As in most small U.S. cities, Appleton Airport in northeast Wisconsin saw its air service diminish in the years that followed the pandemic, with American, Delta and United grounding regional aircraft due to an acute pilot shortage.
But this June, the airport celebrated as American launched Appleton's first service to Dallas-Fort Worth, using an American Eagle-branded regional jet.
The daily flight is one of two routes American launched or resumed in Appleton over the past 12 months, joining Charlotte. Meanwhile, both United and Delta have beefed up regional frequencies at the airport.
The result is that after experiencing a reduction in major airline flights of 31% between October 2021 and October 2023, along with a 22% reduction in the seats offered by those carriers, Appleton's flight count from the Big Three has rebounded to 92% of the October 2021 number, while the deployment of larger regional aircraft has pushed its seat count from major airlines past 2021 figures by nearly 6%, according to Cirium flight schedule data.
Meanwhile, in just the past 12 months, Appleton has enjoyed a 33% growth in major airline frequencies, including those two American routes, plus more Delta service to hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit and increased United service to Chicago O'Hare.
That's no small shakes for a city that has service from just one other carrier, the low-frequency discounter Allegiant.
And that increased connectivity into the broader U.S. air network is providing substantial benefits for the Appleton metro area's approximately 250,000 residents, said Jesse Funk, Appleton Airport's air service and business development manager.
"It just makes things so much easier for the business travelers to get where they want to go," he said. "And it's kind of the same with our leisure travelers. They can get to their destination much quicker. And more competition keeps prices down, or at least keeps them in check."
Though Appleton has been especially successful, many small and medium-size communities in the U.S. are now seeing boosts in air service as the airlines that operate flights for American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express have gradually caught up on pilot hiring, enabling more regional jets to get back in the sky.
This month, American is offering 14.9% more regional aircraft flights than it did in October of last year, United is offering 13.9.% more and Delta has upped its regional flight count by 9.8%.
And more growth is on the way.
"The dearth of capacity in terms of pilots available for regionals is dissipating very quickly," Delta president Glen Hauenstein said during its Q3 earnings call.
The regional pilot shortage became acute in the second half of 2021 as mainline carriers ramped up service in the tail end of the pandemic, hiring pilots at unprecedented rates from the regional ranks, both to facilitate growth and replace the roughly 5,000 pilots lost to early retirement after the onset of Covid.
Early in the shortage, Hauenstein said, Delta could only fly its regional fleet at approximately 40% of full utilization.
That number has now reached close to 70%. "By next summer, we think that we'll be back to 100% of the capacity we had available in 2019," he said.
United also has more regional flying in its plans. The airline has returned to full utilization of its existing regional fleet, and this month it reached an agreement with regional operator SkyWest to bring 11 more 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-550 planes into United Express service.
Meanwhile, American Airlines regional subsidiary PSA announced last week that it ordered 14 76-seat CRJ-900 planes to be used by the American Eagle brand, with the first delivery expected before November. In August, American Airlines regional subsidiary Piedmont began pulling aircraft out of storage for the first time since parking planes during the pandemic.
Regional flying still well below 2019
Still, U.S. regional flying remains well below pre-pandemic levels, in large part driven by the long-term strategies of the Big Three, especially Delta and United, to do a higher percentage of flying with more lucrative mainline aircraft.
This October, the three airlines were scheduled to offer 25% fewer regional aircraft flights than in October 2019, with 19.3% fewer regional seats.
"Expect the [regional jet] fleet to still be around and do its thing, but it will become a smaller and smaller percentage of the business," United CEO Scott Kirby said during the airline's Q3 earnings call, even as he announced the new SkyWest agreement.
In its annual report released in September, the Regional Airline Association also offered a cautious assessment of the recent regional service buildup, noting that the smallest U.S. commercial airports -- those that receive no more than 0.05% of U.S. passengers -- have lost service this year, even though somewhat larger regional airports have grown.
In total, 65% of U.S. airports have less service this month than they did in October 2019, Regional Airline Association CEO Faye Malarkey Black wrote.
Black warned that regional airlines could again encounter a pilot shortage once mainline aircraft deliveries normalize.
Amid that challenging long-term environment, Appleton Airport isn't resting on the laurels of recent success. "We're happy but still looking for more," Funk said. "We're always looking to make our community a better place by adding more air service."