Originally Posted by
rickair7777
If the 50's wear out or become non-economical then service will be cut. That will drive up prices as some folks will be willing to pay rather than drive hours to another airport. Eventually demand will probably justify 50-seat 700's (or the embraer equivalent) if there is simply no suitable replacement.
I don't recall if props count against the 50-seat limit? ATRs are still available new, and maybe Q-400's.
If you're young, and planning on making a career at a regional that operates a lot of 200's, you might feel some pain. For everyone else it should shake out OK one way or another.
The 50 seat requirement is a function of airport capacity. I have a friend who is an airport manager. When AA started using 700s at his airport it required several million more dollars for security and safety functions. There are carve outs to some regulations and requirements that airports only has 50 seats or less can use to not provide “standard” services.