From what I've heard, they are covering the new schedule (November 3rd and onward) with E170's, including operational spares, until more E190's come. Speculation is of course that they are the ex USAirways birds.

I worked out the new schedule at home and don't have it here at work, but if I recall correctly there are 35 aircraft in the schedule (in addition to the RJ's)...5 A319, 2 E190, 16 E170 (an increase of 5), 6 ER3 and 6 CRJ. I keep meaning to do a new posting but work is pretty much sucking all the life out of me these days.

Other than aircraft changes, the only noteworthy differences I see are these:

--MKE-MCI is dropping from 6x to 5x. This could of course be due to Southwest's coming into the market. However I think it's just as much a byproduct of aligning the flights at MCI.

Today, the morning westbounds at MCI are this:

from DCA 8:20am ----- to 8:50am MKE
from MKE 8:35am ----- to 9:05am SFO
from LGA 9:10am ----- to 9:40am SEA
from MKE 10:25am ---- to 10:55am LAX

So westbound connections from LGA don't work to SFO, and eastbound doesn't work from LAX.

Those are being aligned in the new schedule so that SFO, SEA, and LAX all depart MCI (and likewise return to MCI) at close enough times so there are good connections between the west coast and DCA, MKE and LGA. But that means that the MCI-LAX flight needs to leave almost two hours earlier. And so it can't leave MKE at 9:00am like it does today.

-The morning MKE-TPA E170 moves from 7:30am to 9:30am.

Putting E170 on more former 717 routes is a cut in capacity, however if this is going to last into the winter, it's a good time to do it. When more E190's come, at least from what I'm hearing, some E170 lift will move to upgrade certain RJ markets, freeing up more RJ's for MKE-STL and other potential expansion.