Originally Posted by
TurboFan
I can assure you I'm neither. You bring up some good points, sometimes my thinking is a little idealistic. My main point was that the mainline carriers don't want these airplanes and they seem like a better fit for a regional carrier than a mainline carrier. Do I think regionals are going to play fair and actually pay pilots what they deserve for flying them? No. Do I think pilots should adamantly refuse to fly them without substantial pay increases? Yes.
I apologize if I got the wrong impression from you, but it almost seems like you would rather see these birds at a regional. As I stated in my previous post, all jet flying, heck, all flying should be at mainline.
Originally Posted by
TurboFan
No, I disagree. I think most mainline carriers would use them to replace again 737 fleets and pay their pilots less to fly them. They may gain a route here or there but I don't think airplanes like the 1000 will provide much in the way of additional routes and jobs. I think they would just help the majors drive pay down even further.
The difference is that if they are at mainline they will provide the opportunity to negotiate better rates. Also pilots at mainline have the option of bidding bigger more lucrative equipment (career progression), where do you go from a regional, if we start to take all the domestic flying?
Originally Posted by
TurboFan
That's extremely short sighted thinking. Oil prices have fallen substantially and god willing they will stay that way, but for how long? The 200 had it's 15 minutes and it's on its way out. Their old, tired and inefficient airplanes. Think of it this way, the 200's may be slightly profitable now, but the 7 and 9's are much more profitable. The Q4 has sealed the 200's fate in my opinion. I think it's obvious that T-props are just much more economical for 30-70 pax than a jet.
I agree oil isn't the only thing that drives the efficiency of an aircraft, but it is one of the main factors. That being said, look at CAL (through XJT), they've taken the embraers, and managed to maximize it's revenue through a series of strategies such as international routes (higher yields), longer thiner routes, streamlining the product. Again, now with fuel dropping, they should start seeing a higher profit margin on these birds. Whether or not it will be short term that remains to be seeing. I don't know about the 200's, but the XR's have a few years to go (particularly with CAL's scope), the thing can go from IAH to YYZ and back in the winter, great aircraft!