PILGRIM AIRLINES: United States (1962-1986). Acquired by Joseph M. Fugere two years earlier, the FBO/charter operation New London Air Services is reformed on April 1, 1962 and the flight portion is renamed Pilgrim Airlines. Regularly scheduled passenger and cargo third - level Piper PA-23 Apache revenue operations between New London and New York City (La Guardia and Idlewild Airports) begin on August 16, the same day the carrier receives its certification from the FAA.
In September, a twin-engine Beech C-45H converted to Beech 18 civil standard is acquired, allowing twin-engine flights.
A total of 1,500 passengers are transported in the commuter’s first four-and-a-half months.
Traffic triples in 1963 and doubles in 1964. By 1965, passenger boardings have increased 10-fold and a plane larger than the currently employed Beech 18 and Pipers is required. That year, Fugere approaches de Havilland Canada and helps to convince that manufacturer that small commuter airlines like his will employ the STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft it is developing.
The opportunity to acquire sufficient funding to launch the Canadian turboprop arrives in June-August 1966. As a result of a 66-day strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), much of the nation’s air transport system is shut down. During this time, a New York-based air freight forwarder contracts with founder Fugere to take over the carriage of its high priority shipments, mainly pharmaceuticals. Consequently, Pilgrim employs one Beech 18 on a route from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Chicago via Pittsburgh and a Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six to Baltimore and Boston.
The $150,000 profit earned during the two months is sent to Canada to buy a plane and in September the first Pilgrim Twin Otter is delivered. Following training and promotional use, it allows Pilgrim to become the first (by only one hour over Air Wisconsin) regional in the world to operate the DHC-6-100.
The Twin Otter sets a standard of excellence for the nation’s growing commuter airline industry and establishes Joe Fugere’s carrier as a viable transportation system for southwestern Connecticut. For three years following the first DHC-6-100 flight, Pilgrim’s enplanements increase by 20,000 per year. This success leads to expansion and in June 1967 operations are inaugurated between New Haven and New York City. A year later, flights begin to New York City from Hartford.
Operations continue apace in 1969-1970. On February 11 of the latter year, a Twin Otter with two crew and three passengers disappears into Long Island Sound; wreckage is found off Groton, Connecticut, four days later, but there are no survivors.
Rights to the Hartford-Montreal route operated by North American Airlines (2) since the previous year are acquired in 1971; the takeover forces the Windsor Locks-based international commuter to cease operations. Pilgrim purchases several Volpar Turboliners from the assets of the former carrier.
During 1972, Pilgrim begins landing in Boston and Bridgeport is added to the system network in 1973. Enplanements during the latter year are 98,863.
Pilgrim continues to expand throughout the remainder of the decade. International services commence on July 1, 1974 with the inauguration of thrice-daily Volpar Turboliner (modified Beech 18) service Groton and New London via Hartford to Montreal flights. Additional markets entered include Bridgeport, Providence, Islip, Boston, Washington, D. C. (DCA), and Manchester, New Hampshire.
Passenger boardings jump 9.3% to 108,809.
The workforce in 1975 is 85. In January, Pilgrim receives the 1974 “Regional Airline of the Year” award from Air Transport World magazine.
The company’s five Twin Otters accommodate 91,712 passengers, a 15.7% decline. Freight traffic is also down by 23.8%.
Five employees are laid off in 1976 or not replaced. Service is inaugurated from New London to New York (LGA) via New Haven.
Customer bookings accelerate 22.5% to 112,349 and cargo is up by 19.7% to 105,605 pounds flown.
In 1977 the Volpar Turboliner is removed from the New York-Montreal route and replaced with a pair of Beech 99s.
Boardings for the year total 139,955 travelers.
As is the case for other regionals, profits increase greatly from passage of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Following the law’s October signing, airline employment is boosted by 27.8% to 115. Services are inaugurated from Islip to New Haven, Boston, and New London. During the year, a sixth Twin Otter and two additional Beech 99s are acquired.
