Originally Posted by
widebodyjunkie
Rickair....i read alot about the scope clauses of the legacy carriers with regard to the flights they outsource to the regionals. One thing i don't understand is the significance of a regional airline operating a 50, 70, 75, 90 seat aircraft for it's mainline carrier. I understand that there are limitations by the percentages of mainline operations that are able to be outsourced to a regional partner, but why does the number of passengers carried onboard an outsourced flight matter to the carrier or (scope clause).
If United allows for 3 E-145 by expressjet/ASA from IAH to TUL, why could expressjet not utilize at 175 if cost permits and transport the same amount of passengers and only have to utilize two aircraft instead of 3. The same amount of passengers are being transported in either case.
1) Scope clauses are not for the benefit of the major airline, they are for the benefit of the major airline pilot group. Basically they provide job security. Since smaller airplanes generate less revenue, they can only support very low wages for the pilots so mainline pilots were not (at the time) interested in flying small airplanes for low wages. This started with 20 seat turboprops and has now crept up to 90 seat jets in some cases. Basically mainline pilots want to preserve the lucrative jobs for themselves. Management would like to outsource ALL flying to the lowest bidder...major airlines would become travel agencies and no longer be actual airlines.
2) If one large airplane could provide the same service to the customers as many smaller planes, then every flight would be an A-380 and it would only fly once a day, once a week, or once a month. But frequency is very important to premium and business travelers, so 5 RJ's is a much better business model than one 767 in most markets. To a business travelers, 1-2 hours difference in scheduled departure time can make all the difference.
A single larger airplane is more efficient (even with higher pilot wages) but not if all your customers fly on another airline which offers more frequency.
Once a day (or even every other day) works fine for many leisure travelers, but they only travel maybe once a year and the are not willing to pay premium fares. Business and premium travelers are the profit source for hub-and-spoke carriers, so they have to cater to them.