Up at Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, during the spring of 1966 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo flights to Minneapolis. Cessna 441 and Aero Commander 500B services commence on June 22 and are maintained until 1969, when the company is merged with Red Baron Airlines.
COMMAND AIRWAYS: United States (1951-1991). Originally organized by Theodore “Ted” Lafko as the FBO Mid Hudson Airline at Wappingers Falls, a suburb of Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1951, this air taxi and charter operator is purchased for $40,000 by former American Airlines and General Foods Corporation executive Kingsley G. Morse on June 1, 1966. Reformed, renamed, and employing 2 Beech 18s, 6 Cessna 172s, and 1 Aero Commander 560, Chairman/President Morse begins scheduled operations on July 1 to New York (JFK) from its base at Duchess County Airport.
An exclusive contract is signed later in the year with IBM for the transport of its personnel and a third Beech 18 is placed into service. For years, the company will be known as “the IBM airline.”
During January 1967, the first of 3 ordered Piper PA-23 Aztecs enter service and for the year—the first full one completed under Morse’s di-rection—a total of 8,684 passengers are boarded. Turboprop operations commence in 1968; the Aztecs are all replaced by 3 Beech 99s. Another IBM contract is acquired for transport of “Big Blue’s” people from Poughkeepsie to Burlington, Vermont.
The company’s two routes, together with charter operations, are maintained in 1969 and traffic increases, especially after the introduction of its first de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. Frequencies are also undertaken to Red Bank and Morristown, New Jersey, Islip, New York, and New London, Connecticut.
During 1970, the fleet is increased by the addition of another Twin Otters. In December 1971, the Pittsfield to New York route is purchased from Boston-based Executive Airlines and, by 1974, enplanements are up to 80,580.
Airline employment stands at 69 in 1975. Command is the American launch customer for the Shorts 330 turboprop, ordering 3 from the manufacturer in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dispatch reliability with the carrier’s Beech 99s reaches 97.4% and on-time performance grows to 86%. Joint fares are implemented to 43 communities. Passenger boardings are off by 2% to 79,000.
A Beech 99A with two crew and seven passengers is damaged after aborting takeoff from Duchess County Airport on March 16, 1976; no serious injuries are reported.
The 3 Shorts 330s join the fleet of the 80-worker airline beginning in July and orders are placed for 3 more. The new “wide-body” commuter liners are placed into service on the Poughkeepsie to Boston via White Plains route.
Two more Twin Otters are purchased and by 1977 enplanements reach 92,740. They advance to 122,945, up 12.1%, in 1978.
Passenger boardings climb by 7% to 125,451 in 1979, and advance by the same percentage to 133,690 in 1980. Among the destinations now served are Ithaca, White Plains, Boston, Pittsfield, Binghamton, and Lebanon, New Hampshire.
By 1981 passenger boardings have climbed 15% to 153,279. The number of employees rises from 165, up from 140 the year before. The second set of 3 Shorts 330s are placed in service during the year and the Ithaca service is turned over to USAir.
The workforce is increased 4.4% in 1982 to 168 and a sixth Shorts 330 joins the fleet. Orders are placed for 3 (later 6) Avions de Transport Regional ATR42-100s at $6 million per aircraft.
Super-saver fares are introduced and a total of 177,055 travelers are flown—a boost of 15.9%. Revenues jump 25.1% to $10.5 million.
The fleet in 1983 includes 9 Shorts 330s; the 3 ATR42s remain on order. A public stock offering is made in October and $6.5 million is garnered within 2 days. To court business travelers, the carrier enters into frequent flyer agreements with Eastern Air Lines and Trans World Airlines (TWA). The year’s passenger boardings accelerate 18.9% to 210,551.
Enplanements jump 22.8% for the publicly owned large regional in 1984 to 258,585 as service is inaugurated to Albany and Lebanon. Primarily to service a General Electric corporate account to transport executives to GE’s turbine division facility at Lynn, Massachusetts, a 12-times-per-day service is undertaken linking Albany with Boston. Command is now listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The ATR order is increased to five in 1985 as the two-millionth passenger (cumulative) is boarded. During the year, GE moves its turbine plant to Schenectady and the previous 12-per-day flights from Albany to Boston are now cut to 4. Still, business travelers account for 76% of total traffic, with largest corporate customers being IBM, the State of New York, GE, NYNEX, General Foods, AT & T, and Dartmouth College.
Customer boardings ascend a weak 1.6% to 262,651, but small profits of $352,000 (operating) and $185,000 (net) are still generated on revenues of $15,762,600.
In January 1986, Command, the 33rd largest regional airline in the U. S., is named “Regional Airline of the Year” by Air Transport World magazine. The first ATR42-300 is delivered to its North American launch customer on January 27 and enters service in March on such long-haul segments as White Plains to Boston and Boston to Albany. Flights to Providence and Hartford also begin.
Long opposed to code-sharing, the 250-employee Command is forced by the trend to yield its independence. On April 27, the large regional becomes an “American Eagle” partner, agreeing to feed American Airlines at Albany, Boston, and New York (LGA and JFK). The 9 Shorts 330s are given Eagle livery, as are the first 3 ATR42-300s, which are all leased.