Customer bookings increase by 22.8%, up to 171,916.
There is further growth in 1979 as the workforce is increased by 29.5% to 136. New routes are started from the Rhode Island capital of Providence to New York (JFK and LGA), and Islip airports.
Bookings advance by 13% to 193,587, while cargo is down 9% to 146,000 pounds.
The following year, 1980, is an impressive year for the New London-based large regional. The employee population grows by 23.2% to 175 and John Sterne is voted executive vice president. Routes are thrown out to Manchester, New Hampshire and Washington, D. C. and the carrier replaces Delta Air Lines on the major’s route from Manchester to New York (LGA).
Pilgrim acquires its first new modern airliner since 1966, the former Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd. Fokker F.27-100 St. Flannan. The previous year, the turboprop had become the only one of her type fitted with a large cargo door (LCD), thereby, technically, becoming an F.27-700.
Following a lengthy delay because of the FAA-mandated certification process, the new plane commences flights from New York (LGA) on December 19. The aircraft is the first Fokker-built Friendship to enter service in the U. S. (as opposed to the F-27s built under contract by Fairchild in Maryland).
At year’s end, the fleet comprises 2 Beech 99s, 5 DHC-6-100s, and 2 F.27-100s, the second purchased from Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (2)/Ice-landair, H. F.
Passenger boardings increase 5% to a record 202,821, even as cargo declines by 14.2% to 11,000 pounds.
The number of workers is up again in 1981 by 15.8% to 169. In April, the twentieth anniversary is celebrated with public ceremonies. Two more Fokkers are acquired, from Aviacion y Comercio, S. A. (AVI-ACO), and service is inaugurated to Keene, New Hampshire, and Ottawa, Canada. The route from New York to the Canadian capital, inaugurated on December 15, is the first direct service between the two cities offered by an American commuter airline.
Despite the PATCO air traffic controllers’ strike during the summer and fall and subsequent ATC restrictions, customer bookings for the year rise 8.2% to 219,372. Freight falls a hefty 23.5% to 9,000 pounds.
The payroll grows yet again in 1982, up 12.4% to 190. Pilgrim launches F.27-100 service from New Haven to Washington, between Hartford and Montreal, and from New London to Washington. Two more Fokkers, first flown by Trans-Australian Airlines (Pty.), Ltd., are added to the 3 Friendships, 5 Twin Otters, and 1 Beech 99 already in the fleet.
A Beech 99 with two crew and five passengers undershoots the runway at Groton, Connecticut by 850 ft. while landing on February 1; although the aircraft is damaged beyond repair, there are no fatalities.
A DHC-6-300 with 2 crew and 10 passengers makes a forced landing into Scituate Reservoir, near Providence, Rhode Island, on February 21 (one dead).
Enplanements this year rise 7.7% to 236,210 while cargo increases 52.7% to 21,000 pounds.
Forty new employees are hired in 1983 as another AVIACO F.27-100, plus a DHC-6-300, are acquired, giving the fleet six of each type. Additional routes are opened to Washington, D. C. (DCA) from the Connecticut cities of Bridgeport, Fairfield, New London, and New Haven. A new Bradley Field maintenance hangar is occupied and a Fokker F.28-3000 jetliner is purchased on December 31.
Passenger boardings jump 20.4% to 283,325 and freight accelerates 21% to 25,410 pounds.
While taking off from New York (JFK) on January 13, 1984, Flight 35, an F.27-100 with 3 crew and 21 passengers, loses power in both engines and comes down hard on the runway, skidding for 1,200 ft.; although the aircraft is badly damaged, there are no fatalities.
While FAA and NTSB inspectors review the circumstances surrounding the accident, the F.28-3000 arrives from Holland at month’s end. At $2,300 a day in interest charges, it remains grounded until the investigation is completed. The F.27-100s must operate under restrictions during the period.
Boston-Ottawa flights begin in the summer, as does the carrier’s participation in the frequent flyer program of American Airlines.
