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RAA panel discusses US small-community air service. From left: RAA SVP government affairs Drew Jacoby Lewis; Rapid City Regional Airport executive director Patrick Dame; US DOT associate director aviation analysis Albert Muldoon; Volaire Aviation Consulting managing partner Tim Sieber and SkyWest Airlines president and COO Wade Steel.
WASHINGTON—After years of challenges and constraints, the US regional airline sector has stabilized and is returning to growth, although hurdles remain to fully restoring air connectivity across America’s small communities.
The Regional Airline Association’s (RAA) 2026 annual report, released Sept. 22 ahead of the RAA Leaders Conference in Washington DC, shows regional carriers operated an average of 8,661 departures per day in 2025, up 8.3% from 7,998 in 2024. Departures by all other US airlines declined 0.5% to 16,675 per day.
Overall US departures increased 2.4%, meaning the domestic industry would have recorded a slight contraction without the regional sector’s recovery.
US regional airlines drove all growth in scheduled passenger departures during 2025 as operators rebuilt their workforces and returned aircraft to service, although activity remains well below pre-2020 levels and consolidation has led to a reduced number of regional airlines.
The aftereffects of the COVID pandemic, ongoing supply chain issues and high labor fuel costs continue to make operating a viable regional airline service difficult. But the president and COO at one of the US’ largest regional carriers, SkyWest Airlines, which operates as a regional affiliate for Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, remains strongly committed to the small community sector.
Speaking on a panel at the RAA conference Sept. 23, Wade Steel pointed out that SkyWest has provided small community service for 54 years and the sector remains the company’s foundation.
“We are restoring service to small communities. It’s something we work on every day, and we are working through the challenges,” Steel said. “We are operating a lot of 50-seat jets, and we are working with our partners. For instance, we worked with United on the [Mitsubishi] CRJ-450 product that will roll out in the fourth quarter [2026], and which will have Starlink [onboard satellite-based Wi-Fi].”
The CRJ-450 is a variant of the 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 with fewer seats and a premium cabin. SkyWest also operates the Mitsubishi CRJ-550, a variant of the Bombardier CRJ700 with fewer seats and a premium cabin, for United and Delta.
“The market wants a nicer product,” Steel said. “We love working with communities that value good air service that is also safe and reliable, and we like it when communities want to sustain that. The safety part is extremely important.”
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