Capitol Air was a United States supplemental air carrier and, after 1978, a scheduled passenger air carrier based which was operational from 1946 to its bankruptcy filing on November 23, 1984. It was founded as Capitol Airways in 1946, and then renamed Capitol International Airways in 1967. Supplemental air carriers were also known as irregular air carriers or nonscheduled carriers. In 1981, the airline changed its name to Capitol Air and was operating scheduled domestic and international passenger flights that year.
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services and conducted air accident investigations. The agency was headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Trans International Airlines (TIA) started as a United States supplemental air carrier, at the time the regulatory term for a charter airline. After US airline deregulation in 1979, it also operated scheduled passenger service flying as Transamerica Airlines as well as charter flights during its last decade. Its headquarters were at Oakland International Airport (OAK) in Oakland, California.
Wiggins Airways is a long-lived American aviation company that pursued many lines of business during its existence, including:
Northeast Airlines was an American trunk carrier, a scheduled airline based in Boston, Massachusetts, originally founded as Boston-Maine Airways that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda and other cities. It was notably small and unprofitable relative to other trunk carriers, being less than half the size, by revenue, than the next biggest trunk in 1971. Northeast was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in August 1972.
Universal Airlines was a United States supplemental air carrier that operated from 1966 to 1972, based initially at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan and later at Oakland International Airport in California. Universal was a re-naming of Zantop Air Transport. At the time, "supplemental" was the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) term for a charter airline, the CAB being the Federal agency that tightly regulated US carriers in that era.
American Flyers Airline Corporation (AFA) was a United States airline that operated from 1949 to 1971, certificated as a supplemental air carrier by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, regulated almost all commercial air transportation in the United States. AFA was owned and operated by aviator Reed Pigman until his death in an AFA accident in 1966. In 1967, ownership passed to a Pennsylvania company, and in 1971, AFA merged into Universal Airlines, another supplemental airline.
Southern Air Transport (SAT), based in Miami, Florida, was, in its final incarnation, a cargo airline. However, it started life as an irregular air carrier, a type of carrier defined and tightly controlled until 1978 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, closely regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. From 1965 onward, such airlines were charter carriers. Up until 1965, they were charter/scheduled hybrids. For much of that time the carrier was owned by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (1960–1973).
Bonanza Air Lines was a local service carrier, a US scheduled airline focused on smaller routes in the Western United States from 1949 until it merged with two other local service airlines to form Air West in 1968. Its headquarters was initially Las Vegas, Nevada, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1966.
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.
Challenger Airlines was a local service carrier, a United States scheduled airline certificated to fly smaller routes by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct US Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all air transport. Challenger merged with two other local service carriers, Monarch Air Lines and Arizona Airways, in 1950 to form the first Frontier Airlines.
AAXICO Airlines was an airline based in the United States. AAXICO is an acronym for American Air Export and Import Company. Initially founded as a non-scheduled airline or irregular air carrier, AAXICO was awarded certification as a scheduled air cargo airline in 1955 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportion. However, in 1962 AAXICO reverted to a supplemental air carrier. In 1965, it was nominally bought by Saturn Airways, another supplemental airline, but AAXICO was the surviving management and ownership. In its later years, AAXICO was noted for its consistent profitability, financial strength and its near total focus on flying for the military.
Known for the first few months of its existence as Orvis Nelson Air Transport, Transocean Air Lines was a supplemental air carrier, a type of US airline defined and regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, from 1938 to 1978, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. During the time the airline operated, supplemental airlines were charter/scheduled hybrids, legally able to operate a limited amount of scheduled service, which Transocean did, especially towards the end of its existence. Transocean was based in Oakland, California. The airline was among the most operationally capable of the supplemental airlines, regularly operating many thousands of miles from the United States. At times it accounted for over 20% of the revenue of all supplemental air carriers, and it usually was the largest supplemental by revenue. However, Transocean fell on increasingly hard financial times during the 1950s and ceased operating in 1960.
Local service carriers, or local service airlines, originally known as feeder carriers or feeder airlines, were a category of US domestic airline created/regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct federal agency that tightly regulated the US airline industry 1938–1978. Initially 23 such airlines were certificated from 1943 to 1949 to serve smaller US domestic markets unserved/poorly served by existing domestic carriers, the trunk carriers, which flew the main, or trunk, routes. However, not all of these started operation and some that did later had their certificates withdrawn. One other carrier was certificated in 1950 as a replacement. "Feeder airline" alludes to another purpose, that such airlines would feed passengers to trunk carriers. It was expected that a significant number of passenger itineraries would involve a connection between a local service carrier and a trunk carrier.
McCulloch International Airlines (MIA) was a supplemental air carrier, a charter carrier regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that from 1938 to 1978 tightly controlled almost all commercial air transportation in the United States. The airline was created from Vance International Airways (VIA), an earlier supplemental air carrier, and from the aviation activities of Robert P. McCulloch, an entrepreneur and industrialist who flew potential customers to see new communities he was developing, most notably Lake Havasu City.
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.
Purdue University has a history of operating airlines directly or through affiliates, including:
Florida Airways was a brief-lived US local service airline, also known as a feeder airline. On March 28, 1946, the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct federal agency that, at that time, tightly regulated almost all US air transportation, certificated Thomas E. Gordon, dba Orlando Airlines to provide air service from Orlando, Florida to points in central and north Florida for a three-year period. Gordon beat out competition from trunk carrier National Airlines and from another local service carrier, Southern Airways, for the routes. Gordon owned a fixed-base operator at Orlando Cannon Mills Airport.
Johnson Flying Service (JFS) was an American certificated supplemental air carrier, a type of airline defined and regulated after World War II by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a now defunct federal agency which tightly regulated almost all commercial air transportation in the United States during the period 1938–1978. From 1965, supplemental air carriers were charter airlines; until 1965, they were scheduled/charter hybrids.
Standard Airways operated intermittently from 1946 through 1969 as a small supplemental air carrier a type of US airline regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct US federal agency that tightly regulated airlines from 1938 to 1978. From 1964 onward, a supplemental air carrier was a charter airline. Until 1964, such airlines were charter/scheduled hybrids and Standard Airways did operate some scheduled services. The airline went bankrupt in 1964 and did not operate again until 1966 with new investors. It converted to jets but then ceased flying again on August 1, 1969. Many attempts were made to restart the airline until the CAB finally revoked its certificate in 1975.
