Originally Posted by
Wheels up
Cape Air is a very small niche outfit operating on a few non-competitive routes. It's irrelevant to compare a C402 prop outfit to a regional jet carrier. In fact it's really incorrect to call some outfits like American Eagle "Regionals." They are major airlines in their own rights and with their low-pay compensation to employees, competing, in many ways, directly with their mainlines.
Oh my. Someone busting out the old "Cape Air isn't a real airline because they don't fly jets" routine.
Let me set you straight: I've flown a jet at a 121 regional, and I currently fly for Cape Air. It's the
same job in smaller airplanes. We have 56 C402s and 2 ATR-42s, carried over 650,000 passengers in 2007, have more operations in/out of Boston Logan than any other carrier on a daily basis, and with the exception of the ATRs, do it with "Cape Air" plastered in big letters on the tail.
If you want to get into the "real airline" debate, we win. Not to put down jet regionals in any way (I'm still looking forward to taking recall to XJT if that ever happens), but RJ operators provide
feed for a mainline operator. We provide our own transportation under our own name on our own ticket stock. Can Eagle say the same?