Originally Posted by
Koolaidman
I met Chip Childs when he was flying around our system rallying the troops before the ALPA vote. I asked what was new with SkyWest, any word on the Midwest side, etc. He mentioned that they were trying to get United to do 900's. He didn't say in what seating configuration though.
So I agree with the earlier posts that the 700's and 900's will probably be the aircraft of the future for regionals. At SkyWest we still have 18 700's and 4 900's coming later this year. So I think hiring will pick back up sooner or later.
I can only think of us getting the Midwest 50 seaters and RAH getting the 50 seaters for Continental in the last few years. The 200 is probably going to phased out in the next 5 - 10 years.
I don't think 50 seaters will be going anywhere. They may limit their routes, but they will not disappear. There will still be a need for service to small towns. Yes, turboprops could replace the 50 seat RJ in that capacity, however, it will most likely not happen due to the public. There are still many people who have the "dangerous propeller plane" syndrome. When Airways replaced turboprop routes with jets, the load factor drastically increased. Though we might can never understand it, for some reason the public, for the most part, think jets are safer.