The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

Delta Air Lines is an example of a mainline airline.

A mainline flight by an American Airlines Boeing 777-223ER lands at London Heathrow Airport, England

Unlike many other airlines, JetBlue's mainline equipment includes both the Emb-190 and A320. Flight attendant aircrew members are trained to operate on both types of equipment, while at the traditional legacy carriers, such operations on the smaller aircraft are mostly outsourced to smaller, usually independently owned regional airlines.

A mainline flight is a flight operated by an airline's main operating unit, rather than by regional alliances, regional code-shares or regional subsidiaries. In the USA, examples of mainline passenger airline flights include those operated by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines but it would not include flights operated by regional airlines American Eagle Airlines or Comair with Regional jets or the services of mainline regional brands such as AmericanConnection, Delta Connection, or United Express aboard lower-capacity narrowbody jets and turboprop aircraft, such as those produced by Embraer or Bombardier, that do not have transcontinental range.

Often US mainline airline carriers operate in-house brands such as the Delta Shuttle, or the mainline United's Ted, and United p.s. to cater to business segments such as the short-range air shuttle, low-cost, or premium-service flights which normally would not support the traffic or revenue yield needed for the traditional operation of larger mainline aircraft with over 100 passenger seats between selected city pairs.

All of the mainline legacy airlines listed below operate international, intercontinental, or transoceanic airline services using jet airliners^{[citation needed]}

All of the following legacy airlines and their holding companies operate using secondary regional carriers via airline marketing sub-brands commonly marketed as "Express" or "Connection" services.

All of the following airlines in some form operate in association with a regional component. All legacy carriers are among the group of US airlines known as "mainline" carriers.

• • (**) Hawaiian Airlines does operate transoceanic international and intercontinental ETOPS services but does not have a regional component
  • (**) North American Airlines does operate transoceanic international and intercontinental ETOPS services as a supplemental / charter airline carrier, but does not have a regional component

[edit] References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

• [1], AA and early references to mainline, regional and B-scale