It is pretty easy to see what is going on. They are seeing other Reginals winding down and unable to meet their contractual obligations so they are offering huge bonuses so AA will have constant supply to their regional feed. .

It is a solution to a problem they aren't paying out the bonus because they want to.

They will never fold the WO into one because we are all union and this would give the pilots too much power.

It is cheaper to streamline the WO which you see going on now. Every WO class will be full from now on with new people coming in and smart pilots who are transferring from dying regionals to put them in position to get hired at a major who are retiring pilots by the THOUSANDS in the next few years. You already see it in PSA who have more pilots leaving for majors than flow transfers.