"Remember when the whole deal was being pitched there'd be "80 million dollars saved in synergies" from merging the operations.
80 million saved does't really equate to "cost them nothing".The airline is one now, most of the savings have been achieved."

Think about it, what is the additional cost that they are incurring by having ASA legacy fly the CRJ and Expressjet Legacy flying the ERJ exclusively. They have streamlined most other operations within the company. Combining the two pilot groups will even add additional costs with training, and hopefully the additional pay/QOl from the subsequent contract.