Originally Posted by
logic1
The big bennifit regionals provide to mainline is less exposer to to aircraft leases, cheaper maintenance, flight attendants...etc. Mainline could staff the flight deck with its pilots. They would be trained by them, to thier standards and procedures and flow up the ranks of seniority....they would be thier own pilots flying the cheap regional aircraft. The regional could make money by owning the aircraft, flight attendants, Maint...etc
That statement doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure mainline holds titles on a bunch of the RJs in service right now. Plus, you think a mainline pilot union would allow their pilots to fly on aircraft that are maintained outside of the airline's control? The only discount the mainline gets is on labor. The leases have to be covered somehow, the insurance paid, the crews trainined. These are all fixed costs. Of course, you could argue that the maintenance is less acceptable but it is acceptable enough for FAA certification. In that case, there is still a fixed price on parts. If anything, one could argue that places like American could get deals with suppliers for bulk orders of parts because they own hundreds of jets versus tens.