That is one hypothesis and you may be right, however, there could also be some careful manipulation of the flight schedules between large and small jets. This also provides incentive for the entire industry to take more seats out of the market in order to increase price.

I am very skeptical of this new rule and think that there is a potential to continue the major airline stagnation that I have lived the last decade. The devil is in the details and frankly I haven't read the entire document.

I can't wait to read ALPA nationals response to this rule change.