A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North America, most regional airlines are classified as "fee-for-departure" carriers, operating their revenue flights as codeshare services contracted by one or more major airline partners. A number of regional airlines, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, were classified as commuter airlines in the Official Airline Guide (OAG).
Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was a major airline in the United States that flew air carrier operations from 1928 until 1982 and continues today as a retailer, hotelier, travel service and branding and licensing company, administering the former airline's employee pass program and other airline administrative duties. Braniff's routes were primarily in the midwestern and southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. In the late 1970s it expanded to Asia and Europe. The airline ceased air carrier operations in May 1982 because of high fuel prices, credit card interest rates and extreme competition from the large trunk carriers and the new airline startups created by the Airline Deregulation Act of December 1978. Two later airlines used the Braniff name: the Hyatt Hotels-backed Braniff, Inc. in 1983–89, and Braniff International Airlines, Inc. in 1991–92.
Pan American-Grace Airways, also known as Panagra, and dubbed "The World's Friendliest Airline" was an airline formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company. On September 13, 1928, a small single-engine Fairchild airliner flew from Lima, Peru, to Talara, Peru, which marked not only the beginning of Pan American Grace Airways but also the inauguration of scheduled air transportation along the West Coast of South America. From this short flight in 1928 to nonstop flights from New York to South America with Douglas DC-8 Intercontinental Jets in 1966, Panagra became the standard-bearer for transportation between the US Mainland East Coast and the West Coast of South America for 39 years. The "World's Friendliest Airline" merged with Braniff International Airways in 1967, and the combined carrier became the largest US airline serving South America.
The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents.
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1938 and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services and conducted air accident investigations. The agency was headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Marquette Airlines was a brief-lived trunk air carrier, a United States scheduled airline that operated between St. Louis to Detroit from 1938 to 1940 before merging into Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA).
Northeast Airlines was an American trunk carrier, a scheduled airline based in Boston, Massachusetts that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Los Angeles and other cities. It was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in August 1972.
American Overseas Airlines (AOA) was an airline that operated between the United States and Europe between 1945 and 1950. It was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Trans Caribbean Airways (TCA) was an irregular air carrier until 1957, when it was certificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) as an international air carrier to fly from New York City to San Juan, Puerto Rico. TCA thereafter operated as a small scheduled airline specializing in flying from New York to the Caribbean, adding a small number of additional routes over time until it was purchased by American Airlines in 1971.
Colonial Airlines was a United States trunk carrier, a scheduled airline that operated from 1928 to 1956 with bases at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City and at Montréal/St-Hubert Airport in Montreal, Canada, before merging into Eastern Air Lines.
Mayflower Airlines was a small United States scheduled airline founded June 22, 1935 that started operations on June 15, 1936 flying from Boston to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vinyard on a seasonal basis before World War II. Mayflower operated Stinson Model U Trimotors. The airline applied to be certificated on October 20, 1938 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) on the basis of operating scheduled service before the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. Certification was received by the CAB on July 31, 1940. But Mayflower did not operate after September 1939, although it had CAB approval of such suspension of service. By 1944, Mayflower was bankrupt with all of $300 in cash so in June the CAB permitted the merger of Mayflower into Northeast Airlines.
AAXICO Airlines was an airline based in the United States. AAXICO is an acronym for the American Air Export and Import Company. Initially founded as a irregular air carrier, the term that the Civil Aeronautics Board used for a charter airline, the company unsuccessfully applied for an operating certificate to offer scheduled flights. After exploring different areas of business, the company transitioned to carrying passengers and cargo under contracts with the United States military.
The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 was an act of the United States Congress, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, that created the Federal Aviation Agency and abolished its predecessor, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). The act empowered the FAA to oversee and regulate safety in the airline industry and the use of American airspace by both military aircraft and civilian aircraft.
California Central Airlines (CCA) was a post-war American scheduled price-focused intrastate airline based at Burbank, California, the most prominent airline associated with Charles C. Sherman. CCA slightly preceded, and during its existence was bigger than, its contemporary and competitor, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). The core route of both airlines was from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Intrastate airlines in the United States were air carriers operating solely within a single US state and taking other steps to minimize participation in interstate commerce, thus enabling them to escape tight Federal economic airline regulation prior to US airline deregulation in 1979. These intrastate carriers therefore amounted to a small unregulated, or less regulated, sector within what was otherwise then a tightly regulated industry. Geography alone did not determine intrastate status.
The history of non-scheduled airlines in the United States records the rise and fall of a uniquely unencumbered sector of the heavily regulated American airline industry from the end of World War II to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Frequently operating in the shadow of colossal national airlines, which received federal subsidies and flew scheduled passenger service at costly rates, non-scheduled airlines were generally small companies which could be chartered to transport goods or passengers at an hourly or distance-based charge. Non-scheduled airlines were the first to introduce 'aircoach' fares for civilian air travel in the late 1940s, and brought about the low-rate service offered by almost all airlines operating today.
Inland Air Lines was a small trunk carrier, a scheduled United States airline which started as Wyoming Air Service (WAS), founded by Richard Leferink in 1930. In the mid-1930s WAS won airmail contracts for routes in Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana. WAS changed its name to Inland Air Lines in 1938.
Norse Atlantic UK Ltd is a British airline that is a fully integrated subsidiary of the Norwegian low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways. The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft based at London's Gatwick Airport, and operations launched on 26 March 2023.
Empire Airlines was a small jet carrier serving mainly New York and adjacent states with the stated aim to be “chief airline for the Empire State”. Empire was a small but notable deregulation success, pulling itself up by its bookstraps and achieving industry recognition. Empire stayed break-even or better, despite aggressive competition by much larger and/or better capitalized airlines, the turbulence of the early deregulation era and many years of substantial expansion. The airline achieved annual revenues of about $90mm before accepting a purchase offer from Piedmont Airlines in October 1985. The transaction closed in early 1986 and after a brief period, Empire merged into Piedmont. Piedmont itself merged into USAir in 1989 which, many years later, bought American Airlines in 2015.
