I really like your fresh perspective.
Originally Posted by
kfahmi
I'm sure that if Jeff Smisek and his fellow CEOs could get their pilot unions to agree, they'd outsource 777s to their regional partners. And you know there'd be people lining up to fly them for $24/hr.
The problem is that the 777 (and its PIC pay) is their carrot and once you give it away...
Originally Posted by
kfahmi
But as the love for flight is unlikely to be erased from the human psyche anytime soon (until the day fully-autonomous airliners are created), the current situation is unlikely to change.
Here I am more optimistic than you. If enough people are informed and the existing model is strained enough...it will change. Now is the time to push for change.
I think the biggest problem an airline would face even if all the RAA member companies agreed to do this at the same time is that the stupid pilots would resist because ALPA would resist. Such a change would be good for the regional airline industry, good for pilots, but bad for mainline and bad for ALPA. Since ALPA and mainline control the regionals...that's the biggest obstacle, not proving that it could work.
If the regional airlines really were profit motivated independent entities as some here want you to believe, this would have happened already.