Pilgrim finally enters the jet era in September when it places its Fokker F.28-3000 into service between New York and Ottawa.
Passenger traffic on the year accelerates 6% to 301,406 passengers flown.
The employee population grows by 20% in 1985 to 360. The fleet now includes the F.28-3000, 5 DHC-6-100s, and 6 F.27-100s. In February, Pilgrim becomes the third largest regional airline in the Northeast when it acquires 100% of financially troubled Connecticut rival NewAir in exchange for a 20% equity stake by the acquisition’s former owners.
Four of the merger-partner’s six aircraft (Twin Otters) are placed into service under new livery when the two integrate their schedules and operations in April. NewAir, which remains an FBO at Tweed-New Haven Airport, is allowed to retain an Embraer EMB-110P1 Ban-deirante as an air taxi, while a Shorts 360 is subleased to Suburban Airlines.
Pilgrim Airlines’ frequencies from Connecticut to New York (LGA) and Washington, D. C. (DCA) are now increased, while the NewAir service to and from both Newark and Philadelphia is incorporated. The route network increases to 17 cities.
Customer bookings accelerate 23.8% to 372,983 and cargo rises 17.7% to 153,000 pounds. The marriage with NewAir is an expensive one for founder Fugere’s Pilgrim, which suffers considerable loss on its revenues of $25 million.
Early in 1986, financially distressed Pilgrim Airlines becomes a takeover target for another Connecticut-based commuter, Business Express. Under terms of the February 28 merger arrangement, Pilgrim, which is taken over by the BEX parent Marketing Corporation of America (MCA) for just $1 million, operates briefly as Pilgrim Business
Express. Its fleet is changed as the eight Twin Otters are replaced by five Beech 99s transferred from President James McManus’ parent. Integration is completed by year’s end, at which point the Pilgrim Airlines name disappears.
PILOT, LTD. (PILOT TOO): No. 101, 43 Chekhova St., Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, 693004, Russia; Phone 4242 (23) 3839; Fax 4242 (23) 4080; Code CZA; Year Founded 1993. Pilot is founded at Aeroport Khomutovo at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 1993 to fly cargo charters to East Asia and North America. Oleg G. Beloglazov is director general and he initiates services with 2 Antonov An-12s and 3 An-26s.
PILOT AIR COMPANY (PILOT AVIAKOMPANIYA): Russia (1994-1996). Pilot Air is set up at Vladimiri in 1994 to provide ad hoc air taxi, aerial survey, energy and communication support work, agricultural applications, and air ambulance services. General Director S. P. Zicheep begins revenue services with 3 Mil Mi-8 helicopters. These continue until 1996.
PILOT PRIVATE ENTERPRISE (PILOT CHASTNOE PREDPRI-ATIE): Russia (1994-1996). Pilot Private is set up as an air taxi operation at Krasnovarski Krai in 1994. General Director V. V. Budrin undertakes his ad hoc services with an unspecified number of Antonov An-2 biplanes.
Flights continue until 1996.
PINE STATE AIRLINES: P. O. Box 88, 74 Airport Avenue, Frenchville, Maine, 14745, United States; Phone (207) 543-6334; Fax (207) 543-6038; Http://www. siv. com/psa/psa. htm; Code PW; Year Founded 1996. Roland Martin sets up Pine State at Frenchville in 1996 to offer FAR Part 135 services to domestic locations. Revenue flights commence and continue with a single Cessna 402C.
PINEHURST AIRLINES: United States (1973-1982). Pinehurst Air Transport is established by Lewis Carter Burwell Jr. at Pinehurst, North Carolina, in 1973 to provide Douglas DC-3 passenger and cargo services to various local resorts. The company is transferred to Greenville, South Carolina, in 1979 and reformed into the all-cargo commuter Pinehurst Airlines. Equipped with a fleet of 5 NAMC YS-11A freighters, President Carter Burwell III’s carrier begins service to regional destinations.
