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wheresmyplane · 07-03-2009, 01:01 AM

This seems like the right forum to post this on - I'd like to get the opinion of some who have a better grip on the history of this if I can. There has been a lot of talk lately about the problem of "regional" airlines and lost scope and substandard pay and on and on... My question is this: Is this really a new problem? When I look at some of the airlines that existed in the past (Allegheny, Ozark, old PSA, Piedmont), I see airplanes comparable to the CRJ 900/EMB 190 such as 727's and DC-9's. I do see a lot of operators flying the expected E120's and Dash 7's and 8's (Mississippi Valley Air, ASA, Eagle), but there are more than a few flying the larger airplanes. There were even a few MD-80's and 737's in there somewhere. Now that's current mainline stuff. Is it just a matter of scope in that now these airplanes are operating as Delta/AA/CAL instead of in competition? Were these regionals grossly overequipped? Looking at the routemap it doesn't look like they were covering even as large a region as Eagle or Comair or Skywest is covering now. It also seems that if there were more companies, there would have been more pilot jobs (good for all of us). Am I missing something? How does this all factor into what we're seeing now in the industry? I would like to hear from anyone with insight into this. It's always good to know where we came from, and I'm trying to educate myself on the subject. Thanks in advance to all who respond!

07-03-2009, 01:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
wheresmyplane Line Holder Joined APC: Mar 2009 Position: CRJ 200 Furloughed FO Posts: 91	Regionals Past and Present This seems like the right forum to post this on - I'd like to get the opinion of some who have a better grip on the history of this if I can. There has been a lot of talk lately about the problem of "regional" airlines and lost scope and substandard pay and on and on... My question is this: Is this really a new problem? When I look at some of the airlines that existed in the past (Allegheny, Ozark, old PSA, Piedmont), I see airplanes comparable to the CRJ 900/EMB 190 such as 727's and DC-9's. I do see a lot of operators flying the expected E120's and Dash 7's and 8's (Mississippi Valley Air, ASA, Eagle), but there are more than a few flying the larger airplanes. There were even a few MD-80's and 737's in there somewhere. Now that's current mainline stuff. Is it just a matter of scope in that now these airplanes are operating as Delta/AA/CAL instead of in competition? Were these regionals grossly overequipped? Looking at the routemap it doesn't look like they were covering even as large a region as Eagle or Comair or Skywest is covering now. It also seems that if there were more companies, there would have been more pilot jobs (good for all of us). Am I missing something? How does this all factor into what we're seeing now in the industry? I would like to hear from anyone with insight into this. It's always good to know where we came from, and I'm trying to educate myself on the subject. Thanks in advance to all who respond! __________________ The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly....