But what are the alternatives - who's building 19-seaters anymore?
What are you going to replace all the Metros with? Slightly younger but USED B1900Ds? USED J32s? Or maybe step up to USED Saab 340s or Brasilias? I hear they've restarted production of the Twotter...
I think I read in Australian Aviation a few months ago that none of the manufacturers (Embraer, Beech/Raytheon, ATR etc) want to develop a new 19-seater yet because the technology isn't there yet to give sufficient efficiency gains to justify buying new aircraft, and because there are no airlines worldwide operating a large enough legacy fleet to want to be a launch customer and thus underwrite its development.