Regional airline

Flight West was a regional airline operating in Australia in the 1990s

Regional airlines commonly called commuter airlines or feeder airlines, when they provide service to smaller communities that do not generate sufficient passengers to support service with larger aircraft, are passenger airlines that provides "short haul aircraft" service to smaller communities, frequently connecting to larger cities, and is generally intended to feed a larger airline with larger aircraft. They are also used to increase the frequency of service to some destinations that are also served by mainline aircraft.

Many large airlines, especially in North America, have established operational relationships with one or more regional airline companies. Their aircraft often use the aircraft livery for the company they are operating flights for. These airlines can be subsidiaries of the major airline or fly under a code sharing agreement. Examples would be the fully owned AMR Corporation's American Eagles Holdings Corporation regional subsidiaries "American Eagle Airlines" and Executive Airlines which fly under the similar American Eagle brand, along with ACE Aviation Holdings subsidiary Air Canada Jazz.

In the British Isles for example, BA CityFlyer a regional subsidiary of British Airways uses the basic Chatham Dockyard Union Flag livery of its parent company. In a slightly different category ExpressJet Airlines another regional carrier, but one which is independently owned and managed, although its 205 aircraft fleet operates in the marketing brand of Continental Airlines, Inc., Continental Express. In these roles, all of the precedings airlines are operated primarily to bring passengers to the major hubs, where they will connect for longer distance flights on the national airlines also known as flagship carriers's, larger aircraft. The smallest regional carriers have become known as feeder airlines. The separate corporate structure allows the company to operate under different pay schedules, typically paying much less than their mainline owners.

Other regional airlines are formed to serve low-use routes providing service to small and isolated communities, for whom the airline is the only reasonable link to a larger town. An example of this is Peninsula Airways, which links the remote Aleutian Islands of Alaska to Anchorage. It is in this role that the term commuter airline is generally used.

History

British Aerospace Jetstream 41 of the UK regional airline Eastern Airways

Regional airlines began by operating propeller-driven aircraft over short routes, sometimes on flights of less than 100 miles. In the early days of commercial aviation few aircraft had ranges greater than this, and airlines were often formed to serve the area in which they formed. That is, there was no strong distinction between a regional airline and any other airline. This changed with the introduction of long-range aircraft, which led to the development of the flag carrier airlines, such as British Overseas Airways Corporation and Trans-Canada Airlines. As the flag carriers grew in importance with increasing long-range passenger traffic, the smaller airlines found a niche flying passengers over short hops to the flag carrier's airport. This arrangement was eventually formalized, forming the feeder airlines.

Through the 1960s and 1970s, war surplus designs, notably the DC-3, were replaced by much more capable turboprop or jet-powered designs like the Fokker F27 Friendship or BAC One-Eleven. This extended the range of the regionals dramatically, causing a wave of consolidations between the now overlapping airlines.

In the early 1990s, much more advanced turboprop-powered, fuel efficient, and passenger friendly DC-3 type replacement projects such as the 19 passenger Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector and the 34 seat Dornier 328 were undertaken, but met little financial success, partly due to economic downturn in the airline industry resulting from the outbreak of hostilities when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Many of the regional airlines operating turboprop equipment such as Delta's regional sister Comair airlines in the United States set the course for bypassing entirely the regional turboprops as they became the first to transition to an all-jet regional jet fleet. To a lesser extent in Europe and the United Kingdom this transition, to notably the Embraer or Canadair designs, was well advanced by the late 1990s. This evolution towards jet equipment, brought the independent regional airlines into direct competition with the major airlines, forcing additional consolidation.

Although regional airlines in the United States are often viewed as small, not particularly lucrative "no name" subsidiaries of the mainline airlines, in terms of revenue, many would be designated major airline carrier status but they do not qualify for this status since the aircraft they operate generally seat less than 100 people.

