What does the future of regional airlines in the US look like? - Just looking for some opinions

Of course, nobody here has a crystal ball; but I think it might be interesting to see what you guys think the future of regional flying will be. It's such a volatile side of our industry (as we just saw with Air Wisconsin today) that anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's. What's your take on the next 5-10 years of regionals?

The crazy hot take that some had a year or two ago was that this was the long-awaited end to the whole model... that there's no way these regionals could continue to pay new-hire FO's $90/hr or more. The operating costs would get too high, legacies would say fuck it... and everyone would be absorbed into their respective mainlines. Flying 1 mainline A320 to Fargo a day was better for the "pilot shortage" than flying 3 regional CRJ-200s. The exception was OO; they would become a de-facto major akin to Southwest. Seriously... I heard people say all this not too long ago. 22 year old's were gonna go right from college to the right seat of a 737 at Delta. This was the fake dream my generation was sold on. Again, I heard people I trusted say this with a straight face.

That's clearly not gonna happen anytime soon... but I think the idea that we're back to the lost decade of making less than a Home Depot cashier is just as unlikely. No disrespect, but you can't pay ramp agents and pilots BOTH $20 an hour.

Personally, my view, barring some major recession or pandemic of course, is that the model will keep going strong for regionals who's flying is more or less guaranteed. They'll stay in business and stay flying for their mainline overlords, but only because a good chunk of them are gearing up to cut costs at the expense of you and I. The ridiculous over-saturation of 1500+ hour CFIs and non-ATPs who will fly 90 hours a month for a ham sandwich will drive wages down. It is more or less a certainty, especially for the regionals who's 2022 pay raises were always temporary *ahem* AA WOs *ahem* The leverage simply isn't there for regional pilots to keep pay where it is. Union or not. When one regional brings down the pay, and there are ATP-hungry guys still willing to fly there (there will be), all the rest will soon follow.

I see a wealth of flying for these regional airlines in their future, especially as they continue to consolidate at the expense of sacrificial lambs like Air Wisconsin... but it'll only be possible because new FOs will make $55k and not $100k. It will revert to what it always has been, a GTFIH and a GTFO type-situation.

What's your take?