Originally Posted by
Omnipotent
Mainline stagnation was caused mostly by retiring the old three crew jets and having a surplus of pilots to go with the downturn in the economy.
There is no pilot shortage. In 2015, the FAA issued 6,430 ATP certificates, and in the first eight months of 2016, the FAA reported that they had issued 6,530 ATP certificates, including 599 R-ATP certificates. That's more than what all airlines have hired in that time. There is no pilot shortage.
If mainline wants more RJs or more larger RJs, nothing stops them from operating them in house, nothing. There is no pilot shortage.