The airline's first flight was on July 1, 1992, with nonstop jet service from Reno (RNO) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in SeaTac, Washington.

[3] According to its December 15, 1993 system route map, the airline operated nonstop flights from San Jose to Burbank, CA (BUR), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario, CA (ONT), Phoenix (PHX), Portland, OR (PDX), Reno (RNO) and Seattle (SEA).

Meantime, American Airlines had earlier expanded its presence in the San Jose market in northern California with its purchase of AirCal (formerly Air California) several years earlier but was experiencing stiff competition from Southwest Airlines concerning air fares and desired to outsource the SJC operation to a lower cost operator.

As can be seen in the above photo of the Reno Air MD-82 jetliner at Orlando Sanford International Airport, the airline's aircraft serving Gulfport had "Gulf Coast Flyer" as part of the livery.

At the time, the purchase was seen as a way to feed American's east–west route network with Reno Air's north–south flights, primarily through San Jose.

As of August 30, 1999, at the time of the merger, Reno Air's fleet consisted of the following aircraft:[10] Shortly after its acquisition by American Airlines, in May 1999 Reno Air was continuing to operate as an independent airline and was serving the following thirteen (13) destinations with McDonnell Douglas MD-80, MD-87 and MD-90 jetliners according to its system route map:[4][11] Also at this same time, the Reno Air system timetable dated May 1, 1999 listed connecting flights operated by American Eagle with Saab 340 regional propjet aircraft to the following destinations with connections being made at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) which was a focus city for Reno Air at this time:[4] According to its system route maps over the years, Reno Air operated scheduled passenger jet service to the following destinations at various times during its existence:[4] 1997 Pittsburgh to Orlando (charters)