There have been a number of comments on various forums since the announcement that this could lead to a full-blown merger of EI/RE. From a customer viewpoint I hope that doesn't happen. RE has worked exceptionally hard to build a brand and services to airports that both EI & FR gave up on.
No money is changing hands in this deal, i.e no equity swaps anything like that. I hope from a job security point of view this proves to be good. I want to see RE thrive and hopefully this deal will do some good things for both carriers, and specifically for the workforce. I can't say I am surprised that they are going to use ATR72500s on this, but I for one will be very sad to see the celtic rings disappear, this is a very unique and eye catching livery. For goodness sake RE paint the fleet!!
Here's hoping RE becomes a stronger airline as a result of all of this, not just another carrier swallowed up followed by service cuts soon after.