You’re right. People loved them because they weren’t a Saab or a dash 8. Now people hate them because they aren’t a E175. They want to be able to bring their luggage onboard and have more comfortable seating, they want to have a 2 class cabin. The E145 is so narrow that the window seats leave little foot room. It will be hard to make a 50 seat jet that is still be affordable, appeal to the public, and profitable. The markets that were served changed when the 19 seat turboprops went away, and they will change as the 50 seat jets time out. This will most likely lead to changes in the regional industry. A big regional like Sky West that currently operates multiple fleet types for United may be reduced to just flying the 70/76 seat jets. Now that there are certain companies that serve only United, and some who are selected to take part in the Aviate program, only time will tell where the flying goes. They may keep it as is, or they could start pushing the regional feed to companies that they have a financial stake in. United management could just be telling us what we want to hear, but the message is that the airport congestion and gate availability are at their limits and growth will come from replacing smaller aircraft with larger ones. Scope is maxed out. Unless United buys another NB fleet type, they don’t get any more 70 seat jets. As aircraft are replaced, that leaves only United pilots to fly them. My guess is that this is what will drive consolidation of the regionals who serve United. As the number of regional flights is reduced, the number of regional airlines needed to operate them will as well.