No, but if they don't like the ones they have, they can always dump them and create new ones...

- Used RJ's cheap from the desert.

- Multi-DUI street captains and 300-hour FO's who are willing to work for peanuts and are afraid to stand up to abuse.

- Everybody on year one longevity.

- Company-defined payscale, workrules, and employee policies.

- No union to start with.

What's not to love? ;)

Sure they could. The mainline pilots do ALL the flying for the airline. The reason that mainline companies outsource it to low-pay pilots is, well, because they're CHEAPER. And not just the pilots . . all employee groups at the commuter.

Commuter pilots complain about their compensation and the fact that there's no road anymore to a decent aviation career.

If you show up for work, that's what you're worth.

Southwest seems to do OK.

Google up Flyi.

They don't want it. They have outsourced the regional flying to the RJ operators and Southwest.

The pilots who gave it up didn't want it. The problem is, they have all retired, and forgot to ask the current pilots what we wanted, which was NOT how it is now.

Very good point. Important to note here that Southwest does not depend on the hub-and-spoke business model. The relationship between most of the majors and regionals is one of co-dependency.

Can mainline survive with out the regionals....yes...and no...

YES .... if they either create more regionals ... or if they fly it all in house...

NO... they can not survive with out the feed from the cities now served by their regional partners in some form or fashion.

SWA does not use a traditional hub and spoke... but they do have hubs... and more and more of their flying is hub style flying.

No they can't. It's all about cost. The seat mile costs are too high for an all regional fleet. That before we talk about start up costs with call centers, computer reservation systems and other expenses to get going.

Delta continues to give up scope.