Originally Posted by flapshalfspeed

Given recent news announcements from UAL, and the acutely declining local economy around IAH, mainline will likely start downgauging 737/Airbus routes/slots in IAH to smaller-gauge equipment (a.k.a. regional equipment). It seems pretty obvious they're shifting focus/capacity to more profitable markets in SFO/DEN/elsewhere.

Think about how much business travel in the Houston area comes from the big offshore oil and fracking players, not to mention the ancillary financial, engineering, accounting, and specialty equipment services wholly reliant upon offshore oil and West Texas fracking ops.
Schedules are set and tickets are booked weeks/months in advance, and it takes time for behemoth companies like Exxon to start slashing costs, jobs and corporate travel budgets--but it's starting, and reduced demand will logically result in 737/Airbus routes/slots being downgauged to EJets.

I was hopeful for IAD/elsewhere--I would even go to EWR!!! But with these Mexico routes announced, RONs in IAD, 3-5 planes on service checks in OKC every night, and the impending downgauging of mainline routes, I now see IAH fully accomodating the whole Mesa EJet fleet.