If you watch the Q2 earnings Q&A video with Kirby, he addresses the large RJ order and wholly owneds towards the end.

Kirby rationalization for concessions was

1. He believes as a result of PNCL's new CBA, Delta has a massive cost advantage over the other legacies and will use this to grow PNCL. US/AA needs to have a similar low cost regional operation to stay competitive.

2. The wholly owned regional carriers should be a stepping stone for pilots. No pilot should spend their career at a wholly owned, but should instead move on to mainline through a flow. This somehow justifies concessions because he said, and I'm paraphrasing, that if the pay continued to remain poor pilots would be encouraged to move on to the higher paying mainline job.


He also mentioned Eagle's rejection of their RJ offer and that they were currently in talk with PSA. No real mention of PDT.