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.[1]
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.
[edit] History
Charles J. Colgan founded [2] 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.[3]
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.
[edit] Destinations
[edit] As United Express
[edit] As US Airways Express
[edit] As Continental Connection
[edit] Accidents and incidents
[edit] 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)
[edit] External links
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