Compass Airlines

Compass was a sister company of Trans States and flew first as Delta Connection, then as American Eagle. It stopped flying for Delta in August 2019 and closed in April 2020 as the pandemic cut American's schedule.

A passenger jet flying over misty hills — Illustrative photo, not an aircraft of Compass Airlines.

0.8 millionpassengers, 2020
76seats per flight on average
556 milesaverage trip per passenger
48.4seat-miles per gallon

How it changed

Compass Airlines carried 0.8 million passengers in 2020. Its busiest year was 2018, at 6.4 million.

Its average flight had 72 seats in 2007 and 76 in 2020. The average passenger flew 739 miles per segment in 2007 and 556 in 2020, and 68% of its seat-miles were filled in 2020.

Compass Airlines passengers per year, 2007 to 2020.

Who it flew for

Compass Airlines flew for more than one airline, and sometimes several at once. Our estimate of the split between them, which is based on the airports it serves, is too rough to publish for a regional like this. The summary at the top names its partners from public record.

Fuel

In 2020 Compass Airlines burned 13 million gallons of jet fuel, which is 48.4 seat-miles per gallon and about 0.294 kg of CO2 per passenger-mile. Over 500 miles that's roughly 147 kg per passenger. Small regional aircraft burn more fuel per seat than the mainline jets, and a short hop spends a larger share of its fuel on take-off and climb, so these figures aren't graded against the airlines on the main list. Their flying and fuel are counted in the airlines whose names are on the tickets.

Year-by-year figures

Year	Passengers (millions)	Departures (thousands)	Seats per flight	Average trip (miles)	Load factor	Seat-miles (billions)	Seat-miles per gallon
2020	0.8	15	76.0	556	68.5%	0.64	48.4
2019	6.3	103	76.0	533	82.0%	4.12	46.4
2018	6.4	107	76.0	560	80.5%	4.48	46.7
2017	6.1	100	75.8	656	81.3%	4.90	47.8
2016	6.4	108	75.3	676	80.4%	5.41	48.8
2015	5.0	80	75.9	707	81.3%	4.32	49.3
2014	4.1	67	75.0	723	81.0%	3.62	48.7
2013	3.8	66	75.0	747	76.8%	3.68	49.7
2012	4.0	67	75.0	737	80.0%	3.70	50.8
2011	3.6	61	75.7	736	78.8%	3.38	51.0
2010	3.4	57	76.0	694	77.5%	3.01	67.2
2009	3.2	55	76.0	714	78.0%	2.91	55.5
2008	2.1	36	76.0	706	79.0%	1.92	50.8
2007	0.1	3	71.8	739	80.2%	0.14	54.0

Regionals with shared partners

These profiles have a partner airline in common with Compass Airlines in at least one data year. The partner split is estimated, and the airlines may have flown for the shared network at different times.

Nearby in fuel efficiency

Neighbours in the seat-miles per gallon table, using each airline's last data year. Fuel estimates are marked on the profiles, and these aren't same-year rankings.

Mesa Airlines47.2 seat-miles per gallon, 2025 Mesaba Airlines47.2 seat-miles per gallon, 2011 Colgan Air52.1 seat-miles per gallon, 2012 Independence Air60.1 seat-miles per gallon, 2005

Airline references

Wikipedia: Compass Airlines

Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), T-100 traffic and Schedule T-2 fuel filings; US EPA jet-fuel CO2 factor. Methods and allocation limits.

Back to all regional airlines or the fuel rankings.