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68-520: Midwest Connect was the brand name for the regional airline service of Midwest Airlines , rather than a certificated airline carrier. Skyway Airlines was the sole operator of Midwest Connect since its inception in 1989, until SkyWest Airlines began additional Midwest Connect service on April 1, 2007. SkyWest took over all Midwest Connect operations following Skyway's shutdown of operations on April 5, 2008. In October, 2008, Republic Airlines also began operating for Midwest Connect. On November 3, 2009

136-456: A 1983 article about PBA, Provincetown-Boston Airlines , both Air New England and Air Florida are described as regional airlines. At the time, Air New England was a recently-failed turboprop operator in the northeast USA, while Air Florida was a jet carrier flying from Florida to the northeast, to Latin America and Europe. The two airlines had little in common. As flag carriers grew to fill

204-833: A codeshare relationship with Bar Harbor Airlines in Florida and New England. Continental also owned Britt Airways from the People Express merger, and Rocky Mountain Airways of Denver. While Bar Harbor's New England routes did not overlap PBA's, the Florida routes were in direct competition, and Continental was investing in Bar Harbor through airplane purchases. In April 1988, Continental acquired majority interest in Bar Harbor Airlines and began consolidating Bar Harbor with PBA. PBA flight crews started operating

272-505: A crash on September 7, 1984. One person was killed and five injured, in the crash of the flight from Naples to Tampa that was mistakenly fueled with the wrong type of aircraft fuel. In November 1984, the FAA grounded the airline for this and many other safety violations. At the time of the shutdown by the FAA, PBA was the USA's largest commuter airline with 113 aircraft in the fleet. In December 1984,

340-498: A flexible, demand-based schedule with its different fleet types, even in peak season. On days when demand was higher, the larger aircraft would be operated, but if bookings were light, the smaller aircraft would be used to save on fuel and operating expenses. During the early 1980s the company expanded both in the north and in Florida. Two new aircraft types were introduced: the Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante and

408-424: A form of a virtual airline , with the regional airline paid to staff, operate and maintain aircraft used on flights that are scheduled, marketed and sold by a partner mainline airline. This practice allows the mainline carrier to use outsourced labor at smaller stations, to reduce costs. In 2011, 61% of all advertised flights for American, Delta, United and US Airways were operated by their regional brands. This figure

476-531: A larger carrier, similar to their American counterparts. Some of these airlines and brands include: The trend of branding regional airlines to match the mainline airlines, has led to just three major sub-brands in the United States: American Eagle , Delta Connection and United Express . They are the post-deregulation survivors of the multiple bankruptcies and mergers of the major, legacy, mainline airlines. These regional brands are

544-521: A mainline or flagship airline's aircraft, while in actuality they are far from it. Sub-branding is pretty consistent throughout the airline industry of the United States, with all the regional airlines, mainline airlines, and the regional airline holding companies, as well as the mainline airlines holding companies participating. On Feb 12th, 2010, a year after the crash of Colgan flight 3407 , Frontline premiered its WGA Award-winning exposé on

612-627: A merger with Continental Airlines . On February 1, 1987, People Express completed the merger with Continental Airlines, and PBA's fate again came into question. Continental enjoyed having the PBA feeder flights at Newark, operating the flights now with the Continental Express name. Additional service was added as Continental Express with PBA's EMB-110s from Newark to Binghamton, NY, New Haven, CT and Baltimore, MD. Texas Air also owned Eastern Airlines in addition to Continental, and Eastern had

680-527: A new vision for regional mobility, based on services built out of small general aviation aircraft and VLJs (very light jets) with advanced automation. This vision failed to materialize due to its primary focus on rural mobility and a lack of clear and viable business case. With the introduction of air taxi services and very light jets , city pair links to smaller communities lacking regional connections could become more common. This opportunities could become commercially viable with advanced air mobility and

748-561: A rocky start, as PBA flight crews were initially not given their seniority at the combined carrier for the first six months. Junior Bar Harbor pilots were able to get better positions than their more senior PBA coworkers. Some PBA captains who were formerly flying the ATRs under PBA were downgraded to the Beech 99s, while junior Bar Harbor pilots took their seats in the ATR-42s. Eventually seniority

