A Paycut in the Regionals?

Look at this story! The regionals were supposed to be the stable end of commercial service. Comair has struggled recently, in particular with the Christmas fiasco. Anytime a company issues a press release stating that they are operating a regular schedule, that is not a good sign. As a DL subsidiary, Comair is more vulnerable to the misfortunes of their mainline partner as well. With DL flirting with chapter 11, it stands to reason that the regionals it owns will also have to "tighten the belt." Really this is just further development of the new business model for legacy carriers. More regional service on domestic routes, and heavy focus on long-haul and international flying. As contract flying becomes more lucrative, regional providers will become more competitive for contracts, and once again it comes back to cost structure. In the Marine Corps we were reminded that our rifles were produced by the lowest bidder, and so it goes with regional service.