It doesn't matter if it's a 12-year or 20-year pay scale. At the end of the day, when the majority of the workforce is topped out the costs are skewed. It happened with Comair, and when this happens Delta will look elsewhere.

Either new regionals will start up with employees at the bottom of the scale, or they will look for labor contracts that are severely in their favor. You said it yourself, that they will try to find the cheapest contracts. While I will agree that it is good business on Delta's part to do this, all you're really doing is delaying the inevitable of being closed.

The time is beginning to run out on all established regional airlines. The next wave of flying will be cyclical going to GoJets or other new regionals, and when they are no longer cost competitive, Delta will once again look for new alternatives.

Barring major concessions, no established regional really has much of a chance to live past the next five years or so IMO. If people just took the time to run a cost analysis of a senior workforce versus a junior workforce such as GoJets, they would see exactly why Delta is choosing to do what they are doing. They are in business to make a profit and return as many dividends to shareholders as possible, and the best way to do that is to control labor costs.

That is the reality that you face, and it doesn't really require a crystal ball to be seen.