There's a line of BS I've heard from the ALPA folks several times now, most recently in reply to an excellent series of queries from tsquare. They're claiming that this TA and the 76-seat scope relief contained within are the ONLY thing that can make DCI shrink (specifically, the 50 seaters) and that without this TA, there WILL be 300-some-odd 50 seaters still at DCI till the 2020s. Well, let's think about that, shall we?

What happens if ya'll shoot down this TA? Is DL really gonna sit on those 300+ inefficient airframes with their thumbs up their butt, going "oh gee, we really woulda liked to exchange these for 76 seaters, but oh well, guess we'll just lose money on em." No. There is a plan B. They have a plan for those airplanes just like they had a plan for the Mesa ERJs, just like they have a plan for the Comair CRJ2s. The Pinnacle bankruptcy is a huge clue, I think. Delta is pulling the strings there, they practically forced 9E into BK. Exactly how long are the other regionals who are really exposed to 50 seat feed going to keep flying around getting more and more expensive before they're in BK too? Every single BK is a chance for DL to cancel contracts and reject leases. This TA is just an experiment to see if they can get you guys to bite on 70 more DC-9 replacements. If they really needed your help to get out of the CRJ morass, they would have put more cash on the table.