4g
Just a few points to ponder.
The CRJ is not the right a/c for the Eros run, but until your company joined the jet age, there was no alternative. The ERJ 145 will propably have the same problems out of Eros. I hear from SAXPA that there are still some questions over your RTOW and obstacle clearance status out of Eros. The less said about Nelspruit, Pietermaritzburg and Malelane, the better. The Jetstreams are still using WAT limit tables instead of computed obstacle clearance RTOW tables and I suspect that the ERJ's are as well.
Power by the hour is nice until RR start auditing your engine data. You might find that high ISA's take the same toll on your motors. At least you have the higher thrust rating on the 135. Considering that we take 14 pax more than you and burn the same fuel at 290/310 that you burn at 350/370, I am happy to stay low and out of the wind.
There are quite a few ex-Link guys at SAX and when mergers are mentioned, they immediately say that the most difficult part of a merger will be to get Link training and ops up to SAX standards. I sincerely hope that is not true.
If you look at my previous post, you will see that I am quite happy about the prospect of a merger. Our companies have different cultures and there will be a lot of growing pains if we joined forces, but it is propably the best move.