Catch-22 for AE. If they raise pay across the board to attract more pilots, they price themselves out of not only of their own flying, they can't competitively bid against other carriers. If they don't raise pay, few will consider Eagle as a worthwhile employer and they can't meet their current requirements, let alone future feed expansion. As a result of that, it adds strength to AE ultimately shrinking, especially with higher attrition than attraction. AE will almost HAVE to shrink and that may be a handy excuse for management to use when awarding feed contracts elsewhere.

On another thread, it sounds like a new "peanuts player" has been born at ASA with rock bottom large RJ rates. That is what will be the litmus going forward. The skinnier the pilots, the more flying they will get. It seems the only viable carrot left at a regional, is the fast upgrade and that means growth via contract. Unfortunately as stated, AE's catch-22 makes it a difficult path forward for them.