Regional does it's thing very well, but it is a very different "thing" from Mainline.
I like the guys and gals up in ABZ. They are generally straight talking and pretty efficient in what they do, but there are times when you do detect a large bit of "Mainline should do it our way" mentality. Which is silly. They are totally different animals and the way that Mainline do things doesn;t work for small aeroplanes and a small company, but equally the techniques that work for a small company and with small aircraft would be disasterous if applied to Mainline.
Though all the companies in the group could learn something from eachother from what I've seen.
I've heard nothing about new aeroplanes, but that doesn't mean it's not true, though bringing in a new type seems odd. Are you sure it's not just the Baby leases that was signed off?