Again you have not been paying attention. Though Congress recently voted for extending EAS subsidies that expire in 2013 out to 2015, they also restricted new entrants - meaning no new EAS contracts. Additionally, part of the extension agreement was to allow carriers that currently have EAS contracts to drop out of those contracts in 2013 if they wish without penalty. The industry is NOT trending back in the way you suggest. As a whole it is downsizing. Delta, US Airways both due to financial concerns and the slot swap will be ceasing regional service into as many as 30 markets over the next 10 to 12 months. Delta has also pulled out of every EAS market where it's EAS contract allowed it to do so.

The reality is that the economics of this industry no long support scheduled air carrier service into small town America. The "hub and spoke" system of the airline industry as it stands today is simply not economically sustainable and it is going through significant downsizing right now. This is not a guess or an opinion, this IS happening. The nonsensical city pairs you refer too are that way due to contractual requirements. If anything this should tell you that the factors behind airframe selection on certain routes is a far more complex issue then fuel burn.

The other issue you have working against you is that turboprop technology has matured. TPs are not going to get any more efficient then they already are and Turbofan technology is rapidly closing the gap of fuel burn between the two power plant types. It was simply inevitable that TP's would eventually see their end in US pax service. Though they will certainly carry on in small numbers for several more years what you will not see is an expansion of TP's at any carrier.