Anybody think BB might be gambling? Republic is doing a good amount of flying of other regionals that can’t meet their commitments due to lack of crews; couple that with a lot of Pilot and FA hiring, and the ERJ order. Maybe he’s hoping he will have the people and equipment in place to lure codeshares to give YX more flying as the others (guessing its XJT and Mesa) struggle to fill classes.

Just a theory.