Originally Posted by
Skycap876
The regionals will always have a necessary place in the industry. There are select markets where it is economically unfeasible to operate narrow body aircraft and fulfill capacity.
As much as many of us would like to see a return of the '70s and '80s where main line carriers operate to smaller domestic markets, it just isn't in the economic feasibility of most carriers. What I do see happening is a continued market of ejets but likely with reduced frequency.
I can tell you in our market a metropolis of about 200,000 people, we used to have over 15 flights per day to Chicago O'Hare by various carriers. That is now been reduced to about seven flights per day and has held at that capacity for the last 7 to 8 years.
Also regional operators like Skywest Airlines and Mesa can purchase older equipment at very affordable prices and have the infrastructure to operate them cheaply. It will be interesting to see how the industry changes over the next 5 to 6 years but I don't foresee the regional airline model vanishing.
I'll respectfully disagree with how essential this small town feed is for the legacies.
I looked at all of the cities that United cancelled Express service to. All were within 120 miles of another town with mainline service, and almost all of them were also served by both American and Delta; some with additional carriers.
Kalamazoo is a great example. About 75 miles from Grand Rapids, which United serves multiple times daily with mainline service.
RJs have the highest CASM in the business and there are very, very few profitable uses for that lift. I expect legacies to drastically scale back on regional contracts due to them being money losers.
Most of this small town feed is no longer economically viable and needs to be cut. The O&D numbers are so small to most of these cities that it won't be noticed in terms of revenue if all previous passengers decide to fly on someone else.
The small cities can be upguaged to mainline with a frequency reduction. If the city can't support a mainline flight, then the city pair should be terminated. The airline business is not a charity and the legacies need to stop serving money losing communities when residents can drive less than 2 hours to a city that can support mainline.