Comair a sign of a brighter future?
Looking past the awful pain this shut down is causing hundreds of pilots and their families, this shut down (and the rest of the regional airlines woes) appear to have a bright side when taken into context. This shut down does not appear to be related to capacity cuts, which means the flying will be replaced by 717s and other larger regional jets. This is positive on two accounts; one, larger regional jets mean better pay than 50-seaters; two, a shrinking regional airline sector combined with bringing flying in-house by the majors like Delta (717s) should reduce the time pilots spend at the regional airlines.
Sure, in the short run this transition is causing pain, and it's possible more pain will happen. But looking forward, does the above make sense? Am I missing something?