U.S. Regional Airlines Continue To Grow

Regional Airline Association has released statistics showing the increases in passenger miles flown.  Regional airline revenue from passenger miles totaled nearly USD$16 billion for first quarter 2006, a gain of nearly 5% over the same period last year.  The industry completed 1.13 million departures, with an overall average load factor of nearly 72%. 

SkyWest Airlines, American Eagle and ExpressJet were ranked as the three largest regional airlines in terms of passengers flown for the first quarter.  The 15 largest US passenger-carrying regional airlines are SkyWest, American Eagle, ExpressJet, Mesa, Atlantic Southeast, Comair, Pinnacle, Horizon Air, Chautauqua, Air Wisconsin, PSA, Mesaba, Trans States, Shuttle America and Piedmont.

Regional airlines often hire pilots with fewer flight hours than the major airlines require.  As a result, it can be an excellent career path for young pilots.  For more details on this, call Phoenix East Aviation and ask to speak to an Admissions Officer.  You could be flying for one of these airlines sooner than you think! Phoenix East is ready to help make that possible.