What stops a major from purchasing a regional to get its pilots if one went bankrupt etc. Does the fee for departure contract stop another major from buying one of these airlines for simply its pilots?

I've been thinking about this lately, although perhaps from a different angle. Legacies don't need to purchase an airline to get pilots. Legacies need pilots (especially captains and LCAs) to stay at their feeders. Now maybe an LCC/ULCC could benefit by buying a regional with a lot of pilots not qualified for a legacy. Maybe not.

The problem with buying a regional is likely the FFD contracts with the major. Endeavor, Envoy, PSA, Piedmont, and Horizon are already wholly owned by their respective major. That leaves the mega-regionals (Mesa, Republic, Skywest) that fly for multiple airlines and United's exclusive regionals (GoJet, Commutair, Air Whiskey).

Due to FFD contracts with multiple carriers, I think the mega-regionals are out of the question. United can not own more than 49% of an airline without triggering the F/A scope clause. The wholly owned regionals (DL or AA or AS) could make flow improvements (up to a staple or staple with fences) in order to keep LCA and Captains on the RJs. The question remains, why wait for a flow, when you have a class date elsewhere. If anyone does start handing out seniority numbers to their RJ LCAs or CAs, that causes other problems (harder to recruit OTS, union opposition from mainline, regional union opposition).

Why would any major due that? None are hurting or projected to hurt for applicants.

Or they could just operate the flights themselves... which is what they've been doing. If all the regionals collapse, those flights will just be operated by mainline or not operated if they don't have the resources.

Have you looked at the schedules today? The majors don’t have the trained warm bodies they need to fly their OWN schedules.

So then they simply cancel the flights, like they've been doing. Still, point is, there is no reason for them buy any more regionals than they already own and can't staff either.

They’ll keep getting the milk for free. Never gonna buy the cow. When the cow is dry, and ready to keel over….even then, they aren’t going to buy the cow.

Contract airlines have historically offered value to the major airlines in more ways than price, and organic growth can be a challenge for any business in any field. Assembling Swissport, caterers, air check, Trego-Dugan and MESA to meet at the same time/ same place is a very different kind of growth. The only major that could benefit from stapling a regional is a major that doesn’t have a regional.

Nobody can benefit from stapling a regional and no major is GOING to staple a regional.

They have plenty of warm bodies. They don’t have training capacity to put those bodies in the proper seats after the covid reductions. Most airlines will be caught up however next fall.