This year marks the Regional Airline Association’s 40th anniversary, making 2015 a commemorative year for the RAA Annual Convention, held in Cleveland, OH. This year also marks JETPUBS’ forth year as exhibitors at the Annual Convention and second annual Bronze Sponsors. Each conference registrant, upon being welcomed to the conference by the RAA team, received a Forever Notebook from JETPUBS, created especially for the RAA convention.
The organization and its members reflected upon RAA’s 40 years of advocacy for regional airlines, remembering its beginnings as the Commuter Airline Association of America. Since its inauguration in 1975, regional airlines have grown from initially transporting 7.3 million passengers to 157 million passengers in 2014, providing the only scheduled flight services at over half of the country’s airports, and overall operating “just under half the nation’s [total] passenger flights,” according to Regional Horizons. Past presidents visited and shared memories and commented on advancements while various committees and working groups for safety, training, maintenance, flight operations, and others met to discuss current challenges and future goals. With this level of growth, airlines have had to adapt their methods of managing operations, especially in regards to manuals. JETPUBS is keen to assist airlines in this area. At this year’s convention, JETPUBS prepared to discuss operational challenges with airline manuals during RAA’s Innovation Hours on the exhibition floor.
Attendees concluded their conference experience on Wednesday evening at Pickwick and Frolic, Cleveland’s iconic cabaret and comedy club that was celebrating its own milestone of 30 years of entertainment. The disco-themed evening was enjoyed by all. Downtown Cleveland proved to be a fitting locale for the RAA Annual Convention with its own contributions to history. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade (one of America’s oldest indoor malls), and the Great Lakes Science Center all boast of great achievements in American history.
JETPUBS and the RAA look forward to what is ahead for regional airlines, despite lingering challenges, as the years progress. See you in Charlotte, NC in 2016!
– Rochelle Johnson, JETPUBS Inc.