Great Lakes Airlines Asks FAA to Increase Seats on Commuter Flights

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Flights on Great Lakes Airlines could be more crowded in the future as the Cheyenne-based airline has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to increase its seating capacity.

Only nine seats are available for use on each of the regional carrier's aircraft. In 2014, the FAA allowed Great Lakes to remove 10 seats from each plane.

With nine seats, the airplanes are considered commuter operations, which means pilots are not required to have as many hours of flight experience as pilots of regional airlines.

The company has requested an exemption to the definition of a commuter operation so it can restore those seats and have 19 passenger seats.