i used to think that air whisky was in trouble and the next to go… till I learned they invested 125 million into us airways back in 05 to bail them out. Apparently something similar happened with United in somewhat more recent history too. The three private owners are quite wealthy and while the long term use of the 200 is in question, they’re still flush with cash.

but who really knows in these crazy times?

Not sure if I would call Piedmont stable. During peak covid in 2020 there were serious talks about Piedmont closing up shop and going by the way side just like TSA, Compass, and xjet did.

PDT was able to avoid furloughs and limp along by kicking the can down the road through some creative financing and cost saving strategies. However, have things really improved since 2020? If anything, you can argue that it’s worse overall now for the whole airline.

Covid in a way kind of saved Piedmont, or at least extended its life a bit. But “normal” times are slowly returning. Attrition is only picking up, PDT has told AA that it can’t accept the flying AA wants it to do simply because of staffing. New hires are not exactly lining up out the door to work at PDT…for obvious QOL reasons. Piedmont stable? I would not bet on that.

Pure brilliance

The 50 seat RJ's are going away, there's just not enough pilots to fly them. I suspect Piedmont will be folded into the other Wholly Owned Airlines at AA and the pilots offered jobs at those, unless Piedmont has strong enough Scope language in their contract to require a merger of seniority lists. Alternately some 70+ seat jets could be assigned to Piedmont and replace the 50 seaters but that's a lot of training events.

My crystal ball says all 3 WO subsidiaries of AA will merge into 1. Most of the 50 seaters will be parked. Flying will be upgauged. 50–>76, 76–>mainline narrow body. All with less frequency or with milk can runs with the pre-RJ model.

Alternatively, to keep attrition to manageable levels, they may also staple the WO pilots to the main line seniority list. Pay for 76 will be existing Group I rates, less that mainline narrow body Group II rates. Cannot say what 50 seat rates will be, Group I or something somewhat less. This will fix the RJ Captain shortfall. Mainline narrow body FO will be willing to fly as a 76 CA for a couple of years, with a slightly higher rate than Group II FO.

Maybe part of the reason for accelerated meetings with Aa’s union? If their regional level crumbles AA will have a rough time ahead. (It is).

I agree that the only viable long term solution is putting regional pilots on the mainline seniority list. You've got to make it attractive enough that prospective pilots will spend all the $$$ required to get their ratings.

Alternatively, I could see a full scholarship program for pilots after they get their PPL. Once they reach 1500 hours they go fly for a regional for X number of years to pay back the scholarship while holding a mainline seniority number. Alternate to holding the seniority number would be credit for years of service at the regional so they'd start at the same years of service mainline payscale they had at the regional. So they know they have a mainline job coming (assuming furloughs aren't happening) and will be making a good salary. It'd have to be a guaranteed hire short of making a major screwup at the regional.

I think scholarships to 1500, and a tie to a mainline is a very viable help. Didn’t Lufthansa do something like that?

There is always the possibility of AA declaring bankruptcy and ditching everything while closing up one or more of the WO…

A good reason to leave before the flow.