By any measure of market share and financial performance, the convalescence of the U.S. regional airline industry looks nearly complete. Since last year’s RAA convention in Phoenix, the nation’s regionals have posted double-digit traffic gains while margins marched toward pre-9/11 levels and RJ fleets grabbed another 5 percent of the air transport network’s market share. Far from issuing a clean bill
of health, however, RAA president Debby McElroy warns not to lose sight of the ethic that lifted the segment out of its doldrums. There remains a lot of hard work ahead, she insists, and to think otherwise could easily lay waste to the progress her association and the industry at large labored so diligently to effect.
“As regionals have to accept less compensation and increased risk in their contracts with major partners, it’s even more incumbent upon them to keep their costs in check, and it’s incumbent on the association to continue our work to educate policy makers about the impact of new regulations and legislation,” McElroy told AIN last month.
