The company is not changing fleets, it is trying to grow. There are over 100 145s in the desert that United has told XJT to fly if they can man them. Right now the company has enough pilots in the training pipeline currently to staff the 25 new 175s coming by the end of the year. I believe they are also trying to get a little fat on pilots on the 175 side so they can be in a position to accept an additional 2 per month if they can win the contracts expiring with Mesa, as well as get the 25-39 new 175s recently purchased by United. If all goes perfectly XJT could be flying as many as 100 175s in the very near future.

What they are trying to do is not screw up any potential 175 flying coming their way while also flying as many 145s as they can man. The new 175 sim should be online very soon, but Embraer provides training for multiple crews as part of the purchase agreement on a new aircraft, and that is currently being done in STL. The 175 pipeline is almost in full swing, but training into the 145 will by no means slow down.

The Captain upgrade time, by the way, will be 2 years or less before 2 years from now, i.e. get in NOW