I agree with your observations, Fubaliera.
It is said that over three decades ago in pre-Deregulation America, during his tenure at the US Civil Aeronautics Board, Chairman Alfred Kahn astonished Frank Borman and other Eastern Airlines executives, who were trying to educate him about the merits of different aircraft, by admitting that "I really don't know one plane from the other. To me they are all marginal costs with wings."
Airliners are capitalist tools. I appreciate the economic justifications for Embraers and believe, that as a business decision, the Embraer is a good choice for the airline. Gulf Air's mandate, if not to become profitable, is to create value for the Kingdom of Bahrain. Pilots, ever conscious of the vulnerability of their careers, are not surprisingly looking at it in a similar way as an airline might. There are numerous variables going into this equation, but once all summed up, it determines how people will react to it. The next few months will be interesting.