1971). Having failed to legally protect the name of its 1955 merger partner, Delta Air Lines cannot prevent this small regional, established at Peoria, Illinois, in the late spring of 1969, from assuming the C&S moniker. Employing a Beech 18S and de Havilland Canada DHC-6-100, the new company inaugurates scheduled daily passenger and cargo round-trips on July 7, linking its base with Chicago, Springfield, and St. Louis.
Operations continue in 1970 but, after the Beechcraft crashes, with the loss of 16 lives, near Peoria, Illinois, on October 21, 1971, the company is forced to shut down.
CHICAGO-DETROIT AIRWAYS: United States (1931). Attempting to fight the failure rate for small Midwestern airlines started during the Depression, C-DA is formed at Chicago in late spring 1931 to offer scheduled Travel Air 6000 passenger services to Detroit. The attempt proves futile as traffic is so light that operations last only from June 1 to September 30.
CHICAGO EXPRESS AIRLINES: Midway Airport, 5700 South Cicero Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60638, United States; Phone (312) 585-0585; Fax (312) 585-4877; Http://www. chicago ex-press. com; Code C8; Year Founded 1993. CEA is established at Chicago (MDW) in early summer 1993 as an affiliate of Phoenix Airline Services, the holding company for Northwest Airlink partners Express I and Express II.
Outfitted with a fleet of 6 British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31s, the new regional begins revenue services on August 9, linking its base with Cedar Rapids, Green Bay, Lansing, Madison, Milwaukee, South Bend, and Toledo. By year’s end, Chicago Express has transported 22,888 passengers.
Operations continue apace in 1994 and plans are made to begin flying from Raleigh/Durham in the following year, as a feeder for Midway Airlines (2). Customer bookings accelerate to 156,372.
The move to North Carolina is completed in early 1995, but the company’s 9 aircraft are only able to board 104,718 passengers during the year, a 32.7% decline.
The traffic picture improves for President Courtney Anderson in 1996 as customer bookings decline only 2% to 102,571. Destinations visited in 1997 include Daytona Beach, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Madison.
During the summer, the company becomes the Chicago (MDW) feeder for American Trans Air under the marketing name “ATA Connection.” Daily nonstop Jetstream 31 roundtrips from that point on behalf of the larger carrier commence on October 26 to Madison, Lansing, Des Moines, Dayton, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis.
Passenger boardings jump 22.2% to 125,349.
Flights continue in 1998. Customer bookings accelerate 40.9% to 177,000.
Airline employment stands at 200 at the beginning of 1999.
Daily ATA service from Milwaukee to Orlando is discontinued on April 30. Customers may, however, continue to take advantage of the 6 daily roundtrips from Orlando to Chicago (MDW), where connections with ATA service to Milwaukee and 21 others cities might be made.
Effective the end of March, American Trans Air, on February 26, purchases Chicago Express for an undisclosed sum.
On May 26, the ATA’s Amtran parent announces that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of all outstanding stock of Chicago Express.
Brokered by the manufacturer, the airline signs an agreement in December to take nine refurbished SAAB 340Bs previously operated by American Eagle Airlines (2). Overall passenger boardings for the year surge 18.8% to 210,000.
Wearing a new blue and yellow color scheme, the first former AMR SAAB is delivered in mid-March, followed by one per month through May. The large turboprops begin to replace the carrier’s smaller Jetstream 31.
Employing Embraer ERJ-145s, the company opens “Trans World Express” service to Cincinnati and Shreveport in August. On September 1, twice-daily ERJ “Trans World Express” roundtrips are started over a new route from St. Louis to Jackson, Mississippi. Two weeks later, four-times-per-weekday SAAB 340B roundtrips are launched from Chicago (MDW) to South Bend, site of the carrier’s new SAAB maintenance base.
To help provide pilots for this growing expansion, the carrier, in October, signs a three-year training contract with Pan Am International Flight Academy.
Thrice-daily SAAB 340B roundtrips are started on November 9 between Indianapolis and Chicago (MDW). The commuter liners replace ATA mainline jets.
CHICAGO HELICOPTER AIRLINES: United States (19491965). Selected by the CAB to operate local mail routes in the Windy City area, Helicopter Air Services, the second helicopter mail shuttle in the U. S., is founded on August 26, 1949. Employing 6 Bell Model 47s equipped with special saddle boxes for mail sacks, the new entrant inaugurates 18 daily return flights between Midway Airport and the downtown post office building, in addition to over 30 suburban heliports. During the first five years, seven tons of mail are flown.
