US Regional Airline Market – consolidation and a power shift to SkyWest

This is a sector to consider if you are looking for a challenging workplace.  This chart tells us that business is pretty good.  Load factors are back where they used to be pre-pandemic.  The 2023 number is for the half year, so an annual total of ~100m is possible.

But that optimistic outlook is 5% down in volume. Moreover, that is also way down on what was normal between 2016 and 2019.  Reflecting on passenger traffic shows a ~30% decline in traffic.  That is an eye-popping metric. We keep hearing about the pilot or the captain shortage.