Mainline pilots will never relax on scope ever again. The MRJ is a failure.

If that is the case, and 50 seat aircraft are here to stay, what is going to replace the high cycle CRJ200's and E145's?

Is it full cycle and back to props with ATR's or will it be derated larger aircraft like to CRJ700 and MRJ70.

I don't think there are any expectations that aircraft the size of the A220 would ever be considered within the scope at mainline, but if the next generation of RJ's are heavier because of engine technology while remaining 50/76 seats what is actually being given up?

Regional airlines have flown large aircraft in the past. DC-9 size anyway. And neither Alaska nor Horizon have scope restrictions.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...dq=horizon-air

But regardless, there is nothing in the scope agreements that would preclude someone from starting up a new airline with either MRJs, E2s, A220s, or 777s as long as it wasn’t a codeshare for a 121 with scope.

RJ's don't *have* to be heavier, in fact both technical advances and the need/desire to be lighter and more efficient should drive the airframe weight down for a given number of seats. Over (scope) weight 70 seat RJ's are due to design challenges, which instead of being addressed holistically were patched with band-aid fixes which added weight. The managers shined it off as a non-issue on the assumption that scope could be readily fixed in their favor.

The 50 seat market is a dilemma... the older designs are not coming back to production, and a new clean-sheet design might be too expensive since the majority of the RJ market has shifted to 70 seaters... might not be enough sales opportunities to pay for a new design. Solution might CRJ550 or an EMB equivalent, or possibly back to props. Props are very fuel efficient, but mainline is convinced that pax still hate "crop dusters" even though the new ones are pretty quiet. IMO Horizon has a good thing going... a significant part of their feed customer base is still used to props... they shouldn't spoil them with RJ's.

The rest of the world happily flies on Q400s and ATRs. If US Airlines choose to operate them, then Americans would happily fly on them too.

It's so silly. I'm now flying a 50 seat jet on the same routes that I was previously flying a 50 seat turboprop, only now I'm burning almost twice as much gas to do it!

If it would fly mainline would use 100 seaters on regional routes, if it would make and save them a ton of money. They are going to be forced to look at the expense numbers. With higher regional salaries and expenses it’s making more and more sense for the model to end. If fuel ticks up a bit more the 50 seaters will start losing a lot of money. The efficiency of the CS series and the new E2 Embraers will have these planes flying at mainline. I wouldn’t count the Mitsubishi’s as a failure if they are efficient enough. You won’t see regionals flying them but you might see mainline transition to them and kill off the regionals.

Aircraft like the EMB-175 were actually already designed to be outside the scope limits. When there was trouble getting a relaxation in scope, the MTOW was artificially adjusted downward to bypass the scope limits, taking advantage of scope requirements that didn't foresee that possibility. What has happened now is the manufacturers have gotten to a point in design where the artificially low weights are no longer feasible.

Anything that increases RJ efficiency is a give by mainline pilots because it reduces regional costs vs mainline costs and further encourages additional outsourcing. If regionals had never been allowed to exist as a pure feeder form the industry and profession world be much different today. Changes are finally happening that put pressure towards higher paid jobs and reducing the ability of airlines to keep wages low for regional pilots by threatening careers if they become "too expensive" and the overwhelming majority of mainline pilots are not willing to give up a single pound or seat in scope to change that.

As it is, the regionals are a very different place than they were 10 years ago, and that is a good thing, but at mainline the focus is still to move as many jobs in house as possible. As retirements continue, this is even more important for everyone.

I hope you’re right. Mainline pilots need to grow some brass ones and absolutely not budge on scope. Too bad they ever did to begin with.

I think your implication is misleading. There was B scale - and that was rejected by the pilot groups so the airlines invented the regional model. There was no scope initially because there was no union involvement. Scope came later and has been gradually and continually tightened. The only gives on Scope have been to receive something - and they have been minimal.

The regionals are evolving to become a feeder of a limited resource - pilots - and that too is becoming unnecessary.

I think the mainline pilots should reject flow programs all together, everyone should be off the street. Forcing people to basically work at a B scale until they flow is ridiculous, disgusting, and for all intents and purposes, a true B scale workaround, to have a true B scale.