Sounds simple, but is it?

Those 3 or 4 CRJ's would then have to be stationed in that area cutting down on aircraft scheduling flexibility.

How much would it cost? From a purely financial perspective is it cheaper to do things this way or make the adjustments you talk of?

I think AC knows the answers to those questions already and so do you. It made its decision which way to go.

How many businesses staff or equip based on the extremes of the environment they work in? Most I know of will go for the median or average rather than the highs or lows.