pinnacle also needs to be a viable option for a place to come to work in the coming years for anyone looking for a job at a regional. Whether or not you want to admit to it, there is going to be a large depletion of pilots from the regional carriers and pncl isn't going to want to go so low as to detract from potential new hires down the line.

If this is their starting point then they don't expect it to be even close to this bad for the final proposal for this reason alone.