ExpressJet Airlines (Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) has been forced to reduce its United Express services owing to a shortage of qualified pilots. According to a report on the CrankyFlier blog, ExpressJet is only one amongst a multitude of domestic US operators that have been badly affected by the US Federal Aviation Administration's new pilot qualification and rest regulations as well as new FAR117 flight time requirements. "...While ExpressJet continues to attract qualified pilots, we did in fact inform United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) in January that we need to reduce our planned United Express flying. ExpressJet’s situation is by no means unique in the regional industry," the HR manager at ExpressJet, Jarek Beem told CrankyFlier's Brett Snyder. Recently, Great Lakes Airlines (Cheyenne) was forced to suspend its Essential Air Services (EAS) flights out of its Minneapolis St. Paul International hub also citing a severe shortage of pilots.