I respect every AA pilot wanting to keep the line where it is, and I understand the desire to keep jobs at mainline. The sad truth is that APA cannot reverse the direction of the entire airline industry. Every legacy carrier competitor has outsourced E170 flying to a regional carrier that has 1/4 the operating expense of a mainline carrier. These E170s are flying mainline routes competing head-to-head against AA MD80s. If you have not jumpseated on a E170/E190 I would recommend it and compare it to an AA MD80.

If APA doesn't want to change scope then I really truly hope they find a way to operate E170s for the same operating cost of competitors who have already outsourced this flying. Even if APA agreed to Republic payscales the legacy costs of benefits, FAs, MTX, etc would drive the total operating cost through the roof. I would estimate APA would have to go at least 15-20% below Republic payrates to be equally competitive. Thats not going to happen, and I don't expect APA to agree to something ridiculous like that.

The other option is outsourcing the flying to another carrier. You can give it away to Republic, who is a 3rd party company, or make a scope exception for Eagle to be the sole provider of regional flying and at least keep the flying within the AMR umbrella.

I personally would rather fly a E170 at a mainline carrier than at Eagle. I have 37 more years until retirement. It wasn't my ultimate goal to be an Eagle pilot for life, but the industry has changed a lot in the past 5 years since I got hired. If Eagle got E170s I would be nowhere close to being able to hold a CA position on it, or any other Eagle plane for that matter. My main concern is for APA and AMR as a whole to remain competitive and avoid making irrational and emotional decisions like Eastern, Pan-Am, TWA, and the list goes on...