Quote:
Originally Posted by bla bla bla
So my question is, what direction are we going here with the regionals. In the past we seemed to be more of just a feeder for the majors. Now it seems we are just outsourcing company's. With skyw's crj 90's etc, is it just a matter of time before we do all the flying for united for 1/3 of the price?
I think the "replacement jet" phenomenon will soon reach an equilibrium for these reasons...
1) Larger mainline airplanes are more effecient (as long as you can fill them up). RJ's are only effective narrow-body replacements on routes where the NB was not full, or where more frequency is required to meet customer needs, ie an am & pm RJ flight instead of one daily NB.
2) There are two artificial cost advantage for the RJ's...the crew is cheaper in general, and as long as there is growth, lot's of new-hires on first-year pay REALLY drive it down.
3) But this will not last forever...once the RJ's have covered all the routes that make economic sense, growth will stop and regional crews will climb the longevity scale. Overall crew costs will rise, negating further NB replacement benefits.
4) The current crop of RJ's were not designed with transcon range...most of the 300 million americans live on or near one of the two coasts, and often want to visit the OTHER coast.
5) Hopefully mainline learned it's lesson and will tighten up on the scope from here on out.
6) Mainline compensation is down, so they are harder to undercut.
7) Eventually RJ pilots will get sick of working for peanuts, and newbies will lose interest in $18K jobs (maybe).