I wouldn’t get concerned about Kirby’s comment just yet. He’s trying to get a scope cave from UALPA before he has to start ripping seats out of 76 seat Embraer RJs, and parking others. If he doesn’t get scope cave, I don’t see how he can park 50 seaters and follow the DOT mandate for service. It just doesn’t work. This also could be his plan to escape from the DOT mandate for service — saying he doesn’t have the frames to do it anymore after the recovery starts — pleads for relief from that.

If he can’t get scope relief prior to recovery, he may be setting himself up to blame lack of profitability and tanking of yields/loads on mainline pilots by removing the most cost effective no load airframes from the equation (50 seaters) to then be able to go before a judge in a BK scenario and say:

’Look I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to fly an empty Airbus/737 with 15 people on it paying mainline rates. All I need is to make my pilots let me right size the gauge with a 70-76 seat airplane at B scale rates. Please rip up the scope clause.’