Gregory Polek
Senior Editor
Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with New Jersey Monthly magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for Aviation International News in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.
Latest from Gregory Polek
RAA Convention Report: Industry leaders warn against threats to post-9/11 gains
Faced with widespread uncertainty about an industry threatened by growing regulatory burdens, the specter of increased security fees and scope-clause restr
Aussie Consortium To Buy Ansett Regional Subs
The bankruptcy administrators in charge of the operations of Ansett Airlines subsidiary Kendall Airlines and independent Ansett affiliate Hazelton Airlines
AFA Wins Lawsuit over United Scope Violation
After 10 years of litigation, a federal arbitrator awarded United Airlines flight attendants $8.89 million in connection with a claim by the Association of
Ex-Fairchild Employees Resume Chapter 7 Petition
The lawyer representing former Fairchild Dornier employees issued a statement on May 14 that reasserts a court petition to force the company’s U.S.
11th-hour Pilot Deal Saves CCAir
Given one last chance to agree to pay cuts or risk the death of their airline, the pilots of CCAir finally blinked on April 29, when 72 percent of the Char
Express Airlines I Now Pinnacle
Memphis-based Northwest Airlines subsidiary Express Airlines I on May 8 officially changed its name to Pinnacle Airlines ahead of an initial public offerin
ASA Breaks Sales Ice with CRJ Deal
Bombardier landed the first regional jet sale to a U.S.
New Regional Airplanes 2004
As the air transport industry slowly recovers from a sagging global economy and persistent geopolitical unrest, regional airlines have recast themselves
Security
Extra Security Requirements Could Be Too Onerous for Regional Airlines
Regional airlines, long dependent on the efficiencies their comparatively low cost structures bring, have watched increased security burdens since Septembe
UTFlight celebrating its diamond anniversary
To associate the jet-set image of a corporate flight department with S-38 flying boats and Ford Trimotors might seem a bit of a stretch to those who fly in
New Bombardier unit faces ‘big decisions’ on big jets
Bombardier Aerospace has begun staffing its freshly established new commercial aircraft division outside Montreal as it looks toward the launch of a new 11
Republic Details IPO Plans
Indianapolis-based Republic Airways will soon issue five million shares of stock at between $14 and $16 each in its third attempt to take the company publi
ATR Launches Life-extension Bid
Franco-Italian turboprop builder Avions de Transport Régional (ATR) has launched a so-called aging structures program for its ATR 42 and ATR 72 family to e
Aircraft
AA Pilots Fail In Bid for CRJ700s
The May 1 deadline for the Allied Pilots Association to convince the other employee groups to accept pay cuts to allow the transfer of American Eagle’s 25
Aircraft
Hainan Signs for 20 more 328JETs
A series of visits to Haikou, China, by AvCraft managing director Wolfgang Walter finally paid dividends last month, when Hainan Airlines placed a firm ord
Pilot Deal Spells Relief for US Air
Under pressure to help their employer meet financing conditions set by regional jet lessor GECAS, the pilots of US Airways voted to ratify a new agreement
RAA tempers optimism with concern over sticking points
Political and commercial agendas, both individual and collective, rarely allow for a wholly accurate assessment of the regional airline industry’s conditio
New Regional Airplanes 2004
As more signs of air transport recovery rise out of a global economy still hampered by geopolitical unrest, regional airlines continue to parlay their cost
Trenary Elected to Pinnacle Board
The board of directors of Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines has elected company president and CEO Phil Trenary to join the seven-member board.
US Airways Consolidates Top Slots at Merged Regionals
US Airways has named Keith Houk as the president and CEO of the combined Allegheny/Piedmont airlines following the retirement of Piedmont president and CEO
Maintenance and Modifications
Bombardier Opens Tucson Maintenance Base
Bombardier Aerospace expanded its U.S.
Aircraft
Boeing Considers Scrapping 717
After losing a four-way competition to Brazil’s Embraer for the sale of 45 narrowbody airplanes to Air Canada last year, Boeing has begun the process of ev
Aircraft
PSA Gets Its 70-seaters
PSA Airlines took delivery last month of the first of 25 seventy-seat Bombardier CRJ700s ordered from Bombardier Aerospace, marking the start of the second
Airports
LZ bankruptcy orphans hundreds of Let L-410s
A Czech regional court in Brno has declared Let Kunovice and Ayres Corp.
Passenger complaints over RJs don’t compute
Regional jet salesmen must have cringed at the recent negative press surrounding passenger complaints about the lack of room in RJ cabins.
Regulations and Government
ARC weighs in on new weight-and-balance AC
An aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) that includes five representatives from the regional airline industry has submitted the final draft of a proposal to
Finance, Taxes, Insurance
GECAS’ RJ ultimatum backs pilots into corner
GE Capital Aviation Services has amplified threats to withdraw its regional jet financing deals with US Airways if pilots do not accept a revised letter of
MidAtlantic launch does little to soothe widespread anxiety
US Airways insisted the decision to place a new Embraer 170 flight simulator at its Charlotte, N.C., base didn’t necessarily signal an intention to move Mi
Aircraft
AvCraft scraps plans to outsource 328Jet wings
AvCraft Aviation, the Leesburg, Va.-based parent company of Germany’s Fairchild Dornier, has decided to build the wings for the Dornier 328Jet at its plant
UAL and Delta make clean break from ACA
United Airlines earlier this month formally rejected its code-share contract with Atlantic Coast Airlines, freeing the Sterling, Va.-based regional to spee
