Originally Posted by eaglefly

Temporary. AAG's regional network in TOTAL is contracting, so what one carrier might be achieving now isn't a good overall litmus for the grand scheme. What's occurring now is simply a morphing of the model. Some expand while others contract, but the overall networks present size can not be supported in the future. It will steadily shrink. At some point, the musical chairs approach by pilots will not produce the desired results (quicker upgrade) and the music will stop for the most part. Where a pilot is when that happens depends on the risks they took and the timing. The future newbies will steadily dwindle as well. At some point in the near future, a different approach will be necessary for all three legacies regarding their regional networks.

I think mainline 100-seaters (Group 1 @ AA) will be tapped to provide a good portion of former regional flying in the future by all three legacies. Both United and AAG are in fact, exploring that as we speak. AA has only 20 E-190's (Group 1) and despite those being mostly allocated for specific east coast shuttle duty, that is too small a fleet for a 1000 aircraft airline. The regionals won't disappear but return to a much smaller component as it used to be.