ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the airlines as a separate industry. In order to avoid confusion about the term industry, it is best to define it at the outset. Today, the regional/commuter airline segment is an integral part of the nation's air transportation system. Regional carriers provide regularly scheduled passenger or cargo service on aircraft predominantly seating fewer than 60 passengers or holding cargo with an 18,000-pound or less payload. Regionals fly pursuant to schedules published in widely used airline schedule guides. Approximately 90 percent of regional/commuter airline passengers connect to or from major airlines, saving passengers both time and money, as a result of tight marketing partnerships between regionals and majors known as code sharing. To fully understand the structure of the airline industry, it is important to review traffic and financial statistics, including performance measurements.
