Comair
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- This article is about the US airline. See Comair (South Africa) for the South African operator.
| Comair | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA OH | ICAO COM |
Callsign Comair |
| Founded | 1977 | <tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Cincinnati-N. KY Int'l Airport|
| Fleet size | 168 | |
| Destinations | 110 | |
| Headquarters | Erlanger, Kentucky | |
| Key people | Don Bornhorst (President) | |
| Website: http://www.comair.com/ | ||
Comair is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines based in Erlanger, Kentucky, USA, a city near the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, which serves Cincinnati, Ohio. Comair is one of the world's largest regional airlines, operating under the name Delta Connection to a large number of destinations in the USA, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.
It also operates some flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Recently Comair opened bases in Greensboro North Carolina, New York JFK and reopened its base in Orlando, Florida.
Contents |
[edit] History
The airline was established in March 1977 and started operations in April 1977. It was founded by Patrick J. Sowers, Robert T. Tranter, David Mueller and his father Raymond in Cincinnati and began scheduled services with two Piper Navajo aircraft. Under its parent Comair Holdings, it became a public company in July 1981 to support the growth and capital requirements to upgrade their fleet. It became a Delta Connection carrier in 1984. In July 1986 Delta Air Lines acquired 20% of Comair stock. Delta Air Lines acquired full ownership on 22 October 1999 at a cost of over 2 billion dollars.
On March 26, 2001, Comair's pilots went on strike. The strike cancelled the airlines flights and grounded its fleet. The strike ended after a new contract was agreed to 89 days later. Comair came to nationwide attention in the United States during Christmas 2004 when it cancelled all of its 1,160 flights for Saturday December 25 and Sunday December 26, stranding 30,000 people, many of them never reaching their destination for the holidays. The reason for this was the computer system that handled flight crew assignments had a hard coded limit of changes for a month. This was reached during December 2004 due to weather in the Cincinnati area.
On September 14, 2005, Comair's parent company Delta Air Lines, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, forcing Comair into bankruptcy along with it. Comair announced that would cut costs by $70 million annually. These savings are to be achieved by aircraft, flight, and employee reductions.
[edit] Destinations
Comair operates to the following destinations (as of January 2005):
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Akron/Canton, Albany, Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, Appleton, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Bangor, Binghamton, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Charleston, South Carolina, Charleston, West Virginia, Charlotte, Charlottesville, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Dayton, Daytona Beach, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Erie, Evansville, Fayetteville, Flint, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, Greensboro/High Point, Greenville, Harrisburg, Houston, Huntington, Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville, Kalamazoo, Kansas City, Knoxville, Lansing, Lexington, Little Rock, Louisville, Madison, Manchester, Melbourne, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St Paul, Moline, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New York, Newburgh, New Orleans , Newport News, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Orlando, Panama City, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Roanoke, Rochester, San Antonio, Sarasota/Bradenton, Savannah, Shreveport, Sioux Falls, South Bend, Springfield, St Louis, State College, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Tampa, Toledo, Tri-Cities, Tennessee/Virginia, Tulsa, Washington, West Palm Beach, Westchester County, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre and Wilmington. Service to Trenton is planned to begin in the near future, possibly as early as December 2006.
- International scheduled destinations: Cancun, Fredericton, Halifax, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Nassau, Bahamas.
[edit] Fleet
The following aircraft are operated by Comair as of August 2006 <ref>Flight International, 3-9 October 2006</ref> :
| Type | Fleet | Seats | Aircraft Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier CRJ-100ER | 68 | 40 or 50 seats | |
| Bombardier CRJ-100LR | 41 | ||
| Bombardier CRJ-200ER | 40 | ||
| Bombardier CRJ-700ER | 27 | 70 |
[edit] Incidents and accidents
- On October 8, 1979, Comair Flight 444, operating a Piper PA-31-310, crashed shortly after takeoff from Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport. All eight people on board were killed.
- On January 9, 1997, Comair Flight 3272 operating an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft, crashed while on approach into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. All 29 aboard were killed.
- On March 19, 2001, Comair Flight 5054 operating an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft, experienced an in air incident while in transit from Nassau International Airport to Orlando International Airport. The flight diverted to West Palm Beach Airport for an emergency landing. All 27 aboard survived.
- On Sunday, August 27, 2006, at 6:07 am, Comair Flight 191 (also known as Delta Air Lines Flight 5191) operating a Bombardier CRJ-100ER aircraft, crashed while taking off from the wrong runway (8-26) (Satellite view) at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport while en route to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. There were 49 fatalities and a sole survivor, the aircraft's first officer.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
<references/>
| Delta Connection Carriers | ||
| Atlantic Southeast Airlines • Chautauqua Airlines • Comair • Freedom Airlines • Shuttle America • SkyWest Former Carriers: Air Midwest • Atlantic Coast Airlines • Business Express • Ransome Airlines • Rio Airways • Trans States Airlines | ||
