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

The six largest network airlines in the U.S. reported a combined operating loss margin of 5.8 percent in the third quarter of 2008, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly loss margin since the group posted a profit in the third quarter of last year, the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported yesterday in a release of preliminary data. Of the six major airlines cited in the report, only Delta Air Lines reported an operating profit (2.2 percent). US Airways reported a loss margin of 20.5 percent, the steepest of the group.
The results for the major airline stand in relatively stark contrast to those posted by the six largest reporting regional airlines, which included a 9-percent profit margin by Cincinnati-based Comair; a 6.5-percent profit by St. George, Utah-based SkyWest; a 6-percent profit by SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines; a 5.3-percent positive margin by American Eagle and a 4.2-percent mark by Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air. Mesa Air Group, Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Airlines requested confidentiality from the BTS, which agreed to withhold the information pending review. 
The six reporting network carriers spent 36.1 percent of their operating expenses in the third quarter of 2008 on fuel, compared with 13.6 percent five years earlier, in the third quarter of 2003. The six reporting network carriers spent 6.20 cents per available seat-mile (ASM) for fuel in the third quarter of 2008, up from 1.47 cents per ASM in the third quarter of 2003. The top seven reporting regional airlines collectively spent 6.23 cents per ASM. Of those carriers, Atlantic Southeast spent the most (9.45 cents per ASM) and ExpressJet spent the least (1.10)

U.S. Network Carriers Post Fourth Straight Quarter of Losses, Regionals Still Profiting

The six largest network airlines in the U.S.

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