Originally Posted by
Cujo665
You eliminate two administrations, and chopping a bunch of ground based jobs. Then the synergies of scale take over. This was predicted long long ago. THe pandemic pushed it back a few years. It will happen again.
But then you defeat the whole purpose: whipsaw and arms length.
Although legacies could consolidate, and even bring regional flying in-house as long as they retain scope allowances... then they could get back to their old tricks when/if the pilot market swings back in their favor.
But it's not just pilots, non-pilot regional labor also comes with a big discount. They might want to keep regionals for that reason alone. They can bribe regional pilots as needed with bonuses or even legacy seniority numbers to prop up the rest of the system.