Colgan was based in Manassas, VA and used to fly a lot for US Air. It was horrible. All turbo-props, but out of Pittsburg, where they had a lot of the express flights, a bunch of us actually did some tracking and their on-time rates were horrible - even for a puddle-jumper outfit. They had a lot of mechanical issues, and from talking with gate people and pilots, paid the absolute bare minimum they could. Now, they're a lot bigger than back in the late 90s, and they've been bought, and I don't fly US Air anymore at all and can't remember being on a Colgan flight in quite some time. All I can speak to is how they were 10-15 years ago and they were horrible back then.

Express carriers are weird. American Eagle is pretty good, as is Shuttle America and Air Wisconsin. Sky West is also pretty good. Mesa is horrible, Colgan is horrible. All the rest, I don't really know. The US Airways core express outfits - Piedmont, PSA, Allegheny - used to be ok, not great but not really bad.

I generally avoid puddle jumpers and CRJs whenever possible, and I try and avoid Mesa at all costs regardless of what they're flying.