I understand your frustration. Being based at home is priceless. I apologize in advance, but I have to say that everyone who came to Mesa looking to be based in ATL was taking a huge risk and was being downright naive. If you want to be based in ATL at the regional level you should go to one of the "in good standing" Delta Connection carriers, i.e. Endeavor or SkyWest.

I can't help it but assume that in the U.S. its easy to loose the big picture of how the geographical aviation markets work since there are so many major hubs, mergers, and the industry is constantly transforming. Let me put this in a global perspective: If you want to be based in Frankfurt where would you try to go to: British Airways or Lufthansa?

Even Republic's management (outstation basing supporters) have acknowledged the challenges of the outstation basing system and are slowly moving to a hub base system.