In 1980, the first full year of operation, freight traffic is up 310% to 50.97 million FTKs.
Six more of the Japanese-made turboprops are acquired in 1981. In July, the company launches limited scheduled passenger services—just in time to be severely limited in these new operations by the PATCO air traffic controllers’ strike and subsequent ATC restrictions.
Indeed, the cash flow problem becomes so acute that the carrier must stop flying in September. To this point, it was en route to another successful year, having flown 32.7 million FTKs of freight, 60% more than in the previous year’s first nine months.
Unable to resume operations, Pinehurst goes bankrupt in early 1982 and is liquidated.
PINEHURST AIR TRANSPORT. See PINEHURST AIRLINES
PINK AVIATION, GmbH.: Austria (1993-1994). Pink Aviation is established at Vienna in late 1993 to offer third-level all-cargo flights about the nation. Revenue services begin with a pair of Shorts SC-7 Skyvans. Flights cease in 1994.
PIONEER AIR LINES: United States (1946-1955). Originally founded as Essair, the nation’s premier feeder airline, Pioneer is the result of that carrier’s May 15, 1946 decision to change its corporate identity. Former Braniff Airways Executive Vice President Robert T Smith joins famed barnstormer William Long in ownership; the former is president with the latter board chairman. The 96-employee company’s 3
Lockheed Model 10A Electras, sporting the company’s new aircraft livery and buffalo logo, maintain passenger, cargo, and mail service over Contract Air Mail Route No. 64 from Houston to Amarillo via Austin, San Angelo, Abilene, and Lubbock.
Following his spring purchase of five government surplus Douglas C-47s from the War Assets Administration depot at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, for $20,000 each, General Manager L. H. Luckey returns to Arkansas during August and acquires four more for $15,000 each. Eight of these are converted under contract to civil DC-3 standard; indeed, Pioneer is the first local service carrier to be equipped with the Douglas transport.
The company is also the first in its classification to receive CAB approval to operate at night and on instruments. As modification work on the new aircraft continues, the CAB on November 27 grants the company a number of new routes as the result of its findings in the Texas-Oklahoma Route Case.
Enplanements for the year exceed 5,000.
Airline employment stands at 219 on January 1, 1947. In March, the first DC-3 conversion is completed in the company’s Houston shop. When available, the nine Douglases will be christened Rangers after famous Texan heroes: The Kit Carson, The David Crockett, The Ben Milam, The Mirabeau B. Lamar, The James Fannin, The Stephen F Austin, The Sam Houston, The Coronado, and The William B. Travis. As the Douglas fleet reaches full strength, the original Essair Lockheed Model 10A fleet is sold. Gerald “Jerry” Warren is hired to become manager of the new Abilene station and is assigned 18 employees to operate the new Texas mini-station (an early hub) at the city’s eastside Municipal Airport.
In February, scheduled service is launched from Houston over the new routes granted by the CAB the previous year to Abilene via College Station/Bryan, Waco, Dallas, Fort Worth, Mineral Wells, and Cisco/Eastland/Ranger. Also included are routes from Abilene to Midland via Big Spring and Sweetwater, a spur connecting Midland to San Angelo, and the 1945 route.
During April, Pioneer’s DC-3s fly medical supplies and personnel into Texas City to assist victims of the disastrous explosion and fire. Later in the year, new IFR beacons are constructed at Bryan, Sweetwater, Plainview, and Temple and employment by year’s end reaches 360.
A devastating winter blizzard rocks Texas during January 1948, severely limiting Pioneer’s operations. On February 17, the airline is granted enough new routes to raise its route mileage by one-third, to 2,183 unduplicated miles. Markets are added in the New Mexico cities of Clovis, Santa Fe, Tucumcari, Las Vegas, Roswell, Las Cruces, and Albuquerque. The Pioneer Plainsman and The James Bowie, two new DC-3s, are acquired for the addition.
A number of services developed by Vice President-Traffic and Sales Harding Lawrence are offered as “commuter specials.” Meanwhile, goodwill and publicity flights are made throughout New Mexico in April and May, with scheduled service beginning on May 1.