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816-593: A small number of smaller Cessnas and Pipers . Seasonal expansion and contraction continued, but with year-round service to all locations. The larger aircraft were flown in New England during the busy summer months, with the smaller aircraft operating in Florida. In the winter months, the fleet would be swapped, with the DC-3s and Martin 404s migrating to Florida, and the Cessnas flying in the north. PBA also operated

884-408: A strong entrepreneurial sector of independents. They are based on business models ranging from the traditional full service airline to low cost carriers . Innovations include one where the passenger is required to join a membership club before being allowed to fly. Some examples of European regional airlines include: India has many regional carriers operating currently. Some of these operate under

952-673: Is common in the U.S. to incorrectly associate aircraft size with the Department of Transportation's designation of major, national, and regional airline. The only corollary is the Regional Airline Association, an industry trade group, defines "regional airlines" generally as "...operat(ing) short and medium haul scheduled airline service connecting smaller communities with larger cities and connecting hubs. The airlines' fleet primarily consists of 19 to 68 seat turboprops and 30 to 100 seat regional jets." To be clear there

1020-500: Is fully owned by American Airlines Group and does business as American Eagle . Many of these large regional airlines have joined the lobbying group Regional Airline Association . This association lobbies purely for the financial interest of the corporate bodies it constitutes, not the employees of those airlines. In Canada there are a number of regional airlines. Some of them focus on Canadian Arctic and First Nations communities, while others operate regional flights on behalf of

1088-428: Is no distinction in the Department of Transportation definition of major, national and regional airlines by aircraft size. The definition is based on revenue. The clash of definitions has led to confusion in the media and the public. Beginning around 1985, a number of trends have become apparent. Regional aircraft are getting larger, faster, and are flying longer ranges. Additionally, the vast majority of regionals within

1156-687: The Civil Aeronautics Board from 1943 to 1950 include: A history and study of regional airlines was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 1994 under the title Commuter Airlines of the United States , by R.E.G. Davies and I. E. Quastler . Since the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the US federal government has continued support of the regional airline sector to ensure many of

1224-524: The Embraer 170 and Embraer 190 operated by Republic Airlines were rebranded as Midwest Airlines operated by Republic Airlines. Later, during Midwest's merger with Frontier Airlines under the ownership of Republic, Chautauqua Airlines operated as Midwest Connect. On January 16, 2008, Midwest Airlines announced that it would transition the operation of all Midwest Connect flights from Skyway Airlines to SkyWest Airlines . Skyway's last day of operations

1292-589: The Lockheed Model 10 Electra and used it on the Provincetown route, and then expanded service to include Cape Cod Airfield in Marstons Mills (later moved to Hyannis). Since demand for travel to Provincetown and Hyannis falls off during the winter months, in 1957 a cooperation arrangement with Naples Airlines of Naples, Florida was started, allowing the PBA aircraft to be used in Florida during

1360-410: The aircraft livery for the company they are operating flights for. These airlines can be subsidiaries of the major airline or fly under a code sharing agreement or operating through capacity purchase agreements, with the mainline parent company financing the aircraft for the regional airline, and then placing the aircraft with the regional for very little cost. An example would be Envoy Air , which

1428-425: The 19 passenger Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector and the 34 seat Dornier 328 were undertaken, but met little financial success, partly due to economic downturn in the airline industry resulting from the outbreak of hostilities when Iraq invaded Kuwait . Many of the regional airlines operating turboprop equipment such as Delta 's regional sister Comair airlines in the United States set the course for bypassing entirely

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1496-499: The Britt Airways operating certificate. In the consolidation, PBA's Florida routes were spun off to Eastern Airlines, and continued to operate using Bar Harbor Airways aircraft and operating certificate as Eastern Express until the demise of Eastern Airlines. The PBA hubs at Boston and LaGuardia continued to operate for a little while longer. In early 1991, Continental increased flights and destinations at LaGuardia airport after

1564-671: The Cape and Islands with ATR-42, Beech 99 and Beech 1900 aircraft. The Provincetown route was briefly picked up by New Hampshire-based PAC Air, and then in 1989 by Cape Air . After the Eastern Airlines strike in March 1989, the company rebranded the PBA/Bar Harbor flights in New England and Florida from Eastern Express back to Continental Express, practically overnight, in order to keep the routes flying. Continental ticket stock

