Republic Airways

Is Republic Airways safe?

Yes. Republic is one of the safest regional airlines in the US: in about 50 years of flying, including the airlines it absorbed, no one has died in a Republic accident. In 2025 it flew 371,205 flights, and the only aircraft it has lost in 20 years caught fire in a maintenance hangar with no one on board. We score it 86, a little above SkyWest (84), the other large independent regional.

Few passengers book Republic by name. Together with Mesa, the group flies about 1,300 flights a day to around 125 cities as American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express, according to its June 2026 quarterly report. If your short flight out of LaGuardia, Washington National, Newark, Boston or Chicago is on an Embraer jet with 76 seats, there is a fair chance Republic is flying it.

Has Republic Airways ever had a fatal crash?

No. The Aviation Safety Network lists no fatal accident for Republic Airways or for Shuttle America and Chautauqua Airlines, the sister airlines that used to belong to the same group. The older Republic Airlines that merged into Northwest in the 1980s is a different company; its accidents do not belong here.

The accidents in Republic's own history are small:

• Cleveland, 2007. A Shuttle America E170 flying for Delta ran off the end of a short, snow-covered runway after a long landing. Everyone survived. The NTSB blamed the crew's decision not to go around, and named the captain's fatigue and the airline's attendance policy, which discouraged pilots from calling in tired.
• Columbus, 2018. An E170 being serviced in a hangar caught fire and was written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. No one was on board.
• Boston, 2025. A Delta Connection E175 struck its tail on landing. It was repaired and back in service within a month.

The rest are ground collisions at crowded gates, turbulence injuries in 2017 and 2025, and a runway light at Washington National that punched a hole in an E175's belly in 2022. For an airline of this size over two decades, that is a very clean record. We score it 94, the same as SkyWest, stopping short of 95 because of the hangar write-off.

The incidents that matter

The event that stands out is a maintenance failure. On 6 November 2019, shortly after take-off from Atlanta, the captain's pitch trim on an E175 started working in reverse. Both pilots needed both hands to hold the nose down until the first officer took over the trim and they returned to land. The NTSB found that mechanics had most likely refitted the captain's trim switch upside down earlier that day and had not tested it, because the repair had been deferred; the captain then used the switch although it was placarded inoperative. It also faulted Republic for not yet fitting a part Embraer had recommended in 2015 to stop exactly that mistake. The FAA later made the part mandatory and removed the switch from the deferrable list.

Other events in recent years were handled well. In October 2019 an E170 lost one engine and most of the power of the other over Tennessee; the crew restarted one and landed at Nashville. At LaGuardia in May 2025 a tower controller cleared a Republic E175 to take off while a United 737 was still on the runway, and the crew stopped at about 105 knots. In April 2026 a Republic E175 approaching JFK overshot its runway centreline towards a Jazz E175 on the parallel approach; both crews followed their collision-avoidance alerts and went around. The FAA is investigating that one, and it is the kind of event we weigh.

We found no FAA safety penalty against Republic in the last ten years.

What changes with Mesa?

Republic merged with Mesa Air Group in November 2025. Mesa Airlines now belongs to Republic, but in mid-2026 it still flew about 60 United-owned E175s as United Express under its own FAA certificate and codes (YV, ASH). Under our rules, Mesa's flights count on its own page, not this one, until they move onto Republic's certificate. Mesa has had no fatal accident since 1989, and its recent record is mostly turbulence injuries; in 2003 a Beech 1900 run by its separate subsidiary Air Midwest crashed at Charlotte, killing 21.

Merging two airlines' training, maintenance and safety systems takes years, and it is when mistakes are more likely. Republic is moving all training to a new campus in Carmel, Indiana. If you fly United Express, check whether the booking says Mesa or Republic.

What does Republic fly?

Only the Embraer E-Jet: 275 aircraft in service at the end of 2025, 28 E170s and 247 E175s, with an average age of 13.0 years. That count includes the 60 United-owned E175s that Mesa flies; Republic also leases 31 E170s to American. One type means one set of training and spare parts, and the E-Jet has partial fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls. Republic has 26 more E175s on order for 2028 to 2030. The fleet is not young, which is why it sits below the top band.

How to fly Republic

• Keep your belt fastened. Turbulence is the most common way people get hurt on Republic flights, and it mostly hurts standing flight attendants and passengers.
• Expect delays in the Northeast. Republic's busiest airports are LaGuardia, JFK, Newark and Washington National, where storms and air traffic cause holds and go-arounds. A go-around is a normal safety procedure, not an emergency.
• The partner's rules apply. Baggage, refunds and rebooking go through American, Delta or United, not Republic.

How we scored it

The accident record (94) carries the score: decades of flying with no deaths. FAA oversight (85) is strong, though IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary is unconfirmed and the Mesa certificate still has to be folded in. A single-type E-Jet fleet (80), a 2019 maintenance error and a 2026 near miss (76) and a crowded Northeast network (78) bring it to 86.