Originally Posted by
AxialFlow
Keep in mind the industry is still changing rather quickly. Many of these regionals have merged. It would make sense for mainline to pick up their regionals to have better control over them (Look at what Delta made Pinnacle do with Colgan's UAX operation, and when RAH bought Frontier and Midwest, you know that got UAL's attention). I see regional sized aircraft getting a larger piece of the pie, one way or the other. And yes, scope will be lifted at mainline to protect those senior pensions.
There are no pensions left to protect at UAL and Delta. They are either gone or terminated. Americans pensions are going to be frozen. They only had half their pension in the DB plan anyway. The rest was in a DC plan. The pensions the pilots now have are in each pilots name. I can assure you that there will not be a ratified contract with 90 seats allowed at DAL. Pensions are a non issue now. You are about 7 to 10 years behind in your statement.