Originally Posted by
Dunkin
It keeps the cheap regionals staffed for as long as possible. You don't think they wouldn't have plenty of apps for the only route to AA? Just wait and see, it is just a step in the process of bringing everything back in house and eventually making it all mainline again. If you using the last 15 years as a measuring stick to the next 15 you are doing it wrong. The other majors will follow suit as well and eventually all new hires right out of college will still be flying large RJs/SNBs but for a major as regionals will no longer exist.
If you are assuming that subcontracted labor is a thing of the past, then you clearly don't have a firm grasp on economics. The cutouts already exist and there will always be downward cost pressure on the major carriers. Once the big retirement boom ends in 20 years, there will be stagnation again and there will be an abundance of pilots. Places like Mesa, Skywest and TSH will continue to make their owners oodles of cash by flying regional jets for cheap. If American limits themselves to just their wholly-owned, they will be missing out on thousands of extremely qualified pilots.