Just like the claims here that AAG/Envoy will "step up to the plate", when things get bad enough, so might Delta. Actually, Delta is bringing much of their regional flying back home to mainline, whereas AAG is doubling own in the beloved RJ. That means AAG will have to have some way of staffing said operation and more importantly keeping pilots in those positions or the house of cards collapses.

You can't keep this house of cards from collapsing, if you flow everyone out of it fairly soon. I expect the flow-thru faucet to drip very slow knowing most at Envoy are committed no matter how bad it gets. The operation will steadily contract, sure, but at the rate of outside attrition and maybe some small amount of future flowing. Apparently a junior AA F/O recently told Isom during a cockpit visit about the fleet, merger and integration and his concern about future furlough and his non-commital response included something along the lines of, "well, no airline's ever had 15,000 pilots before". Interesting statement and personally, I don't see that necessarily as a furlough warning, but I could definitely see AA stop hiring in the future for an extended time once synergies kick in.

It would be a great way to maximize staffing at the AA WO regionals as again, most still won't move laterally to the shrinking regionals of Delta and United and would leave anyway to main lines themselves or LCC's. I think it prudent to brace for the reasonable possibility of another trip down the flow-thru to the runway of broken dreams at some point in the future and Envoy tenures will be substantially longer then expected. After all, considering the new-hire well is all but dry, the alternative is a multi-billion dollar faux paux of owning a parking lot of new RJ's that do nothing but sit there looking shiny, but generating no revenue.