Why would they mention a shortage of pilots if there was none? They said they are having to cancel flights all across their feeder system, because of a lack of pilots. Their flights were being cut no matter what they wanted. So, they decided to cut the flying in/out of CLE, and shift those pilots to their more profitable flying.

I don't think announcing a pilot shortage, when there is none, is a smart business decision re: their stock price or their investor confidence. If it was just about economics they would have just said we are cutting our unprofitable flying and leave it at that.