Very true, however, it isn't the pilot costs that are the driver of this. It is all the associated costs of operating the aircraft from flight attendants, to dispatchers and integrating the aircraft with the mainline dispatching system. That's where the higher costs come in, we just hold the keys for the scope so to speak.
That's the beauty of flying your own code.
Actually, quite the opposite is true now. Until recently the above was true, but now DL has those 717's and UA is actively working on filling the 100 seat gap. We have over 13,000 pilots in the pool on airline apps for DL and UA to pull from. The regionals simply can't keep up.
In UA's scope, though we increased the gauge, the overall UAX operation will shrink by 200+ airframes, block hour limits tightened and go off of mainline narrow-body block hours only. In fact, management is pretty close/or at the limit allowed for in our scope clause. There are over 100 former UA/CO 737-500's sitting in the dessert that the company is looking to possibly bring back.
Yeah, I've flown with some tools that feel this way about regional pilots. Most of them have been scabs and couldn't get a job anywhere else so they stole one. I quickly point out that doing hub-turns in a CRJ is a lot more difficult than doing a transcon in 757.
Throw in an app and come on over JB, the water is nice
