Originally Posted by
JulesWinfield
This is a lot different, though. RJs feed the hubs, and a significant number of those pax are going to international destinations. With more lockdowns happening in Europe, and all of the bans on Americans traveling abroad, we may not see much hiring across the board until international travel picks back up.
You missed the point. It's not about feeding international flights. The previous mainline routes won't support the mainline equipment. The RJ's will be doing routes that were served by A320's and B737's. The "feeder" routes will be served with one RJ a day instead of 4. Your morning flight will be from the feeder to the hub, the rest of the day you'll do what was previously mainline legs, then you'll fly to a feeder outstation for the overnight. As the loads increase the hub flying will go from an E145 to a CRJ700, then a CRJ900/E175, then to an A320/B737 as the loads return. They will keep just enough mainline aircraft flying in-service to support the level of RJ's needed. At places like AA where the scope is based purely on hull count, the mainline planes will probably do 1-2 legs per day instead of 5-7 with crew swaps. Those other 4-6 will be RJ's during restart.
The return of the need for pilots will be felt at the regional level first.