Contrary to popular belief, the 3 operating certificates isn't what made republic holdings immune (the holding company is what is looked at for the scope), the Republic 190s and other large jets (such as Frontier when they owned them) were specifically exempted by name in the scope clause. Likewise, the Compass E175s were named by serial number as they have their true MTOW vs the other ones that have a lower one to get past the scope limits. It was an oversight to not include in scope limits that the model couldn't have been originally or ever certified for a non compliant weight.

I do think SkyWest COULD operate larger aircraft, but as said otherwise, they couldn't do it on any route that Delta serves. With the Delta buildout in Seattle, I don't think there are nearly enough potential routes, unless AS wanted to give SkyWest everything in Anchorage other than flights to Seattle.

It's been a few months since I actually looked at the nitty gritty of our scope, but that's what I recall from it.