Originally Posted by
golfingboy
The "break-even" point (where the Q loses its advantage) that has been thrown around between the Q400s and the other 70 seater jets was around 400-500 miles as the Qs loses its massive take-off advantage with its lower cruising altitude and speed.
In the end, I don't think it will happen. AA has 90 more E-175 options that are earmarked for Envoy and I have a feeling the goal is to continue expanding Envoy's E-175 fleet and continue transferring/retiring their E-145 fleet. I would expect Piedmont to get another significant batch of E-145s in the next couple of years to completely replace the Dash fleet.
If you think a big piece of the AA regional fleet going forward has to be Q400s or ERJ-145s you are, IMHO, setting the bar way too low. They won't be able to get enough pilots to fly low productivity aircraft (seat count, lack of premium cabins) at the wages they'll want to pay. AA may need 100-150 aircraft smaller than E75/CR7 in order to maintain decent frequency of service to destinations where people pay a premium, but not hundreds and hundreds. The time for that is well past.