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
Reorganization proposed for Embraer
A proposed wholesale change to Embraer’s capital structure will see CEO Mauricio Botelho leave his chief executive’s post in April next year and become cha
Aircraft
Ukraine, Russia aim to build 24 An-148s by 2008
Ukraine’s Aviant and Russia’s Voronezh Aircraft JSC (VASO) plan to assemble 24 Antonov An-148 regional jets over the next two-and-a-half years, Aviant dire
Aircraft
Asian regional jet market remains on slow simmer
Slower-than-anticipated growth of regional air transport markets in Asia has apparently reached the consciousness of market prognosticators at Embraer, who
ATRs set to ply Siberian skies this month
After several delays, Siberian regional airline UTAir finally expects to begin flying passengers aboard a pair of Avions de Transport Regional ATR 42-300s
Northwest sets new deadline for Pinnacle
Northwest Airlines has extended the deadline for regional partner Pinnacle Airlines to pay another $21.7 million in aircraft sublease security deposits to
Northwest TA sets stage for Airlink overhaul
A tentative labor accord reached last month between Northwest Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association includes scope-clause language that would allow
FAs Go to Bat against Comair
Members of the executive board of the local Teamsters chapter representing Comair’s 818 flight attendants unanimously passed a resolution to authorize a st
Republic To Resettle Pittsburgh
In a move advertised as another triumph for Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell’s economic stimulus plan, Republic Airlines has agreed to establish a new over
JFK Expansion a Boon for Mesa
Delta Air Lines’ planned expansion at New York JFK Airport this summer will include a new three-year code-share deal with Mesa Air Group to fly twelve 37-s
Colombian Airline Orders E-190s
Colombian domestic airline AeroRepublica has placed a firm order for five 108-seat Embraer 190s and options on another 20 of the latest member of Embraer’s
Evicted Jazz takes fight for Toronto Island to feds
Air Canada Jazz suspended all service to Toronto City Centre Airport on March 1 after an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that the airline would have to
ATC
Mesa countersues Hawaiian
In what promises to unfold as another controversial chapter in Jonathan Ornstein’s colorful tenure as CEO of Mesa Air Group, the Phoenix-based regional car
MidAtlantic Closes for Good
US Airways plans to transfer the last of the assets of MidAtlantic Airways to Republic Airways on May 28, marking an inauspicious end to what once formed t
Compass Plan Hinges on May 3 Vote
Northwest Airlines’ plans for a new regional subsidiary all hinge upon a May 3 tally of votes cast by its pilots on a new tentative contract that would all
Go! To Launch June 9
Jonathan Ornstein’s mission to sink at least one of Hawaii’s two major airlines officially begins June 9, when Mesa Air Group’s new Go! subsidiary starts f
Aircraft
Chautauqua To Fly RJs for Continental
Continental Airlines last month accepted a bid from Indianapolis-based Chautauqua Airlines to fly at least 69 regional jets slated for withdrawal from its
RAA Convention 2006: Embraer 195 approval will mark end of one era and beginning of another
Although it will mark the formal market introduction of the last and largest E-Jet, the scheduled July certification of the 108-seat Embraer 195 by no mean
RAA Convention 2006: Eastern programs find their stride as Western firms ponder next move
Antonov
An-148–With certification by Russian civil aviation authorities imminent, the first airpl
After C Series setback, Bombardier turns to CRJ family for inspiratioin
There’s no denying that Bombardier’s commercial aircraft business has reached a crossroads, and that a still ailing airline industry will dictate the direc
RAA Convention 2006: Island Air ducks under the radar while heavyweights fight fare war
As Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines drew the battle lines in preparation for Mesa Air Group’s planned June 9 incursion on their jealously guarded pieces of isla
RAA Convention 2006: SMS, ATOS, drug testing, water purity fill RAA rules ledger
RAA vice president of technical affairs Dave Lotterer has been around long enough to know that government bureaucracy can turn any well intentioned idea in
RAA Convention 2006: Regional-mainline partnerships lose some of that loving feeling
While at first it seemed hard to reconcile the rather dark and anxious mood of last year’s RAA Convention in Cincinnati with double-digit profit margins an
Comair’s fate hangs in balance as talks with cabin crews resume
Comair and representatives of its some 970 flight attendants returned to the bargaining table last month, days after the Cincinnati-based regional filed fo
Broader scope for Delta RJs
Delta Air Lines looked to become the latest U.S.
PSA fires wildcat Teamsters
PSA Airlines last month fired 13 employees in connection with an April 26 wildcat strike of some 70 ramp and gate workers that disrupted service for more t
Aircraft
Korean launch highlights busy season in Canada
South Korea’s first regional airline, Jeju Air, plans to launch service this month with the first of five 74-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprops.
Compass a Go
A 63-percent affirmative vote last month by the pilots of Northwest Airlines for a new labor deal officially frees Northwest (operating as Compass Airlines
Accidents
Ex-Comair FA Convicted of Arson
A former Comair flight attendant faces 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of setting fire to one of the airline’s Bombardier CRJs, forcing it
GoJet To Take Five More CRJ700s
GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) has agreed to buy five more Bombardier CRJ700 regional jets for subsequent lease to St.
Irish Regional Orders More ATRs
Ireland’s Aer Arann has agreed to take delivery of 10 new 72-seat ATR 72-500s from the Franco-Italian turboprop builder over the next three years.
