As for 1., DL most certainly could not do that. The DL PWA mandates how seniority is assigned. By class date and last 4 SSN within a class. Management would have no latitude to deviate from that. They can't just go off contract with seniority or anything else like that.

What they could do is very closely mimmic that by offering up an agressive amount of flows. However most if not all of those planes, which the company has refused to contractually reduce by even one, would still have to be flown for a while, perhaps a long time still.

Would DL add that type to the mainline while simultaneously flying the same type outsourced at the regionals? Would they still continue to take OTS pilots in addition to flows? Would this save any money or solve any problems? What would the pay rates be for a 70 or 76 seater? Would any of this coincide with DL PWA mandated reductions of "permitted types"?

We would be in uncharter waters with all of this, and no one knows what would happen if an arbitrator got involved.

As for 2., I 100% agree. Regional pilots work hard and fly more legs per day on average than most mainline pilots. I've seen them do everything they could to get pilots on the JS and likewise have done the same when I could.

They're great pilots and we should all want them here as well as wanting the end of the whipsaw FFD model. I just don't see any other way to do it then to ramp up the flows (and/or OTS hiring) while contractually reducing allowed large RJ's that can be outsourced.