1632-582: The Continental Express hubs at Boston and LaGuardia, as well as the PBA maintenance hangar and regional offices in Hyannis. Cape Air slowly began adding other former PBA routes, and today resembles PBA, operating service to former PBA destinations in New England, and also occupying the former PBA hangar in Hyannis, though it no longer serves Florida. Today, Cape Air operates many of the former PBA Cessna 402 aircraft. Cape Air also operated two of

1700-476: The EA and CO airline codes. Employees joked about how long it took to answer the phone ("thank you for calling Continental Express/Eastern Express/Bar Harbor/PBA"). Continental then began the process of consolidating its four commuter carriers (PBA, Bar Harbor, Britt, Rocky Mountain) into one consolidated Continental Express carrier, serving its main hubs at Newark, Houston, and Denver. The combined carrier operated using

1768-570: The Provincetown Airport, and started giving local residents rides to Boston in his airplane. Soon, Van Arsdale learned that people liked the idea of taking a 20-minute flight across the bay, and started the airline. He did the flying, while his wife Betty worked at the airport taking reservations. The aircraft of choice to start operations was the Cessna Bobcat . By 1953, PBA expanded with more airplanes and pilots. PBA acquired

1836-606: The United States with more than ten aircraft within their fleet, have lost their individual identities and now serve only as feeders, to Alaska Airlines , American Airlines , Delta Air Lines , or United Airlines major hubs. Regional aircraft in the US have been getting slightly more comfortable with the addition of better ergonomically designed aircraft cabins , and the addition of varying travel classes aboard these aircraft. From small, less than 50-seat "single-class cabin" turboprop , to turbofan regional jet equipment, present day regional airlines provide aircraft such as

1904-429: The United States, are: Mainline carrier-owned Independent contractors The evolution and chronological history of the commuter side of the regional airline industry can be defined by a number of dates prior to the end of the era of airline regulation by the Civil Aeronautics Board of the United States. Among these significant dates are: List of Commuter Airlines in 1977 Prior to Airline Deregulation: Some of

1972-404: The airline hub. Initially these tie ups tended to use small 15 -19 seat aircraft, which did not have a reputation of passenger comfort, or safe reliable operations, by small often under capitalized tiny airline operators. To create a common tie and what appeared to be seamless to the air traveler, major carriers marketed in advertising and soon had much smaller airlines paint their small and what

2040-598: The airline is the only reasonable link to a larger town. Examples of this are PenAir , which links the remote Aleutian Islands to Anchorage, Alaska , and Mokulele Airlines , which operates in the Hawaiian islands. As an affiliated airline , contracting with a major airline , operating under their brand name (for example, Endeavor Air operates flights under the Delta Connection brand name for Delta Air Lines ), and filling two roles: delivering passengers to

2108-750: The airline was allowed to return to the skies, but then days later had another fatal crash. On December 6, 1984, 13 people were killed in the crash of an Embraer Bandeirante shortly after takeoff from Jacksonville FL. Mechanical problems were to blame for this crash. Confidence in the airline was lost, and the company was losing money. Peter Van Arsdale turned to Hugh Culverhouse of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team for financial help for his ailing airline, in exchange for part ownership. The airline continued to lose money, Culverhouse gave up his investment, turning control back to Van Arsdale, and PBA filed for bankruptcy. In May 1986, People Express

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2176-437: The capability of "far and wide" air travel among the traveling public. "Regional airline" is a flexible term whose meaning has changed substantially over time. What it means today is different than how it has been used in the past. For instance, in the United States, around 1960, the term “regional carrier” denoted the smaller eight of the 12 largest carriers, then known as trunk carriers (or trunk airlines or simply trunks). At

2244-597: The classic DC-3s were repainted from PBA colors to the Eastern Express livery. Ironically, many of the PBA Douglas DC-3s were originally built for and operated as Eastern Airlines decades earlier. Florida flights were all now being operated with Bar Harbor's Saab 340 , Beechcraft 1900C , and Beechcraft 99 turboprops as Eastern Express, while the PBA fleet was consolidated back in the Northeast for

2312-534: The demand of long-range passenger traffic, new and small airlines found niches flying between short and under-served routes to-and-from major airports and more rural destinations. Through the 1960s and 1970s, war surplus designs (notably, the Douglas DC-3 ) were replaced by higher-performance turboprop or jet -powered designs like the Fokker F27 Friendship and BAC One-Eleven . This extended

