Regionals doing most of the flying for the brand they contract for is not only about the lower labor cost, its also about the mainline carrier seperating themselves from the liablility of of the added risk of doing things so cheap.

Mainlines have generally gotten away with this but the Colgan Buffalo crash and its investigation have revealed the ugly truth to the public and the government officials who represent the public.

One thing to remember though is that this drunk pilot thing has actually happened more at the mainline pilot level oddly enough. Maybe because alcoholism is such progressive disease and often doesn't reach severe levels until later in life. I dunno. But I sense the media along with the general public isn't so interested in seperating out only who the sub-contracted company is anymore.

I would hope that since mainlines are being held more accountable for who they contract and since we've already seen regulation changes on their marketing and ticketing that life would get better for pilots at the regional level but that's only wishful thinking. I haven't seen any changes for the better at most regional carriers.