Love or loathe them, regional jets play an important role in world aviation, especially by linking smaller communities or enabling higher frequencies from hubs than would otherwise be possible. As everyone knows, RJ use revolves around the US, although service has fallen significantly over the years, particularly among single-class, 50-seaters.

Between March 15th and 21st, the US has about 6,000 RJ flights a day, according to Cirium data. That is equivalent to 70% of the world's total. While US RJ flights cover an average of 452 miles (727 km) this week, there are some services that are very short.

The USA's shortest RJ flights

Covering just 50 miles (80 km), Escanaba-Iron Mountain, both in Michigan, is the USA's shortest scheduled and bookable RJ flight between March 15th-21st. Like four of the five routes mentioned in the following table, it is part of a one-stop service and is funded by the Essential Air Service program. Obviously, it wouldn't operate in its own right.

Shortest US RJ flights
Image: GCMap.

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The table

Rank

Miles (km)

Min block time (either direction)

Routing (Mar 15th-21st)

Airline

Aircraft

Comments

1

50 (80)

36 minutes

Escanaba-Iron Mountain

Delta Connection

CRJ-200

Daily. Operating aircraft routes Detroit-Escanaba-Iron Mountain-Minneapolis. Returns to Detroit the same way

2

61 (97)

36 minutes

Mason City-Fort Dodge

United Express

CRJ-200

Daily (five weekly in the other direction). Served separately as O'Hare-Mason City-Fort Dodge-O'Hare and O'Hare-Fort Dodge-Mason City-O'Hare

3

67 (108)

43 minutes

O'Hare-Milwaukee

American Eagle, United Express

CRJ-200 (both), CRJ-700 (American only)

42 weekly (United), 19 weekly (American)

4=

69 (111)

50 minutes

Alpena-Pellston

Delta Connection

CRJ-200

Five weekly. Routes Detroit-Alpena-Pellston-Detroit. Not served in the other direction. Switches to Pellston-Alpensa direction only from April

4=

69 (111)

37 minutes

Meridian-Hattiesburg

United Express

CRJ-200

Five weekly. Routes Houston Intercontinental-Meridian-Hattiesburg-Houston. Hattiesburg-Meridian direction unserved this week, but in changes through the year

A United Express CRJ-200ER at Idaho Falls Regional Airport
Photo: Austin Deppe/Shutterstock

The shortest route

Operating for Delta Connection, SkyWest receives $3,184,05 a year to connect Escanaba to Detroit and Minneapolis and a further $3,868,146 to connect Iron Mountain to both hubs.

Given the location of Detroit and Minneapolis and the requirements of the EAS funding, operating on a one-stop basis would lower SkyWest's operating expenses considerably. Scheduled as follows with all times local, two different 50-seat CRJ-200s operate in each direction.

Delta Connection Mitsubishi CRJ-200
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying.
  • Detroit-Escanaba: DL4334, 08:44-10:12 (1h 28m block time)
  • Escanaba-Iron Mountain: DL4334, 10:42-10:22 (40m; loses 1h)
  • Iron Mountain-Minneapolis: DL4334, 10:52-12:07 (1h 15m)
  • Minneapolis-Iron Mountain: DL4335, 13:44-14:54 (1h 10m)
  • Iron Mountain-Escanaba: DL4335, 15:24-17:00 (36m; gains 1h)
  • Escanaba-Detroit: DL4335, 17:30-18:40 (1h 10m)

Flightradar24 shows that Escanaba-Iron Mountain typically takes 18 to 21 minutes, while the reverse direction usually is 13 to 18 minutes from less aircraft maneuvering.

USA's shortest RJ flight

What about Denver-Colorado Springs?

At just 73 miles (117 km), Denver-Colorado Springs ranks fifth (it'd be sixth if the last two in the table were not the same distance).

With 49 RJ flights between March 15th-21st, the route sees United Express' E175s, CRJ-700s, CRJ-200s, and (occasionally) ERJ-145s. RJs operate two-thirds of the flights, the rest by Southwest's 737-700s and 737-800s.

Have you flown any of the routes mentioned in the article? If so, let us know which in the comments.