Beginning around 1985, a number of trends has been apparent. Regional aircraft are getting larger, regional aircraft are getting faster, and regional aircraft are flying longer ranges. Most recently regional aircraft in the US have been getting slightly more comfortable with the addition of better ergonomically designed aircraft cabins, and the addition of varying travel classes aboard these aircraft. From small, less than 50-seat "single-class cabin" turboprop, to turbofan regional jet equipment, present day regional airlines provide aircraft such as the higher capacity CRJ700, CRJ900, CRJ1000 series of aircraft and the somewhat larger fuselage Embraer E-Jets. Some of these newer aircraft are capable of flying longer distances with comfort levels that rival and surpass the regional airline equipment of the past.

Historically important United States regional airlines

In the United States, regional airlines were an important building block of today's passenger air system. The U.S. Government encouraged the forming of regional airlines to provide services from smaller communities to larger towns, where air passengers could connect to a larger network. The government encourages regional airline growth with the goal of making air travel within the reach of every American.

The first United States regional airline (then called a commuter airline) was Wright Airlines, founded by aviation legend Gerald Weller in Cleveland, Ohio. The airline was based at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport, becoming the airport's first commercial carrier. Though airlines had come and gone from Burke over the years, Wright Airlines endured, and by the time the airline declared bankruptcy in the late 1980s, it was appropriately the last commercial airline to leave Burke Lakefront Airport. (Cleveland's commercial traffic has since been consolidated at the city's larger Cleveland Hopkins International Airport).

Some examples of the original regional airlines sanctioned by the Civil Aeronautics Board in the 1940s and 1950s include:

• Allegheny Airlines
• Bonanza Air Lines
• Frontier Airlines
• Mohawk Airlines
• North Central Airlines
• Piedmont Airlines
• Southern Airways
• Southwest Airways (renamed Pacific Air Lines in 1958)
• West Coast Airlines

Of the airlines listed above, none survives today. Some airlines use these names today; however, they are not the direct successors to the original airlines.

Since the passing of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, the US federal government has maintained a desire to continue support of the regional airline sector and to ensure many of the smaller and more isolated rural communities remain connected to air services. This program, known as the Essential Air Service (EAS), guarantees that selected smaller communities are afforded year-round regional airline services.

An alternative to some regional airline service may be the new Small Aircraft Transportation System initiative in conjunction with general aviation and VLJs (very light jets). With the introduction of air taxi VLJs, city pair links to smaller communities lacking regional connections could become more common.

Regional airlines today

United States

United States regional brands

Larger airline holding companies, to improve their market penetration, rely on operators of smaller aircraft to provide service or added frequency service to some airports.

Such airlines, often operating in code-share arrangements with mainline airlines, often completely repaint their aircraft fleet in the mainline airlines sub-brand livery. For example Continental Connection regional airline partners CommutAir repaints its entire fleet in Continental Connection colors. While regional airline Gulfstream International Airlines paints none of its aircraft in Continental Connection colors. Pinnacle Airlines Corporation owner of regional airline Colgan Air paints some aircraft in their own Colgan Air colors, as well as some in the airlines marketing sub-brands of Continental Connection, US Airways Express, and United Express colors, whom it has contractual agreements with.

Typical seat map of a smaller regional airliner as was often flown by the Express, Connection and Airlink brands of the major airlines. The smallest aircraft flown under such brands and regional airlines may or may not have lavatories, the typical signage for an aircraft's toilet.

Hyaniss Air Services owners of regional airline Cape Air is also a Continental Connection code-share partner for Continental Micronesia, but at the same time runs a sub-branded fleet of aircraft for itself and Hyaniss Air Service but under its own brand name of Nantucket Airlines. Many airline passengers find all this sub-branding very confusing, while many other airline passengers are content to think they are on a mainline or flagship airline's aircraft, while in actuality they are far from it. As described this sub-branding is pretty consistent throughout the airline industry of the United States, with all the regional airlines, mainline airlines, and the regional airline holding companies, as well as the mainline airlines holding companies participating.

