Notwithstanding consistent losses through which the regional airline industry’s publicly traded carriers have suffered lately, the last three years have proved a period of considerable progress on several fronts. Perhaps most notably, the industry has not registered a fatal accident since the Feb. 12, 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407, in which 50 people died primarily due to pilot error. Since then, regional airlines have answered virtually every demand placed upon them by the legislators and the general public. No stranger to scrutiny, the regional airline industry has once again managed to emerge from an extremely difficult period stronger in many ways than ever, leaving it still better equipped to deliver the safe, efficient product the traveling public expects, RAA president Roger Cohen told AIN as the RAA’s May 21 to 24 annual convention in Minneapolis approached.
