RegionsAir suing U.S. government over shutdown

~ The airline seeks $11.6 million plus interest in the lawsuit.

ST. LOUIS -- RegionsAir Inc. is suing the U.S. government, alleging the commuter airline was shut down illegally in a dispute over pilot training and certification procedures.

RegionsAir seeks $11.6 million plus interest in the lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, claiming breach of contract and fair dealing, as well as an unconstitutional taking of property without compensation.

The lawsuit names "The United States" as the only defendant. RegionsAir lawyer Michael Moulis said in a written statement that U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and the Federal Aviation Administration also are named in the matter, though they are both referenced in the lawsuit's narrative and not formally among the defendants.

Tennessee-based RegionsAir, which offered connecting service for American and Continental airlines in seven states, halted operations in March after the FAA questioned the carrier's line-check airman certification and training program. RegionsAir was formerly the local carrier at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport until operations were suspended.

The shutdown came after Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, criticized the airline's service record at several small Illinois airports. Durbin's involvement "raises questions about the senator's abuse of power," Moulis said.

"He [Durbin] was somewhere actively lobbying to close the air carrier and the FAA shows up a week later. They don't arbitrarily show up," Moulis said.

Before it stopped flying, RegionsAir carried travelers from small communities in the Midwest and West Virginia to airline hubs in St. Louis and Cleveland. Many of the routes were reassigned to other carriers.

Joe Shoemaker, a Durbin spokesman, referred questions Tuesday about the lawsuit to the Office of Senate Legal Counsel, the agency that handles lawsuits involving U.S. senators. Messages left with that office Tuesday were not immediately returned.

The lawsuit claims the FAA coerced RegionsAir into signing a consent decree -- the airline agreed to suspend its operation pending compliance with training and other regulations -- by threatening to prevent some of its employees from working in aviation in the future. The company's president was given less than an hour to sign the decree without counsel present, the lawsuit claimed.

The consent was a ruse to close the business, the lawsuit claims. After RegionsAir complied with the terms of the decree, which Moulis considered a "contract," the FAA ignored its efforts, the lawsuit claims.

"This contract was entered into with no intent to comply by the FAA," Moulis said in the statement. "The manner in which this contract was executed and the consequent unyielding refusal to comply with the terms was fraudulent."

An FAA spokesman did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment on Tuesday.

In February, Durbin said the airline had "an unacceptable record: late 15 times more often than the average domestic carrier." The senator said the air carrier canceled 15.6 percent of its flights in November, 27 percent in December and 15.5 percent in January.

Doug Kimmel, manager of the Williamson County Regional Airport in Marion, Ill., one of the cities affected by the shutdown, said he thinks RegionsAir is "really grasping for straws."

"When you look back at the poor service record for all the communities they (RegionsAir) served, I and other airports expressed our growing displeasure to Sen. Durbin about the poor reliability," Kimmel said. "There are a lot of airports and airport businesses that feel they have been mistreated by RegionsAir."