Of course they (RJ's) are unprofitable...! Any aircraft won't make money if you sell tickets at or near a zero-margin!

Unfortunately, we'd need to raise prices to keep the RJ-dream alive. That aint gonna happen.

And the numbers are there, btw...RJ's burn a little bit less fuel to carry many fewer passengers than smaller mainline-sized aircraft (not to mention the lack of real premium seating - the cash-cow of a mainline bird). Can't argue that point.