From Paul Jacobson, CFO, during the last conference call:
"We are on track to retire more than 70 50-seaters this year, which would put that fleet below 200 aircraft at the end of the year. The refleeting gives us a strong tailwind on unit cost as we leverage our scale to produce capacity much more efficiently."
I'd say your 50 seater days are numbered. These management types seem giddy about dumping them, and UAL and AA are next. You did add some AA stuff at ORD, but a lot of that is temporary. Throw in questions about future pilot hiring and where you will source new pilots, especially when all 3 legacies really open the doors, and the whole Regional industry will be on shaky ground. The Regionals will shrink and compete for what is left over, at a discount or lose it.
Bye Bye---General Lee