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'RegionsAir' was a Part 121 regional airline started in 1996 after American Eagle closed its hub in Nashville, Tennessee. Its headquarters / maintenance base was located at the Smyrna Airport in Smyrna, Tennessee. The hub airports for RegionsAir were Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE).
RegionsAir operated under a code-sharing agreement with American Airlines to provide flights to communites as AmericanConnection from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and as Continental Connection from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Contents

History

Incidents and accidents

References

External link

History

RegionsAir was known as Corporate Express Airlines from 1996 to 1998, and then Corporate Airlines from 1998 to 2004. Operating as Corporate Express, it flew for Midway Airlines (JI) providing feed until their 1st shutdown in 2001 and also flew for TWA as Trans World Express out of St. Louis. At that time, the airline was run by Chuck Howell, who is now the President at Great Lakes Airlines. The airline changed its corporate name to RegionsAir in May of 2004 to end confusion with similarly named airlines. RegionsAir had been the air service provider for many small communities as part of the Federally-subsidized Essential Air Service (EAS) program. [[1]]
On October 7, 2005 Viva International, an aviation holding company, issued an irrevocable Letter of Intent to Purchase RegionsAir for an undisclosed sum, but nothing ever became of the LOI.
RegionsAir operated under a code-sharing agreement with American Airlines to provide flights to communities as AmericanConnection from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport until March 2007. At that time, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the airline, saying there had been problems with the airline's training and certification program.
^[1]
The airline is presently undergoing a massive restructuring and hopes to resume services soon. Many past employees and some management have been contacted regarding a return to work.

Incidents and accidents

On October 19, 2004 Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashed on approach to Kirksville, Missouri. Thirteen people died and two were injured. The NTSB has determined pilot error to be the cause of this accident ^[2]
On March 2, 2007 the local Airline's FSDO office, FAA officials in DC, and the airline got into a disagreement over wording in the airline's training manuals. The airline voluntarily ceased scheduled operations until the items could be clarified. FAA found no discrepancies when they went over all pilots records. In the end, about 35 of the airline's flights were canceled that Saturday. ^{[3] [4]}.
On March 8, 2007 at 4:36pm the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) again grounded RegionsAir due to discrepancies in the airlines training procedures for line-check airmen. As a result of this second grounding within one week, several regional airports serviced by RegionsAir have announced intentions to replace the airline with other regional carriers. ^[5]
The airline is presently working under new ownership and management to return to the skies.

References

1. AMR Press Release
2. NTSB
3. [2]Springfield Journal Register Article
4. [3] Decatur Herald & Review
5. [4]The Southern Illinoisan Article

External link

★ RegionsAir