Originally Posted by
dayzoff
How do you think United, Delta and American fill up their widebody planes? It is with feed off the regionals! Look at how many wide bodies Southwest, Spirit and Frontier have-Zero.
Regionals expand the mainline airline’s route system allowing for more destinations and larger aircraft out of their hubs to many international destinations that would be unprofitable without the feed!
You have low cost carriers filling 150-200 seat airplanes out of the same markets where Ual, Aal, and Dal run 50 seaters. Airlines now make more money off of ancillary expenses like extra legroom, seat selection, credit card signups, buy on board, etc that makes high volume sales more profitable then charging more for only 50 seats. They also see more volume for connecting passengers and much easier recovery when the plane breaks or weather hits. If you have 300 Airbus you can find a spare or shuffle another flight to cover the open segment and have crews all over the country to pick up the pieces after weather.