This paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the US Institute of Navigation held in Annapolis, June 1988

The following is an assessment of Area Navigation Systems, or RNAV, as they apply to regional aviation.

Regional aviation, in this context, refers to that third sector of the airline industry which concentrates on short haul, high frequency, so-called ‘hub and spoke’ operations. Now amounting to over j per cent all airline passenger traffic, regional operations by their nature have more to gain from the use of RNAV than any other segment of the airline business. In particular we look at how RNAV systems provide business opportunities to regional operators, not only to manage aircraft more effectively, but in the process to improve a firm's viability.