At my current shop (PSA) this was a byproduct of the grift wrapped Christmas present (ratified 12/17) that management got out of a prior MEC Chair called Senior Manning. Rather than use a shortage of Captains as leverage to increase pay said MEC Chair thought it was his job to save the company by allowing the Company to take FOs from the top of the list and turn them into Captains because the company was too scared to do it from the bottom of the list, as our contract allowed at the time (at least if you squinted and read between the lines of the JRM section). No doubt there were some that should've never been put in that position, to say nothing of all the life plans that were upended by the company with little regard. It would've been way better to just put a 2 year requirement in the left seat to flow, but certain VPs had trained ALPA how to give back rubs at the time.

It's not about gate space. There's plenty of gates all over the system that will accommodate RJs and not narrow bodies. Ultimately regional feed is about delivering a plethora of departures and arrivals to second tier markets that the LCCs can't touch. I've seen Allegiant flights cancel at the gate and the agents just offer everyone a refund as their only option. If you were on DAL, UAL, or AA, any one of them has multiple hubs they can route you though on multiple departures.

There certainly is a cost structure advantage to FFD flying, but ultimately we're going to see a lot more of it brought in house, either by Group 1 flying (DAL is already doing this with the 717 and 220), and ultimately what was once considered RJs. The never several years are going to be very interesting.