Originally Posted by What

This is 2012, things have changed since fuel was relatively lower and pilots were at a premium, airlines wanted the RJ to increase frequency. The industry has consolidated and is looking at capacity control. Airlines are reducing frequency and flying larger aircraft. AA has been outsourcing ground ops at many stations and has a huge order of airbus 319's to replace the MD80's. It would be more expensive to replace the MD80's with 76 seaters than it will be with 319's! The RJ are not economical, the 50 are the worse but the 76 seaters are not far behind, they just have a few more seats to spread the fuel but when you consider the operating cost mainly fuel of an E175 or CRJ900 is not that much less than an Airbus 319 that holds almost double the amount of people. Regional pilots working for peanuts won't come close to make up the difference.