His airline's plan is to shrink the RJ fleet a lot and fly more mainline planes...he is worried that they won't be able to crew the mainline planes they are acquiring.
More evidence of the shortage: Jet Airways, and Indian carrier, just announced hiring for a JFK base. It is the first Indian airline to open US pilot bases.
And, in case you missed it, there are now two Chinese carriers with US, N. American, European and Australian pilot bases. Until about last year, no mainland Chinese airline had pilot bases outside of China.