Originally Posted by rickair7777

All true.

There is a caveat though...

While majors outsource regional flying to save costs, that does not mean they could bring it all in house and operate it at a profit. Assuming on average mainline FO's would need about $90K and CA's $160K, and the average regional pay is more like $50K/$90K, that's $110K more per crew. Assume five crew per aircraft, that's over $500K more to bring that flying in house. Many RJ routes don't make anywhere near that kind of profit, so those routes would have to go away.

A few could survive by raising fares, if the market supports that.

A few might survive if their fed to a hub justifies operating at a loss, but despite this being a common rationalization of RJ drivers it is NOT the case in every case, or even most cases.

A few high-dollar markets can already support mainline wages for RJ's (ie ASE, JAC, etc)

So the size of the RJ market is dependent to a significant degree on the cost, of which pilot labor is a key component. Any time an RJ drivers starts rationalizing why he should be paid to operate at a loss, that's a big red warning flag.

Bottom line, if you want mainline pay and a sustainable career, better go go to mainline.