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&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;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&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;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.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Vietnam’s Air Mekong, 30-percent owned by U.S. regional airline SkyWest, plans to launch domestic services on October 9 using four 86-seat Bombardier CRJ900s subleased from the St. George, Utah-based regional. The new airline, aided with a $7 million <a href="?q=node/24808">investment by SkyWest</a> and staffed with several pilots recruited from SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines, will fly to eight destinations, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Phu Quoc, according to SkyWest vice president of finance and treasurer Mike Kraupp. Early next month it plans to add to two more destinations to a schedule expected to cover between 28 and 30 flights a day.

Apart from SkyWest’s stake, the capital base of privately held Air Mekong consists of investments from Vietnamese businesses and individuals, said Kraupp.

SkyWest has sought opportunities outside the U.S. ever since it invested $5 million in Brazil’s Trip Airlines in 2008. Six months later it invested another $15 million, and during the first quarter of this year it invested another $10 million in the airline, bringing its total ownership stake to 20 percent–the most it is permitted to own under Brazilian law. Trip Airlines flies ATR turboprops and Embraer E175 jets.

Air Mekong Launching Service in Vietnam with SkyWest CRJ 900s 

Vietnam’s Air Mekong, 30-percent owned by U.S.

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