I'm jumping into this a bit late but from stateside I have never understood how the euro majors allow outside carriers to fly their routes. SCOPE in the US has always meant that any flying done on mainline routes was performed by mainline pilots.
Then the RJs reared their ugly heads. All of a sudden (especially since 9/11) RJs were being put on mainline routes to substitute the 737s and A320s that were running half empty. At my carrier we have seen all the projected growth go to the Express (regional) people. We had pilots (and F/As) on furlough while the RJS were taking over entire city pairs that we had run full with 737s. And its not because we are too expensive, our seat mile costs and our crew costs are far below industry average. Perhaps it is because we are in contract negotiations?
We have a very weak SCOPE clause. We will be changing that in the next contract. 50 seats will be the max. Anything larger will be flown by mainline crews. Our CEOhas said we will never get the A318s we have on order. He wants Canadair 900s. We think he is crazy since no one really wants to be stuck in a little tube for more than an hour. The Jungle Jet is worse. That is such a piece of Sh## that has only sold because the Brazillians give them away to keep their aircraft industry. (kind of like EADS if you think about it). Pax want mainline aircraft to mainline cities. The smaller city pairs get the props and the RJs because you cannot always fill 120 seats. But the bottom line is that an express carrier or a franchisee as you call them should exist only to feed the mainline. Jobs and pax should flow to the major.. You should not expect to have the same pay as the mainline unless you are flying the same jet. ALPA set the wage rate years ago by aircraft size and performance. The Beech 1900 pilot works a lot harder flying 9 or 10 legs a day solid IFR than I do going from YVR to PHX to FLL. But you know what, I get paid a little more because I am hauling more revenue. The BALPA pilots are right in insisting that BA flying be done by BA pilots. I am also sure there is a lot of fat that could be cut at Waterside. But a 737 or A320s direct operating costs are probably the same no matter who flys them. The problem is that BA management for years wanted to operate a virtual airline. You can't do that and keep any kind of corporate culture, enthusiasm or loyalty among your staff. And in a service industry, if the staff is not happy then the passenger is not happy. Southwest's Herb Kelleher had it correct when he said that the passenger comes second - his people come first.