Tuesday the DOT gave Northwest the okay to start its new regional subsidiary, Compass.

This is not good news for either Pinnacle or Mesaba, both of which now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to bid for regional routes against a new in-house competitor. Northwest has said that it intends to expand its new operation fairly quickly. However, contrary to what the airline said earlier in the month, when it claimed it intended on starting new service from Dulles in October, Northwest this week would not give a firm start date for the new airline.

Formal FAA approval of the new operation is still pending. As you may recall, Compass is operating under the certificate of the former Independence Air, which Northwest purchased from the bankrupt airline.