Originally Posted by
brocklee9000
So again, whether it’s a literal aircraft performance limitation or a financial performance limitation, we won’t see mainline planes or pilots in a lot of these cities. Not when some airports are small, loads are small, and a full regional crew costs as much per hour as one mainline captain. Regionals are here to stay, and in these times it seems like FFD might be marginally more secure than WO. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it for now.
Yes, RJ's or "small jets" are here to stay, have been since the DC-9 and 737-100.
Just a question of how small, how many, and who's flying them. If a recovery is relatively quick, it will be back to business as usual soon enough. If this turns into an extended slo-mo industry train wreck, regionals might grow or shrink dramatically, only time will tell.