It's a sad time for those who will be losing their jobs. For a good period of time, Comair was considered by some to be the gold standard in regional flying. Comair will now, sadly, serve as a cautionary tale about the industry.

In some sense, I'm not surprised by Delta's move. With newer, more efficient engines being built and America's desire for cost over service, the mainlines have probably determined flying two flights on 150 seat jets is far better than paying someone to fly 50 seat jets five or six times a day.

Don't discount how important it will be for the new behemoth mainlines to keep their extremely large pilot groups happy. Keeping the labor peace with a 12,000 man workforce can't be overstated. A strike or slowdown would harshly affect a company that control 20% of all commercial flights in the US.

Some, possibly many will disgree with me, but I doubt we'll see many regional carriers left in five years. I look for the mainlines to reclaim their routes and fly more efficient, larger jets with their own pilots staffing them. Certainly, a few might survive, but likely as stand alone carriers in the mold of Virgen America or Spirit. That's just my view though.