American Airlines has 121 regional jets still grounded

American Airlines is still facing a supply and demand imbalance in its regional network, with approximately 121 aircraft grounded across its six regional carriers. The smaller 50 and 76-seater planes belonging to American Airlines’ regional network, American Eagle, were grounded due to pandemic cutbacks and pilot shortages.

And among the three carriers, Envoy Air stands out with 28 Embraer ERJ-145s still grounded, the most number of jets compared to the other two. Following close behind is PSA Airlines, with approximately 17 Bombardier CRJ-700s still grounded. Then there is Piedmont Airlines, with only 10 Embraer ERJ-145s stored.

The primary issue for the planes being grounded lies with pilot shortages. Despite this, American Airlines is confident that American Eagle will prosper again within the next two years for these aircraft to be back in the skies.

The decline of regional airlines will likely see the primary carriers taking up the regional routes for higher profits, which is better than having that many regional planes grounded and not making money. However, the decline of regional airlines has had a troubling effect on American Airlines’ regional flight operations, which have understandably declined compared to pre-pandemic levels. While the number of grounded regional aircraft has reduced slightly compared to last year, it has done little to positively affect the airline’s regional flight operations.