Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

Yes, but your Sony robot captain and co-pilot don't need per diem, they don't need to dead-head and take revenue away, they don't non-rev, they don't need a pension, they don't need the company to match a 401K, they don't get cancer, they don't need recurrent or upgrade training (maybe some software updates every once and a while), they don't need to go through an interview process, the company can fire some HR people (amongst others) and no need to ever go to pilot recruiting events ever again, and so on. Even when paying pilots only 30K, the costs associated are far greater.

This is how airlines work anyways, they don't actually have the money to buy airplanes, they have to lease them, then they have to control the operating costs and such. If it looks like it will pay off in the long run, they'll get someone to finance their course of action (such as fleet replacement, etc).

In the long term, this will make far better business sense. In the short term, it won't be worth it, but the usage and development that is happening right now is setting the stage for the long term, and it will gradually change over, as you say.