Part of the problem is that the term regional is no longer accurate in many cases. It historically meant the operator of smaller aircraft used in one "region" of the country... now we do still have "regionals" that still operate 10-37 seat piston, prop & jets just in geographic sections of the country... and we have "regionals" operating all jets in Mexico, Indonesia, Canada and the Carribean, and throughout most of the US.... all still called regional.

We have several "regionals" that make the DOT list as being a Major airline... and we have a few national airlines that are not majors, and are actually smaller than some regionals, but operate larger equipment...

It's just a mess out there.

The arguement for 1 list looks better and better every day.....