2380-594: The former PBA ATR-42 turboprops as United Express (formerly Continental Connection) carrier in Guam until the type was retired in 2018. Van Arsdale Sr (Old Man Van as he was affectionately called) even had a seat on the board of Cape Air until his death. PBA's ATR-42s continued to operate flights for Continental Express in Newark for a number of years. Eventually, Continental retired the ATR-42s in favor of regional jets. Continental eventually spun off Continental Express into

2448-553: The government's UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme) . Note:- Alliance Air is still a state-owned airline, whereas Air India is private. Australia has an association for regional airline, the Regional Aviation of Australia. More than 2 million passengers and 23 million kg of cargo are involved each year. Post airline deregulation, airlines sought added market share and to do this they sought partnerships with regional and small airlines to feed traffic into

2516-416: The higher capacity CRJ700 , CRJ900 , CRJ1000 series of aircraft and the somewhat larger fuselage Embraer E-Jets . Some of these newer aircraft are capable of flying longer distances with comfort levels that rival and surpass the regional airline equipment of the past. In the early 1990s, much more advanced turboprop-powered, fuel efficient, and passenger friendly DC-3 type replacement projects such as

2584-532: The industry entitled "Flying Cheap". In the program, reporter Miles O'Brien questioned how the impact of low salaries are having on pilot psyches and how safe this could be for the flying public. When asked to respond to the question, Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, told Frontline that, "...there are many other people who earn less money than that and work more days in these communities that can afford it and do it and do it responsibly." The Small Aircraft Transportation System outlined

2652-461: The introduction of electric aircraft. In some parts of the world, regional airlines face competition from high-speed rail and also coach (bus) services with airlines sometimes replacing feeder services through air rail alliances and contracts with bus companies (e.g., Landline between Philadelphia International Airport and Atlantic City International Airport ). In North America , regional airlines are operated primarily to bring passengers to

2720-509: The lack of distinction among carriers soon began to change with the 1929 launch of Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) in the United States. T-A-T's transcontinental "Lindbergh Line" became America's first contiguous coast-to-coast air service, and it ushered in a new era of major airlines expanding to operate networks with large footprints. The development of long-range aircraft operated by flag carriers like British Overseas Airways Corporation and Trans-Canada Airlines further normalized

2788-422: The larger NAMC YS-11 . PBA began operating flights to New York/LaGuardia with the longer range aircraft. Also at this time, Van Arsdale retired and turned the company over to his two sons, John-o and Peter. The two boys started expanding the company to an even greater degree. Soon thereafter, an interline agreement was signed with Delta Air Lines , and in 1982 PBA became a regional feeder for Eastern Airlines . By

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2856-412: The last summer. In September 1988, Texas Air completed the consolidation of PBA with Bar Harbor Airlines. The PBA routes continued to have service as Continental Express and Eastern Express, but the old PBA Cessnas, Embraers, DC-3s, and YS-11s were all retired and replaced with the newer ATR-42s and Beech 1900s, now operating on the Bar Harbor Airlines certificate. The merger of the two carriers got off to

2924-635: The lesser known smaller brands used by the regional airlines and their parent companies were: European regional airlines serve the intra-continental sector in Europe . They connect cities to major airports and to other cities, avoiding the need for passengers to make transfers. For example, BA CityFlyer a regional subsidiary of British Airways uses the basic Chatham Dockyard Union Flag livery of its parent company and flies between domestic and European cities. Some of Europe's regional airlines are subsidiaries of national air carriers, though there remains

2992-679: The livery of Air France . NLM 's KLM style branding does however pre-date the Air France efforts though by a number of years. The success of the "rebranding" or "pseudo branding" of a much smaller airline into the name recognition of a much larger one soon became clear as passenger numbers soared at Air Alpes, and it was soon decided to paint other aircraft such as the Fokker F-27 into full Air France colours as well. Many airline passengers find sub-branding very confusing, while many other airline passengers are content to think they are on

3060-680: The mainline airline's sub-brand livery. For example, United Express regional airline partner CommutAir branded its entire fleet as United Express. On the other hand, regional airline Gulfstream International Airlines did not brand their aircraft. When Colgan Air was still operating, they branded a handful of aircraft as Colgan Air, but most were branded as Continental Connection , US Airways Express or United Express , with whom it had contractual agreements. 21st century regional airlines are commonly organized in one of two ways. Operating as an independent airline under their own brand, mostly providing service to small and isolated towns, for whom

