If you were in the industry '07, you will recall a mass hiring wave at the majors that had been unseen since pre-9/11. Regionals were canceling flights for lack of crews, and had major delays in training the pilots they had for lack of qualified line check airmen.
I've been in this goat roping for longer than that, and I didn't see any flights canceling in '07. Not sure where you got that info, but none of the regionals were backed against a wall. They lowered mins and were hiring strong, but they all kept operating just fine.