is going to rejig its regional operations and end partnerships with Compass Airlines and GoJet Airlines in order to improve efficiency.

According to Delta Air Lines, once the moves are completed the Atlanta based carrier will be left with just three regional partners. The remaining partners are Republic Airways, SkyWest Airlines, and Endeavor Air.

When talking about their regional feeders Delta Air Lines issued a statement carried by World Airline News which read,

"In an effort to reduce operational complexity and create better consistency with the overall product and experience for customers, Delta is reducing the number of regional carriers from five to three.

"This strategic move allows Delta to simplify the Delta Connection network, while maintaining the airline’s network footprint, as the three remaining carriers… will focus on specific regions of the US."

The reshuffle should be completed in 11 months

According to Aviation news website The Points Guy, the news was first circulated in an internal employee memo.

Meanwhile, Flight Global is saying they spoke with Delta and that the changes should be completed within 11 months.

As of the end of June, Minneapolis−Saint Paul-based Compass Airlines was operating with a fleet of 36 Embraer 175s. Bridgeton, Missouri based GoJet was flying 20 CRJ700s and seven CRJ900s, all under the Delta umbrella.

Delta now plans to redistribute those aircraft amongst the three regional airlines it is still in partnership with.

Delta has not said how the aircraft will be divided up

While no news has come out as to how the aircraft will be divided up, Endeavor Air said earlier this month that it plans to take 13 Bombardier CRJ700s that were previously operated by another Delta Connection carrier.

Neither of the other two remaining Delta regional partners has commented on the news.

Looking at the overall number of aircraft that will still be operating as Delta Connection following the shakeup, we can see that Endeavor Air has 156, SkyWest 190, and Republic Airways 38.

SkyWest has new planes on order

Of the three remaining Delta Connection carriers, SkyWest has been growing the most. It announced in January this year that it has placed orders for nine E175s to be delivered in 2019 and 2020.

What impact this move is going to have on GoJet and Compass Air remains to be seen, as they are both competing in a growing but tight marketplace. Delta’s news is not all doom and gloom for Indiana based Compass Air, as they also operate 20 E175s on behalf of Delta's rival, American Airlines.

GoJet also has another partner in United Airlines, flying 17 CRJ700s for the Midwest powerhouse. GoJet also signed a new deal with United Airlines in June to operate 54 CRJ550s a smaller version of the CRJ700.