Profits in 1949 and 1950 exceed $225,000 per year; however, the final profit from operations is earned during the latter year. The DC-3 fleet grows to 12 in 1950 through the addition of an unidentified unit; these are all refurbished. Inside, windrow drapes and wall murals are hung. The external livery is red and blue, with a bison displayed on the blue tail. When the two-year certificate expires, the Roswell-Las Cruces-El Paso route is ended.
Over Amarillo on March 2, 1951, copilot John Dowd falls out of a DC-3 while trying to close its door that had come open. A total of 404 flights with more than 20 passengers are operated in August. Seeking to upgrade its fleet, becoming in the process the first feeder to do so, the airline, during the remainder of the year, test operates a Super DC-3 and a SAAB 90A-2 Scania over its route network.
Following the profitable $1.1-million sale of its DC-3s to the USAF, which immediately places all 12 into service as C-117Cs, Pioneer attempts to escape subsidy and upgrade its competitive image through its June 1952 purchase of nine Martin 2-0-2As from Northwest Airlines, at $300,000 each. The First National Bank at Dallas and the Chase Manhattan Bank at New York lend Pioneer $4.18 million for the Martin project.
In addition to $544,000 per copy overhaul and modification, including a new livery that retains the buffalo on the tail, these are given new Pioneer Pacemaster names. Many of these names were used earlier as Rangers: Pacemaster David Crockett, Pacemaster Stephen F. Austin, Pacemaster Sam Houston, Pacemaster Ben Milam, Pacemaster William B. Travis, Pacemaster Kit Carson, Pacemaster James Bowie, Pacemaster Mirabeau B. Lamar, and Pacemaster James Fannin.
Martin 2-0-2A service is inaugurated in July, the same month that a $4-million order is announced for the purchase of five Convair CV-340s. Meanwhile, the company asks the government to increase Pioneer’s mail subsidy to cover the cost of operating the new equipment.
Convinced that the move would not be healthy and violates government aid rules (when the $841,000 DC-3 profit is used to offset losses in mail subsidies), the CAB, in March 1953, pressures Pioneer into relinquishing its Martins and returning to DC-3s. The regulators also refuse the carrier’s emergency plea for an $886,000 grant to cover the cost of the reconversion. Constantly in financial difficulty thereafter and losing $3,000 per day by August, Pioneer grounds its Martins and begins to seek DC-3s.
Three Douglas transports are briefly chartered from Eastern Air Lines, while nine more are leased from United Air Lines. All of these aircraft are chartered through Leeward Aero Services, but only nine will actually be operated. The CAB allows the airline to create a special subsidiary, Pioneer Aeronautical Services, to sell the Martins and their ownership is transferred to the new concern.
Chairman Long and President Smith meet with Continental Air Lines President Robert F. Six during the fall and begin to negotiate a merger. Six agrees to keep all of the former Essair’s employees, combine the routes of the two carriers, put Long and Smith on his board, and hold on to Harding Lawrence, who will one day become chairman/CEO of Braniff International Airways. Pioneer agrees to the marriage on December 10. The nation’s oldest local service carrier will be acquired for $768,815 cash and $390,000 in Continental stock. It will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary while the CAB studies the takeover.
The airline’s final year is one of its best. New service is started to Mineral Wells, Snyder, and Breckenridge and even the financial picture is brighter. On June 14, the company leases a number of its formerly owned Martin 2-0-2As and places them into service on two routes: Houston to Midland via Austin and San Angelo and Dallas/Fort Worth to Lubbock.
Following much publicity generated by Vice President Lawrence’s public relations department, Amarillo businessman Lester R. Dollison is designated the one-millionth passenger (cumulative) to be boarded on August 9, the company’s ninth birthday. Government approval of the Continental Air Lines takeover is given on December 7.
