Really? Then exactly when will AMR just park all those money losing airplanes in the desert and furlough all those expensive pilots? When will Airways park the 28 CRJ200s PSA flies and just keep the profitable CR7s? Why is CAL still using ExpressJet? Why did UAL just hire ExpressJet and all those obsolete 145s?


Ten years ago two 50 seat ERJs could carry as many paying passengers as the 737, much cheaper and with more frequencies. Now they aren't as cheap, mostly due to fuel, but also because mainline wages are (relative to 10 years ago) down and feeder wages are up. But there are still lots of routes that the 737 is never going to serve because there just aren't going to be 100+ people to put in the seats. But they can still make a buck on that route with a 50 seater. 'The experiment with small high-CASM jets has come to an end', and they have found that just like the 747 you can't use them everywhere, all the time.