In an effort to augment the high cost of the postal operation, the CAB encourages the chopper carrier to expand into the transport of passengers. On June 8, 1956, the regulators authorize HAS to establish this passenger service and the enterprise is renamed Chicago Helicopter Airways on August 20.
An interline ticket contract is signed with United Air Lines on September 7 and, on October 5, service is opened between the Conrad Hilton Hotel and the city’s two airports.
CHA, employing Sikorsky S-55s, now maintains scheduled 16-times-a-day ($6 one-way) roundtrip frequencies between Midway and O’Hare Airports in what proves, at least initially, to be a successful undertaking.
Traffic grows and, in June 1957, the company adds larger Sikorsky S-58s to its fleet. Service is launched to lakefront Meigs Airport. En-planements for the year total 55,000.
The fleet in 1958 comprises 8 Sikorskys. Flights begin from Chicago to the new heliport at Gary, Indiana, on May 3. The new aircraft and route help CHA to become the first rotary-wing scheduled airline to fly
100.000 passengers (actually, 108,911) in a year.
Flights are extended in 1959 to the city of Winnetka, Illinois. With a load factor of 51% and 158 daily flights, bookings swell to 204,000.
On January 5, 1960, a Bell 47G hits an obstruction at Frankfort, Illinois, and crashes, injuring its pilot. In order to operate jet equipment, the major airlines now begin to transfer much of their business to O’Hare International Airport.
The company now suffers its first fatal accident and, indeed, the first ever in the scheduled rotary-wing airline industry. En route from Midway Airport to O’Hare with 13 aboard on July 27, an S-58 crashes when a lifting rotor fails; there are no survivors.
Still, with a 53% load factor, enplanements increase by 34% to
309.000 passengers flown.
At this point, the helicopter airline’s fortunes begin to decline as the major airlines speed their shift away from Midway Airport to O’Hare and a new freeway provides rapid ground transport to that complex.
A Bell 47G crashes near Joliet, Illinois, on March 9, 1961, injuring the pilot. Another of the same type goes down at Chicago on April 17, followed by a third on April 21; again, only the pilots are hurt. A fourth Bell 47G crashes on October 4, at Lambert, Illinois; this time the pilot dies. In December, CHA is forced to suspend mail services.
The majors’ shift away from Chicago (MDW) continues in 19621963. To help make ends meet, the company, which now provides only 34 scheduled daily services, undertakes a number of unconventional services, including training flights, helicopter maintenance, and aerial traffic survey work on behalf of both the Chicago police and local radio stations. CHA does turn in a slight $21,401 profit in the latter year.
United Air Lines resumes Midway operations in July 1964, allowing the 81-employee rotary-wing carrier to initially increase frequencies on its airport shuttle. While conducting a nonscheduled cargo flight to Joliet on October 31, an S-58C with four aboard crashes; one crewman is seriously hurt. Overall bookings decline 21% to 39,233. Revenues total $1.21 million and a net profit of $207,057 is earned.
The workforce is reduced in 1965 to 41 and the fleet includes 7 helicopters, 4 of which are Sikorsky S-58Cs. When Congress terminates the mail subsidy to all helicopter carriers in April, the end is in sight.
Without federal aid or a feeder contract with a fixed-wing airline, the operationally expensive experiment in rotary-wing passenger service, which can only generate 32,125 riders for the year, is unable to continue and shuts its doors to scheduled passengers on December 31.
CHICAGO JET CHARTER GROUP: 907 North Elm Street, Suite 100, Hinsdale, Illinois 60521, United States; Phone (847) 808-0812; Fax (847) 808-0813; Year Founded 1996. CJCG is founded at Chicago (MDW) in 1996 to provide executive and small group passenger charters throughout the U. S. Four years later, the company employs 10 pilots and operates 2 Learjet 25s and 1 each Learjet 35A and British Aerospace BAe (HS) 125-400 Hawker.
CHIEF AIR, LTD.: P. O. Box 200, Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv 70150, Israel; Phone 09-504095; Fax 03-9699113; Http://www. givat-hayeladim. co. il; Year Founded 1997. Chief Air is established at Ben Gurion Airport in 1997 to provide executive and small group passenger charters to and from all airports in Israel. Equipped with a pair of Cessna King Airs, the company undertakes charters, as well as flight-seeing, air ambulance, and VIP services.
World History