After a decade of service, Pioneer disappears completely on April 1, 1955 when its integration into Continental Air Lines is completed. On merger day, 11 of the company’s 23 destinations are exclusively served.
PIONEER AIRLINES (1): United States (1966-1968). The first Pioneer Airlines is formed at Springfield, Missouri, in late spring 1966 to offer scheduled third-level passenger and cargo flights to various destinations in Missouri, including Columbia and St. Louis.
Employing Cessna 205s and 402s, revenue services commence on June 20 and are maintained until 1968.
PIONEER AIRLINES (2): United States (1976-1986). Founded as Pioneer Airways at Denver on March 16, 1976, this small regional employs three Beech 99s to launch scheduled revenue service on January 10, 1977 over a route linking its Stapleton International Airport base with Ogallala, North Flats, and McCook. Enplanements for the year total 1,008.
Operations and traffic totals remains level in 1978 as David Forward is appointed president.
Chairman Howard “Bo” Callaway’s carrier begins to replace the Frontier Airlines (1) on new Essential Air Service (EAS) flights at various points in March 1979 and inaugurates a period of expansion in keeping with the new free market philosophy of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978.
Destinations visited now include Ogallala, North Platte, Lexington, Lincoln, Omaha, Sidney, Alliance, Chadron, Gillette, Sheridan, and Williston. The 594-mile nonstop Denver to Williston route is the longest segment flown by a U. S. commuter airline.
Passenger boardings skyrocket by 95.2% to 21,000.
With a fleet of 5 Beech 99s and 5 Fairchild Hiller FH-227s, Pioneer flies 25,017 passengers and 92,000 pounds of freight in 1980 to 11 cities in Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
During the year, Pioneer Airways is reformed and renamed and the fleet is enhanced by the addition of Swearingen Metros.
Chairman Callaway resigns in 1981 and is succeeded by David R. Forward, who also serves as president/CEO. Five more cities are added to the route network, including an EAS route from Denver to Santa Fe inaugurated in March.
Bookings skyrocket 123% to 55,872. Freight traffic is also up, by 22.8% to 113,004 pounds. To help handle the increase, the fleet is now expanded to 7 Beech 99s.
Upward progress continues, albeit with loss, in 1982.
A Swearingen Metro freighter with two crew flies into the ground at Pueblo on December 7; both men die.
Enplanements increase 59.1% to 88,893 and cargo jumps a spectacular 176.5% to 312,500 pounds.
The fleet is altered in 1983; gone are the FH-227s and 3 Beech 99s, replaced by 7 Fairchild-Swearingen Metro Ills.
Passenger boardings dip 4.2% to 84,172, but cargo jumps 14.3% to 225,144 pounds.
In 1984, Pioneer becomes associated with Continental Airlines and as a “Continental Express” commuter network partner begins coordinated services in January, feeding passengers to that recovering major at Denver.
Enplanements for the year total 156,387.
As 1985 begins, the company’s 9 Fairchild Metro Ills and 2 Beech 99s are operating to 14 markets in Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. One more Metro III joins the fleet as orders are placed for five Avions de Transport Regional ATR42s. In April, twice-daily flights are inaugurated from Denver to Sheridan, Wyoming, with one service continuing on to Billings, Montana.
A total of 159,905 passengers are flown on the year, a 2.2% boost.
Citing extreme price competition, with resulting low yields and traffic losses, the carrier, in the words of one official, simply “runs out of money” and suspends operations on May 19, 1986. It is, thereafter, liquidated and its EAS routes are recontracted to GP Express.
PIONEER AIRLINES, LTD.: Kenya (1978-1985). Privately owned PAL is formed at Nairobi in the summer of 1978 to provide scheduled passenger services into the eastern part of Kenya along with ad hoc safari and aerial tour flights. Revenue service flights commence on October 13 with a fleet of 4 each Piper Pa-31-310 Navajos and Cessna 402s.
Rising expenses and worldwide recession during the early 1980s conspire to cause a loss of economic viability, forcing the commuter to shut down in 1985.
World History
