Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Indianapolis-based regional airline group Republic Airways Holdings has emerged from bankruptcy as privately held company following some 14 months of operations under <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2016-02-26/republic-airways-declares-bankruptcy">Chapter 11 protection</a>, the carrier announced on Monday. Now owned by “certain unsecured creditors,” Republic emerges as the world’s largest operator of Embraer E-Jets and the second largest regional airline in the U.S. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York approved Republic’s reorganization plan on April 20. As of March 31, it operated a fleet of 170 E170/E175 dual-class aircraft and expects to expand its fleet by more than 10 percent during the remainder of this year with the delivery of 18 more E-Jets.


Since entering bankruptcy in February of last year, Republic entered into new fixed-fee contracts with mainline codeshare partners American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, shed all its Embraer ERJ-family regional jets and Bombardier Q400 turboprops and closed its Shuttle America subsidiary. It also restructured debt on 80 E-Jets and renegotiated agreements with several suppliers. The integration of Shuttle America into Republic Airline leaves the company with a single operating certificate. It closed its Chautauqua Airlines unit in December 2014.


“Today starts a new chapter for Republic,” said Republic CEO Bryan Bedford. “We entered this restructuring process with specific objectives: To restructure Republic into an airline that produces consistent and outstanding operational reliability; to simplify our business model in order to drive financial and operational efficiencies; and to ensure Republic remained an employer of choice for its current and future aviation professionals. I am pleased that we accomplished all of our restructuring goals timely. Our future success will be determined by how well Republic continues to deliver these competencies.”

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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