Originally Posted by
TallFlyer
You're not wrong; if you used to work where I worked there are quite a few places where we parked our band new CRJ900s right next to 717s (haven't seen a 220 yet).
But if they want to operate 76 seat aircraft, I'm of the position that outsourced carriers aren't going to be able to staff appropriately sooner rather than later.
The only thing that makes regional jets make sense is the lower wages. Other than that, there's no difference between one less 717 or 220 to a regional city.
Now that the regionals have to offer big bonuses and higher pay to get butts in the seats, that gap keeps decreasing and it makes sense to mainlines to protect their brand by bringing that flying in house. It's really that simple. Look for this trend to continue. Soon, SkyWest and Republic will be the only RJ operators (E175), and they will do the scraps mainlines cant do with 717s/220s/737s/319/320s. CRJs and E145s will be gone. There isn't anyone left to fly them.