They can rather easily hire others equally or more qualified - like retiring military - who are never going to max out a 37 year career, who will never get past year 12 scale or hit the higher levels of vacation usage. Or who for that matter will be covered by TRICARE and have no experience with being in a union. They absolutely do not have to hire someone who will max out their longevity for pay 25 years of a 37 year career. The longer they can keep someone at regional pay the better off they are economically. That’s why they HAVE regional feed. If they truly wanted progression from their regional to the major they could have a single contract. Wonder why they never suggest that in negotiations.