Don't get me wrong Eastern are very good at what they do, you get what you pay for. In my personal opinion it is without a doubt that they are losing more "higher end" business to the likes of Titan, Cello and more European guys for the ad-hoc charter flying. This to me seems an attempt to revamp something to try and be more competitive on "certain flying". No matter what you do, a few new scarves and trained staff will not ovecome the same old selling points that it in an EMB or a Saab with cold galleys, economy seat pitch and an economy seat. Blue chips, sports teams, music industry want and are prepared to pay more for service and comfort and unless Eastern get some wider bodied aircraft (and I dont mean B744 or B777) but something you can fit 30-70 business class seats in 4 a breast, then other carriers like the above will contiune to win business over EMB and Saabs. On the other hand where you have football teams, blue chips and entertainment that want to got from A-B for the cheapest price in economy then you will never beat Eastern for this. The industry has plenty of this kind of work to keep them going go for a long long time in the ad-hoc market. They have the right acft and DOC's, together with off setting costs against a large scheduled operation to keep doing well in the lower - middle class ad-hoc charter flying.
Just my humble pennies worth !