US network carriers plan for ‘fully deployed’ regional fleets in 2025

Major US airlines are forecasting a return to full utilisation of regional jets that had been slow to return to service in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic. Executives with American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said during recent earnings calls that they are dialling up the use of the jets, which are flown by partner regional airlines. Indeed, regional carriers have roughly half as many jets grounded now as they did about two years ago. American on 23 January said it expected its regional-fleet passenger capacity (as measured in available seat kilometres) would increase 17% year on year in the first quarter, “as we return to full utilisation”. Delta, meanwhile, expects half of its 2025 capacity growth to come from “improved utilisation of both our mainline and regional fleets”, chief executive Ed Bastian said on 10 January, with “incremental capacity deployed primarily into our high-margin core hubs”. ”We expect the regionals to be back to full flying of our assets,” adds Dan Janki, Delta’s chief financial officer. ”We have that capability.” United recently said that returning its full fleet of regional jets to service will prove the “right call for 2025”. In September, the Regional Airline Association (RAA) confirmed that dozens of regional jets that had been sitting in the Arizona desert were returning to commercial service, with regional airline companies taking advantage of a temporary reprieve in pilot attrition. As demand recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, major US carriers frenziedly poached first officers and captains from their regional counterparts – which, in many cases, are subsidiary companies of America, Delta, United and Alaska Airlines. <br/>