This is by no means the first time a regional carrier has tried to break into the big leagues only to be badly knocked around.
The changes, which were put in place by all the large airlines and most regional carriers, cover about 95 percent of the nation's airline system.
The six new regional carriers really compete with each other.
On January 1, 1995 its license was updated to one of a regional carrier.
As a regional carrier, its costs per seat mile were three times Southwest's.
This marked as a break with its bush flying background to focus on becoming a regional carrier.
Now, however, that shift has slowed and the big airlines are trying to pay the regional carriers less.
The airline had been the first large regional carrier to be owned by blacks.
That was the first year regional carriers reported unified employee statistics.
A larger number of regional carriers would handle the billing locally.