A few things:
1. We knew the China thing was a non-starter. That pretty much was confirmed.
2. Operationally, the shuttle is going to suffer from this. Maybe BoeingBoy can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but without a crew base in LGA or BOS, it means no crews sitting reserve. Which means if a pilot times out or is sick, someone has to be deadheaded in to fly it away. (I don't think the east contracts allow for satellite bases or a LAS like arrangement--could be wrong here).
3. It seems to me that if WN wanted to do it, now would be a spectacular time to go into CLT. It wold certainly reduce the "profitable" flying somewhat.
4. How much can one shrink an airline network before it becomes useless to those who don't live in PHX, CLT, PHL, or DCA? In that same vein, has an airline ever shrunk to profitability? In that same vein, does this remind anyone of the PSA/Piedmont shrinkage?
5. Forget about shorting airline stocks, buy up seats on PIT/BOS to DCA/PHL, and sell them at outrageous costs to commuting pilots and flight attendants. The rough just got rougher for east pilots and flight attendants.