Republic Airways: История и Развитие Американской Авиакомпании

Airline of the United States

Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is an American airline holding corporation based in Indianapolis, Indiana, that owns Republic Airways, an American regional airline operating in the United States, and LIFT Academy, the only flight training academy owned by an airline in the United States. Republic Airways operates a fleet of Embraer 170 and Embraer 175 aircraft.

The company traces its roots to Chautauqua Airlines, founded in 1973 in Jamestown, New York, by Joel and Gloria Hall. Joel had been a pilot for Mohawk Airlines. Chautauqua was one of the first airlines to fly under code shares, initially with Allegheny Airlines which later became USAirways. In 1988, an affiliate of Guarantee Security Life Insurance Company bought the airline. Three years later, the Florida Department of Insurance took over the insurance company and its airline subsidiary after the insurance company was declared insolvent. with Chautauqua as its only subsidiary. The holding company capitalized on the name Republic from Republic Airlines of the 1980s because it had better national recognition than Chautauqua. However, the earlier Republic Airlines has no historic ties to the new company other than the name. Wexford Management of Greenwich, Connecticut, an investment company, bought the holding company on May 15, 1998. Wexford had already owned National Airlines but the subsidiary was left as a "shell" company until 2004. On May 26, 2004, an IPO was launched on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol RJET with Wexford Capital remaining the majority shareholder.

On February 25, 2016, Republic Airways Holdings Inc filed for bankruptcy protection because of plunging profits, a pilot shortage, and a loss of revenue during the past several quarters associated with grounding aircraft. Republic Airways Holdings Inc., announced that it had emerged from bankruptcy protection on April 30, 2017.

In 2004, the holding company activated Republic Airline in reaction to a pilots' suit against American Airlines. American had awarded the flying of 44 seat regional jets to Chautauqua, then the main operating subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings. However, Chautauqua later started to operate 70 seat regional jets on behalf of another major airline, and this caused American to be in violation of its pilot union scope clause, which prevented another airline from operating on behalf of American if that airline was operating jet aircraft of more than 50 seats, even if such aircraft were operating on behalf of a carrier other than American. To repair the situation, Republic Airways Holdings activated Republic Airline, and upon Part 121 certification in 2005 allowing Republic Airways to operate commercial service. Republic Airways Holdings then transferred the offending 70 seat regional jets from Chautauqua to Republic Airlines. American was thereby no longer in violation of its pilot union scope clause. Republic Airways Holdings paid US$6.6 million to the Allied Pilots Association to settle the issue. To sidestep yet another scope clause issue in 2005, Republic Airways Holdings bought Shuttle America from Wexford affiliate Shuttle Acquisition LLC. and financially troubled Midwest Airlines. On October 23, 2009, Republic announced a joint venture with Mesa Air Group in which Embraer E170 routes operated by Shuttle America were transitioned to smaller Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet aircraft provided by Mesa Airlines. On December 2, 2013, Frontier was sold in its entirety to an affiliate of Indigo Partners. As part of the agreement, Republic Airlines removed the remaining Frontier branded Embraer 190 jets in "pro rated" service with Frontier Airlines. On July 28, 2014, Republic Airways Holdings announced that Chautauqua Airlines would be absorbed into Shuttle America "by year end" to reduce costs. Chautauqua's only remaining aircraft, 41 ERJ 145s, would be transferred to the Shuttle America operating certificate. This would leave only two subsidiaries, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America, flying under Republic Airways Holdings. In 2015, it was announced that Republic Airways Holdings would begin to merge existing subsidiaries Shuttle America and Republic Airlines, with the merger completed by January 31, 2017. As 2015 ended, subsidiary Shuttle America began to transfer aircraft, flight attendants, and pilots over to the Republic Airways certificate. As part of the merger process, Republic Airways Holdings also announced that it would be seeking a single aircraft type, and began to phase out the E 145 aircraft from the Shuttle Certificate with the final flight taking place on September 30, 2016. Additionally, Republic Airways Holdings also announced it would begin to phase out the Q 400 flying on the Republic Airlines certificate. The final Q 400 flight took place on March 31, 2016. After minor delays, Republic Airline and Shuttle America completed the merger process on the morning of January 31, 2017. At that time, all Shuttle America aircraft and employees began operating under the Republic Airline certificate, and parent company Republic Airways Holdings surrendered the Shuttle America Certificate back to the FAA.

Following is a breakdown of traffic upon all Republic Airways Holdings airlines as of April 18, 2017. Regional BrandMainline AirlineParent% of Republic TrafficTotal Monthly Departures United ExpressUnited AirlinesUnited Airlines Holdings32.8%8,617 (Out of 26,269) Delta ConnectionDelta Air LinesDelta Air Lines, Inc15.5%4,075 (Out of 26,269) American EagleAmerican AirlinesAmerican Airlines Group51.7%13,577 (Out of 26,269)