It is a good thing, they will shift flying from the regionals back to mainline because as they re fleet mainline and with current cost even if pilots worked for free the RJs earning potential is not as great as small NB aircraft. With the industry consolidating, 1500 hr rules, lack of people interested in becoming pilots, new rest rules and much of the outsourcing that has taken place at other workgroups outside of the flight crews the regionals don't serve as much purpose being as large as they are but they will continue to have a place. The regionals combined will be 1500 aircraft by end of 2015 and that number will likely continue to shrink as we approach the end of the decade and retirements pick up to over 2,500 pilots a year when you account for 121 and cargo pilots. Don't forget also that a good number of regionals have a significant amount of pilots who will retire in the next 10 years. Eagle will retire over 20 pilots a year over the next 10 years. That's an extra 200+ pilots. SKW, Pinnacle, RAH, EXJ have numbers that are comparable so out of the 17000 or so pilots at the regionals today close to 10% won't be around. You ad in that mainlines will replace 60% of their pilots in the next 10 years (20000+) and that there are no where enough applicants to cover the regionals need of today. There won't be a shortage as the mainlines will just adjust accordingly, they will add programs to make it easier and more appealing to be an airline pilots.... Oh wait, AE is already trying to do that