RAA Confronts Existential Threats as Sequestration Effects Take Hold
RAA vice president Scott Foose has led the association’s efforts to mitigate the effects of sequestration on regional airlines. (Photo: Gregory Polek)
RAA vice president Scott Foose has led the association’s efforts to mitigate the effects of sequestration on regional airlines. (Photo: Gregory Polek)

Some of the very communities on which the regional airline industry built its legacy face “devastating cuts to air service” if the various stakeholders don’t act quickly, officials from the Regional Airline Association warn. The reasons vary, and each presents its own set of challenges. But perhaps the most immediate threat lies with the closure of and reduction in operating hours at hundreds of air traffic control towers resulting from the U.S. government’s automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Although on April 5 legislators deferred the planned April 7 start date for closing 149 towers to June 15, the change of heart last month looked more like a stay of execution than a reprieve.