muuuuuuuuuwaaaaaaahhahhaha Im doing some Nassau turns next week, lets see how much gas it will take the Q to do that ;)

Will someone please tell me why it is good for pilots to have RJs (flown by Regional Pilots making much less than their mainline counterparts) flying routes that compete with the DC-9 and its progeny, baby Boeings, and short 'Buses?

imagine that though

Go Jets gets more 700's and 900's, and TSA gets rid of all of their EMB-145's, shutting down TSA

ALPA would have a field day with that one, but by the time there's any resolution, TSA pilots will be reaching age 65

Pinnacle and Comair also have a lot of CRJ200s. More likely scenario, for those of you worried about your jobs is that regionals will have a reconsolication to fewer regionals left standing and almost all of you if not all of you will be absorbed into one or the other and I do not foresee any regional pilots currently flying for large E 145 or CRJ200 fleet regional getting furloughed. As an example, Comair will most likely be sold to another regional like Skywest or XJT. Compass will most likely be sold to a regional that wants a ready made inventory of E175 trained pilots, could be Pinnacle, XJT or maybe even another major who wants a wholly owned regional.

The reason for this is because majors are now all focusing on their growth in the international sector which really is the money maker and will see the biggest growth in the next 5 years. Meanwhile, more and more of their domestic flights are being subcontracted out to regionals, using 76 seat RJs. As an example, at XJ, 3 to 4 new domestic destinations are being added every month. ie. Starting April, XJ will fly CRJ9 to ATL, PVD, MEM, YWG (Winnepeg, Canada). I am not saying this is a good thing in the long run, but in the short run, all of you currently flying E145s, CRJ200s, Saabs. Q400s will have your jobs. In fact XJ is planning to hire another 300 or more pilots in 2008. I am sure this will also be the case with other large regionals once the dust settles with this merger mania.

You would have to be able to get a hold of the guys that were in charge of DALPA in the 90's to get the answer to that.

Easiest answer, it was BELOW them to fly a smaller plane. Also, it's no secret the 50 seaters were inefficient, but if they were flown at "regional/commuter" work rules and pay rates, it wouldn't matter. Now that some "regional/commuter" work rules have surpassed those at SOME majors as far as impacting operating cost per revenue generated from the size of the airframe, that inefficiency is being realized. With the exception of AWAC in the 90's, few if any regional CBA's were anywhere near what they are now. That is, of the "regional/commuters" that actually had CBA's/work rules at THAT time.

Maybe when they write Vol.III of flying the line, it will be called "Flying the Line Vol.III, the RJ Years".

That's a pretty funny example. XJT being able to buy somebody, that is.

In the long run this is NOT a good thing. Hopefully, this trend will reverse itself if the oil price keeps going up because RJs will no longer be economically viable. It will be cheaper for the majors to fly 100 to 110 seat jets by newhire FOs and newly upgraded CAs at mainline pay. As an example, newhire FO at NWA, UAL starts out at approx $30.00/hr. The new CA payrate on these new equipments will probably be on par with MD88, or DC9 payrate so it won't be that much more than the payrate currently being paid for CRJ9 or E175 crew at regionals.

nice catch, totally ignored that fact. Corrected it

That's a pretty funny example. XJT being able to buy somebody, that is.[/quote]

Dojetdriver,

XJT was just an example but it may surprise you to find out how much money XJT management has squirreled away. If XJT is to survive, and I think they will because of the way they are run, they will need to buy up another regional with a ready made 76 seat RJ pilots like Compass.

Yeah dude, I know, I work there. That's why I included the word example, like you did.