Colgan Air, Inc. is an
American
fully
certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
The
headquarters of Colgan Air are located at the grounds of the
Manassas
Regional Airport
in Manassas, Virginia
.
Colgan
Air's major hubs are New York's LaGuardia Airport
, Boston's Logan International Airport
, Washington Dulles International
Airport
, Newark Liberty International
Airport
, and Houston's George Bush
Intercontinental Airport
. It has been operating as
US Airways Express since 1999 and now
serves almost 50 cities in the Northeast and Texas as a feeder for
US Airways Express,
United Express, and
Continental Connection.
History
Charles J. Colgan founded
fixed base operator Colgan Airways
Corporation at
Manassas Airport in
1965.
It
began scheduled service under contract with IBM
in 1970 between Manassas, Washington, D.C.
and Poughkeepsie, New York
. It expanded over the next decade and a half
and was sold in 1986 to
Presidential Airways.
After Presidential went defunct in 1989, Colgan and his son,
Michael J., restarted service under the name National Capital on a
Washington/Dulles - Binghamton, NY route on December 1, 1991.
Service was provided with
Beechcraft 1900C equipment. This route
was later dropped and the name Colgan Air adapted. On July 1, 1997
Colgan became a feeder for Continental Airlines, operating under
the name Continental Connection.
On
December 11, 1999 Colgan left the Continental system and became
exclusively a US Airways Express carrier, focusing its routes
around major US Airways stations such as LaGuardia, Pittsburgh
, and Boston. On January 25, 2005 it
announced it would acquire additional
Saab
340 aircraft and resume service as Continental Connection out
of Houston.
On September 11, 2001
Mohamed Atta, and
fellow hijacker,
Abdulaziz
al-Omari boarded Colgan Air Flight 4930, which was scheduled to
depart at 06:00 from Portland, Maine and fly to Boston,
Massachusetts.
After the two hijackers arrived in Boston,
they boarded American
Airlines Flight 11 which they hijacked and crashed into the
North Tower of the World Trade Center
.
On October
4, 2005 Colgan Air started providing flights for United Express
flights out of Washington's Dulles International Airport
. Initially serving Charleston, WV, and
Westchester
County Airport
in White Plains, NY, Colgan has expanded its
service to include State College, Pennsylvania; Charlottesville,
Virginia; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Binghamton, New
York.
On January 18, 2007, Colgan Air, Inc. was acquired by Pinnacle
Airlines Corporation for $20 million. Under the terms of the
purchase, Colgan's regional aircraft fleet will continue to operate
independently of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation's major subsidiary,
Pinnacle Airlines, whose all
regional jet fleet continue to fly and operate in the livery of
Northwest Airlink. It is a
strategic move by Pinnacle to get access to Colgan’s partners,
Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.
On
February 5, 2007, it was announced that Colgan Air will provide
service for Continental
Airlines out of Newark Liberty International
Airport
starting in early 2008. The service is
marketed as
Continental
Connection.
Colgan Air headquarters will be moving from Manassas, VA to the
Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
headquarters in Memphis, TN in November 2009.
Destinations
As United Express
As US Airways Express
As Continental Connection
Fleet
Accidents and incidents
References
- " Contact." Colgan Air. Retrieved on May
19, 2009.
- InsideNova.com, " Colgan rushes to Manassas after N.Y. plane
crash", AILEEN STRENG (accessed 13 Feb
2009)
- Flight International, 23-29 January
2007
-
http://www.ch-aviation.ch/aircraft.php?search=set&airline=9L&al_op=1
Colgan Air fleet at ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2009-10-30
- " UPDATE ON NTSB INVESTIGATIONS INTO RECENT BEECH
1900D ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS." National Transportation
Safety Board. November 21, 2003. Retrieved on February 13,
2009.
- FOXnews, " Commuter Plane Crashes Into Buffalo-Area Home; 50
Killed", Friday, February 13, 2009 (accessed 18 Feb
2009)
External links