Air Wisconsin, one of the regional airlines that has flown its 50-seat jets for American Eagle and before that as part of United Express, is leaving those arrangements behind as of April, and will focus on subsidized routes and charters.
The subsidized routes, called Essential Air Service, are assigned by the Department of Transportation and are designed to provide connections to smaller areas that otherwise would have no service.
Since 2023 when it left United, Air Wisconsin has flown exclusively for American. As an independent, it may still carry AA passengers through codeshare or interline arrangements, but under its own name. Before 2023, it had flown with United for nearly 40 years.
Air Wisconsin says its charter business should also be healthy; with recent realignments of NCAA college sports leagues, increased distances have led schools to shift more of their travel from bus to air.
Air Wisconsin has 60 50-seat CRJ200 jets; the airline says they are fully paid off. Regional airlines in recent years have had difficulty staying fully-staffed as pilots have migrated to higher-paid jobs at mainline carriers, leading to some rise at the regionals as well.
