Sure, why not? The current regional model might be cost prohibitive with the current scope and pricing structures of our current mainline partners, but 130 seat aircraft being flown by cheap regional crews feeding international routes and perhaps operating other point-to-point routes of @1000NM might very well be exactly what more than one of these foreign carriers are seeking to try to get a larger foothold on the American international market.

Bedford himself has hinted at this and mainline unions are speaking about code sharing as the next threat to their mainline jobs, so this is most certainly not some crackpot notion.