3128-410: The mainline airlines, in terms of revenue, many would be designated major airline carrier status based on the only actual definition of "major airline," in the United States, the definition from the U.S. Department of Transportation. This definition is based solely on annual revenue and not on any other criterion such as average aircraft seating capacity, pilot pay, or number of aircraft in the fleet. It

3196-439: The major airline's hubs from surrounding towns, and increasing frequency of service on mainline routes during times when demand does not warrant use of large aircraft, known as commuter flights . One of the first independently owned and managed airlines in the world that rebranded its aircraft to match a larger airline's brand was Air Alpes of France. During 1974, Air Alpes painted its newly delivered short range regional jets in

3264-586: The major airlines. Provincetown-Boston Airlines Provincetown-Boston Airlines was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1949 until it merged with Britt Airways in 1989. It operated a route network in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and at one time was the largest commuter airline in the United States before its purchase by People Express Airlines and then eventual consolidation with other commuter airlines into Continental Express , now United Express after

3332-501: The major hubs, where they will connect for longer-distance flights on the national airlines also known as flagship carriers . The smallest regional carriers have become known as feeder airlines. The separate corporate structure allows the company to operate under different pay schedules, typically paying much less than their mainline owners. Many large North American airlines, have established operational relationships with one or more regional airline companies. Their aircraft often use

3400-540: The merger of Continental Airlines and United Airlines . On November 30, 1949, PBA was founded by John C. Van Arsdale in Provincetown, Massachusetts , and its first route was operated between Provincetown and Boston ; hence its name. It was the successor to the Cape Cod Flying Service . Van Arsdale learned how to fly from his father at a young age, and loved flying. He became the manager of

3468-472: The mid-1980s, in addition to Provincetown, Boston, and Hyannis, PBA's northern routes reached Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, New Bedford, MA and Burlington, VT. The Florida routes virtually covered the entire state from Jacksonville to Tampa, Naples, Miami, and Key West, as well as smaller cities in between. The expansion and integration of all the new routes, aircraft and personnel brought about technical, safety and administrative shortcomings, which culminated in

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3536-533: The new Bar Harbor Airlines ATR-42 turboprops from Hyannis to LaGuardia Airport and Newark. PBA's Cessna 402 airplanes started appearing on some Bar Harbor Airlines routes, such as Hartford/Bradley to New York/La Guardia. Because of the larger presence of Eastern Airlines in Boston and LaGuardia, PBA's flights to/from Boston and LaGuardia were rebranded as Eastern Express in 1988. (Texas Air Corporation controlled both Continental Airlines and Eastern Airlines.) Most of

3604-494: The range of the regionals dramatically, causing a wave of consolidations between the now overlapping airlines. In the United States, regional airlines were an important building block of today's passenger air system. The U.S. Government encouraged the forming of regional airlines to provide services from smaller communities to larger towns, where air passengers could connect to a larger network. The original regional airlines (then known as " Local service carriers ") sanctioned by

3672-850: The regional turboprops as they became the first to transition to an all-jet regional jet fleet. To a lesser extent in Europe and the United Kingdom this transition, to notably the Embraer or Canadair designs, was well advanced by the late 1990s. This evolution towards jet equipment, brought the independent regional airlines into direct competition with the major airlines, forcing additional consolidation. To improve on their market penetration, larger airline holding companies rely on operators of smaller aircraft to provide service or added frequency service to some airports. Such airlines, often operating in code-share arrangements with mainline airlines, often completely repaint [1] their aircraft fleet in

3740-437: The routes, most notably service to Martha's Vineyard , Bar Harbor ME, and Rockland, ME . An agreement was reached where Cape Air would operate year-round service between Boston and Martha's Vineyard, and Continental Express would continue to operate seasonal service from Newark to Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Hyannis. Colgan Air picked up the routes from Boston to Maine. This then permitted Continental to completely close

3808-445: The shutdown of Eastern Airlines, and also increased the number of Continental Express flights and destinations at the airport. But after the end of the summer season in 1991, Continental decided to close the former PBA hubs at Boston and LaGuardia. Because some of the routes were operated under the federal Essential Air Service program, replacement service had to be obtained before the government would allow Continental to abandon some of

3876-471: The smaller and more isolated rural communities remain connected to air services. This is encouraged with the Essential Air Service program that subsidizes airline service to smaller U.S. communities and suburban centers, aiming to maintain year-round service. Although regional airlines in the United States are often viewed as small, not particularly lucrative "no name" subsidiaries of

