It first partnered with Delta Air Lines 20 years ago, opened an Orlando hub 14 years ago and became the first regional airline to fly jets 8 years ago. Young pilots, eager for any flying job and dreaming of a jet cockpit someday, were willing to work for a pittance flying small planes at Comair and other commuters to get the experience to join a major airline later. Fifty-seat RJs could carry more passengers twice as far, twice as fast, as a turboprop. Comair now flies jets to 95 cities in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. In a development that surprised no one who has watched the regional carrier industry for the past decade, the 1,350 pilots at Comair walked off their jobs last week.
Experts say such a strike was bound to happen.
Today, regional carriers transport one in eight domestic airline passengers. In 5 years, regionals are expected to carry a third more passengers than now. According to the Regional Airline Association, there are 585 RJs flying today, and the General Accounting Office says 1,255 more are on order. Regional airlines have quietly become the strongest little growth engines within major airlines. Comair and other regional airlines contend it makes no sense to pay their less-experienced pilots the same as the captain and first officer flying a large commercial jet that seats two or three times as many passengers.