Airlines substituting routes with REGIONAL JETs

[shon7]

There has been a lot of talk of Airlines and how increased use of regional jets would help their financial situation- (eg: American, US Airways etc.)

However some of the routes proposed seem to be high density, high volume routes. In general is it more economical to fly 2-3 regional jets b/w two airports rather than 1 widebody?

[shon7]

Thanks for the reply. However I find it hard to believe that regionals would have a higher cost per mile- don't the airline save millions on crew costs, operating costs (fuel, landing fee, handlers etc etc.)

The frequency argument makes perfect sense but I have not really seen airlines market a business class product in the regional jets. Very select airlines even have a separate business section on the regional jets.

I liked how you put it ,"forward thinking full service airlines"- which ones would you rate in this category?

Lastly how does the safety record of regional jets match to those of wide-bodies, considering that one has much younger, less experienced pilots flying these.