American, Delta, And United Now Majority-Own Republic Airways — And The FAA Administrator Still Owns 652,475 Shares

Major regional airline Republic Airways merged with Mesa Airlines, and now operates over 300 Embraer E-175 aircraft, flying over 1,200 daily departures and generating about $2 billion in annual revenue. They operate flights for American, United and Delta. Their former CEO Bryan Bedford is the current Administrator of the FAA.

The three largest U.S. airlines majority-own Republic, and the FAA Administrator reported to Congress that he hasn’t divested his own shares as promised.

Airline		Shares reported		% Ownership Reported		Notes
American Airlines		9,755,889		20.80%		Shares received “in connection with” the merger.
United Airlines		7,746,397		18.20%		Filing uses an “expected outstanding” denominator (~42.6M). Using the issuer’s ~46.95M outstanding, 7.746M ≈ 16.5%. Also: a 6% escrow “bucket” exists tied to an with United, so  final stake could increase depending on escrow allocation.
Delta Air Lines		6,770,601		14.40%		% based on ~46.9M shares outstanding per issuer 8‑K.

Republic Airways Embraer E-175 Operating For American Airlines

Republic spent parts of 2016 and 2017 in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, used to own Frontier Airlines (which it sold to Indigo Partners) and used to operate the Chautauqua Airlines and Shuttle America brands before consolidating them into the Republic brand. I’ve had some of the best onboard service from Republic crew.

There are a few things that should be concerning about this ownership structure. FAA Administrator Bedford reported holding between $6 – $30 million in Republic stock units at the time he was nominated.

• He held 16,733 shares of Republic stock as of September 11, 2025.
  
• His government ethics disclosure in June showed 11,925 vested RSUs, 10,575 unvested RSUs, and anticipated 4,808 unvested would accelerate on resignation (with the remainder forfeited). That gets to the 16,733.
  
• The Office of Government Ethics reported December 8th that he did not comply with his divestiture commitments in a timely manner. Ethics officials at the Department of Transportation say that he requested stock certificates on December 1 so that he could do so. No sale has yet been reported.

His 16,733 legacy shares of Republic Airways convert into $RJET post-merger shares at 1 to 38.9933. That gives him 652,475 RJET shares. Using 46,949,601 shares outstanding, that’s about 1.39% of the airline worth $13.6 million at current prices.

• Surely he shouldn’t be supervising an airline where he as a $13 million personal stake.
  
• His three biggest customers together own a majority of the airline. Is the stock being valued for his influence? Are the deals with American, Delta and United being priced as arms-length transactions versus currying favor? No actual misconduct is required here! It’s like Justin Sun investing $75 million in the ‘Trump’ memecoin.
  
• Major airline collective ownership of the regional carrier seems to raise antitrust questions over competition for regional lift.

The merger andpublic listing can change valuation and liquidity, so missing divestiture deadlines can look like waiting for a better exit (whether or not that was the intent). It’s all the kind of mess that’s awkward all-around, but baked into the sort of crony capitalism we’ve seen so much more of over recent administrations.