Among some of the more well-known advertising sub-brands used by the larger mainline airlines in North America are:

• Allegheny Commuter (defunct)
• America West Express (defunct, now operates as US Airways Express)
• American Eagle (extant, for detailed information about the brand refer to American Eagle, as discussed under Executive Airlines operations, and American Eagle Airlines code-share operations inherited from TWA Connection)
• AmericanConnection
• ATA Connection (defunct)
• Continental Connection
• Continental Express
• Delta Connection
• Frontier JetExpress
• Midwest Connect
• Midway Connect (defunct)
• Northwest Airlink
• Pan Am Express (defunct)
• United Express
• US Airways Express

Among some of the lesser known smaller advertising brand used by the regional airlines and their regional airlines parent company are listed below. Many of these airlines have had contentious histories as has often been discussed in detail within the context of the sub-brand or brands individual sections dealing with their holding companies or certificated airlines.

• go!
  • a regional airline brand of Mesa Airlines, itself a subsidiary of the regional airline holding company Mesa Air Group.
• go!Express
  • a regional airline brand, used in a codeshare arrangement by regional airline Mokulele Airlines for Mesa Air Group's, Mesa Airlines airline division known as go!
• PWExpress
  • a regional airline brand of the regional airline named Pacific Wings, IATA code (LW) which is owned by Pacific Air Holdings company.
• New Mexico Airlines
  • a regional airline brand of the regional airline named Pacific Wings, IATA code (LW) which is owned by Pacific Air Holdings company. New Mexico Airlines was set up to take over the Air Midwest flying dropped by Mesa Air Group
• Mesa
  • a regional airline brand used by the regional airline Air Midwest, a subsidiary for the regional airline holding company Mesa Air Group

Cessna 402C of Hyannis Air Service - Cape Air

• Nantucket Airlines
  • a feeder airline marketing brand operated by feeder and regional airline Cape Air which is wholly owned by the regional airline holding company Hyaniss Air Services.
• Pan Am Clipper Connection (Defunct)[3]
  • an airline brand operated by defunct regional airline Boston-Maine Airways for the airline holding company Pan Am System's.

United States regional airline holdings companies

Many small regional airlines have grown substantially, usually through the use of virtual mergers by use of the regional airline holding company as pioneered earlier by AMR Corporation in 1982. AMR created the AMR Eagle Holding Corporation which unified its wholly owned American Eagle Airlines and Executive Airlines under one division, but still maintained the regionals operating certificates and personnel separate from each other and American Airlines. Among the more significant of these airline holding companies are.

• Pinnacle Airlines Corp. "holders" of the airline air carrier operating certificates of
  • Colgan Air
  • Pinnacle Airlines
• Republic Airways Holdings
• SkyWest, Inc.
• Trans States Holdings "holders" of the airline air carrier operating certificates of
  • GoJet
  • Trans States Airlines

European regional airlines

CityJet is a European regional airline operating services on behalf of its owner Air France. This is a British Aerospace 146-200.

European regional airlines serve the intra-continental sector in Europe. They connect cities to major airports and to other cities, avoiding the need for passengers to make transfers.

Some of Europe's regional airlines are subsidiaries of national air carriers, though there remains a strong entrepreneurial sector of independents. They are based on business models ranging from the traditional full service airline to low cost carriers. Innovations include one where the passenger is required to join a membership club before being allowed to fly.

Some examples of European regional airlines include:

VFW-614 of Air Alsace at Basle Airport in 1977

• Air Nostrum
• Air Southwest
• Aer Arann
• Aurigny Air Services
• BA Connect
• Blue Islands
• Cimber Air
• CityJet
• Eastern Airways
• EuroManx
• Flybe
• Portugália
• VLM

See also

• List of regional airliners

External links

• Regional Airlines Association (US)
• Regional Airline Partners (US)
• European Regions Airline Association (EU)
• Regional Aviation Association of Australia (Aus)