Comair
Air was founded April 1, 1977 by a 24 year old, Dave Mueller. Comair started out
with three propeller driven Piper Navajo aircraft operating out of
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Originally, Comair was
independently owned and operated and surprised many people in the industry.
With 3,500 employees and a billion dollar annual sales, regional Comair changed
the face of aviation and had a greater economic impact on Cincinnati and Kentucky. However, by 2000, Comair became a subsidiary
of Delta Airlines.
However,
Comair’s success as a regional carrier came crushing down after 35 years of
operation on September 27, 2012. First Comair emerged from a bankruptcy in 2007
and by 2012, was shut down by its subsidiary, Delta Air Lines. Many of the
reasons for Comair demise can be attributed to economic downturn, price of fuel
oil, pilot shortage and low paid.
Currently,
regional airline industry is facing serious financial hardships due to a number
of circumstances beyond their control. The first of these is the high cost of
fuel oil. Fuel oil is impacting not only regional carriers, but even major
airlines, forcing them to make major changes to their operations. Another major
problem facing regional carriers is the high of regulation by the Federal
Aviation Administration. Due to many
accidents, the FAA is tightening regulations on regional carriers. Another
issue for regional carriers can be attributed to the economic down turn and
shrinking of qualified pilots.
A
successful regional airline currently operating is SkyWest, and yes that
airline is hiring across the board. One of the open positions is for First
Officer Pilot. A check of SkyWest’s website does not list salary, but says salary
can be discussed during the interview process. Comair Websites are: www.skywest.com
References
Pilcher,
J. (2002). Comair’s history sometimes turbulent. The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Sewell,
D. (2012). Comair, delta airlines regional carrier to shut down in september.
Huffington
Post.
Yes, the FAA will be tightening regulations on regional carriers (based on our previous discussions), but are there any tightened regulations that they are currently operating under?
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate that a hard working airline had to be shut down because of financial cuts. Hurts to see them go down!
ReplyDeleteIts such a downer about fuel prices recently. From airlines to private individuals, everyone is facing hardships of these high prices!
ReplyDelete