3944-478: The time the four biggest airlines in the United States were known as the Big Four, comprising American , United , TWA and Eastern Air Lines . The other eight trunk carriers were Braniff , Capital , Continental , Delta , National , Northeast , Northwest and Western . Since, at the time, none of these eight had a network approaching the scale of the Big Four, they were known as the regional carriers. This

4012-411: The winter months. By 1958, PBA had taken over Naples Airlines and merged the two airlines together. In the following years, the route network in Florida and New England was expanded, and in 1968 a Douglas DC-3 was bought at $ 50,000 and refurbished at a cost of $ 150,000 to fill the demand. In 1975, a Martin 4-0-4 was added, and in 1980, PBA had a fleet of twelve DC-3s and four Martin 4-0-4s as well as

4080-496: Was April 5, 2008. Skyway Airlines continued in an airport services role, providing Ramp and Dining Services operations for Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect, and Customer Service operations in Midwest Connect field stations. As of August 2009, the Midwest Connect fleet included 12 aircraft: Regional airline Decades before the advent of jet airliners and high-speed, long-range air service, commercial aviation

4148-606: Was approved to take PBA out of bankruptcy. People Express provided financing to keep PBA operating, and changed PBAs routes to feed into its own. Flights from LaGuardia were shifted over to the People Express hub and headquarters at Newark. In addition to PBA's existing routes to the Cape and Islands, People Express used PBA airplanes to expand to short-haul locations from Newark, including Philadelphia, Allentown PA, and Farmingdale/Republic Airport, Long Island. People Express also downgraded some of its Boeing 737 flights to PBA's YS-11s on routes from Newark to Providence, Albany. The Miami hub

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4216-520: Was closed, but flights continued from Jacksonville and the Tampa Bay area, but now from the People Express location at St. Petersburg airport rather than Tampa. People Express had also purchased Frontier Airlines of Denver and Britt Airways of Terre Haute , Indiana. People Express itself started having financial difficulties from its own expansion and difficulty competing with established major airlines. On September 15, 1986, People Express agreed to

4284-409: Was despite the existence, at the time, of 13 smaller United States scheduled carriers known as local service carriers whose service was arguably far more regional than the “regional” trunks. So when reading historical sources, it’s important to understand that the term "regional airline" has migrated greatly over time. Sometimes the term has been stretched beyond the point of utility. For instance, in

4352-635: Was integrated between the two workgroups. Though the PBA name and logo were gone, much of the PBA ground staff, flight crews, and spirit remained on board, working for Continental Express. The PBA maintenance hangar and offices in Hyannis remained open, though downsized as a regional office for Continental Express. Continental ended service on the Provincetown-Boston route shortly after the merger in September 1988, but continued to operate most other PBA routes from Boston, LaGuardia, and Newark to

4420-401: Was often described as puddle-jumper aircraft, in the image and branding colors of the much larger mainline partner. This was to give the appearance of reliability. Over time these regional aircraft grew in size as airline hubs expanded and competition dwindled among the major carriers. Below is a list of many of the regional brands that evolved when regional airlines were advertised to look like

4488-592: Was only 40% in 2000. The formerly small regional airlines have grown substantially, through mergers or by the use of a holding company, as pioneered by AMR Corporation in 1982. AMR created the AMR Eagle Holding Corporation which unified its wholly owned American Eagle Airlines and Executive Airlines under one division, but still maintained the regional airlines' operating certificates and personnel separate from each other and American Airlines . The most significant regional airlines in

4556-475: Was shipped out to the stations, and Continental trainers were deployed to teach the Eastern Express ground staff how to use Continental's reservations/check-in systems. As Eastern came back to life, the parent company decided to operate the PBA/Bar Harbor routes under what may have been one of the first dual codeshare agreements in the airline industry. Flights were now branded as both Continental Express and Eastern Express, and were sold in both systems under both

4624-527: Was structured similarly to rail transport networks. In this era, technological limitations on air navigation and propeller-driven aircraft performance imposed strict constraints on the potential length of each flight; some routes covered less than 100 miles (160 km). As such, airlines structured their services along point-to-point routes with many stops between the originating and terminating air terminals. This system of air transportation effectively forced most airlines to be "regional" in nature, but

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