Customer bookings ascend 22.7% to 322,178 and revenues grow 2.7% to $16.2 million. Expenses, unfortunately, accelerate 15.6% to $18 million, leaving an operating loss of $1.8 million and an equal $1.8-million net downturn.
Airline employment climbs by 18% in 1987 to 295 and the fourth chartered ATR42-300 is delivered in July, the same month frequencies are initiated to Philadelphia. In November, an agreement is reached with Short Bros., Ltd. for the lease of 3 new Shorts 360-360s; the arrangement includes the sale of Command’s 3 older Shorts 330s for $1.2 million each.
Simultaneously, President Morris reports that published reports of the company’s takeover by Simmons Airlines are untrue. The first Shorts 360-300 enters service in October.
Passenger boardings jump 30.1% to 419,158 and revenues increase 46.3% to $23.4 million. With expenses held down, the company becomes profitable, showing gains of $2.3 million (operating) and $683,956 (net).
The workforce is increased by 35.6% in 1988 to 400. In January, the fifth ATR42-300 arrives. In March, 20 slots at Washington, D. C. (DCA) are purchased from bankrupt AVAir for $800,000, allowing the start-up of service to the nation’s capital in July.
The Poughkeepsie-based regional is one of three “American Eagle” code-sharing partners purchased into the American Airlines family. AMR Corporation pays $24.5 million for the company’s independence in July, with the transaction completed on September 30. The year’s customer bookings advance by 35% to 565,900 and revenues rise 39% to $32.5 million. Net profit is a record $2.1 million.
The Command fleet in 1989 includes 12 chartered Shorts 360-360s and 5 ATR42-300s. The carrier is now reconfigured to provide feed to its parent exclusively at New York (JFK) from 14 northeastern cities. The inaugural flight of an ATR42-300 in “American Eagle” colors occurs in January, between White Plains and Washington, D. C. (National Airport).
Passenger boardings during the 12 months swell 8.8% to 615,667.
Unknown at the time, 1990 is Command’s last full year. A sixth ATR42-300 is leased, but, despite the introduction on December 2 of thrice-daily SAAB 340B roundtrip services to Rochester and Washington, D. C. (lAD), Command is the only “American Eagle” subsidiary to suffer a traffic decline. The Poughkeepsie-born large regional sees its customer bookings decline 17% to 510,951.
On June 1, 1991, the carrier is merged into Nashville Eagle to form Flagship Airlines.
COMMAND AIRWAYS (PTY.), LTD.: South Africa (19771983). This helicopter shuttle is formed at Johannesburg in September 1977 to provide a connection between Jan Smuts Airport and heliports in Pretoria. Return services are initially flown, beginning on November 1, six times daily under the name Magnum Helicopter Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. employing 4 Bell 206B JetRangers.
Upon the formation of Magnum Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. in 1978, the rotary-wing operator is renamed Command Airways (Pty.), Ltd. As a result of the early 1980s decline in traffic arriving in South Africa, the carrier is unable to maintain viability and shuts down in 1983.
COMMERCIAL AIR HIRE, LTD.: United Kingdom (19341936). Capitalized at ?500 and equipped with a single de Havilland DH 84, the specialized CAH is registered at London on August 7, 1934. Thereafter early morning newspaper flights are undertaken London (Croydon)-Paris by a Monospar ST.4.
The company’s 3 Monospar ST.4s and single de Havilland DH-84 Dragon are employed on April 14, 1935 to start an ad hoc London airport service (Croydon-Heston); designed to eventually link all area airports, the service does not significantly grow. The company is renamed Air Dispatch, Ltd. in 1936.
COMMERCIAL AIR LINES, INC.: Philippines (1946-1948). With backing from Filipino-Chinese millionaire Alfonso SyCip, a group of former USAAF pilots establish this small nonscheduled carrier at Manila during the first quarter of 1946. A pair of former military Douglas C-47s and are employed to start ad hoc flights around the archipelago, all the way south to Davao.
The company receives a scheduled service permit from the Philippine Civil Aeronautics Commission on July 22, 1947, and with a newly acquired C-54, launches roundtrip flights to Amoy, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
The fleet at the beginning of 1948 comprises 12 C-47s, the DC-4, and 9 Noorduyn C-64 Norsemen. On April 15, one of the latter, conducting a flight-seeing service over Mati, close to Davao, crashes; all 12 passengers are killed, including 9 children. The disaster turns public opinion against this irregular company and on September 1 it sells out to Philippine Air Lines (PAL).
COMMERCIAL AIR SERVICES (PTY.), LTD.: South Africa (1943-1967). The brainchild of three South African airmen, A. C. Jou-bert, Leon Zimmerman, and J. M. S. Martin, while in Egypt in September 1942, CAS is formed and registered at Johannesburg as a small charter and FBO company during 1943. World War II prevents the start-up of operations until 1945, when the Cessna dealership for South Africa is procured.
Joubert, Zimmerman, and Martin locate 10 Cessna UC-78 Bobcat military utility transports (some sources will suggest the planes are Fairchild UC-61 Arguses) at Cairo. Purchased for ?1,000 each from the U. S. Foreign Liquidations Commission, they are ferried to Rand Airport, Germiston, near Johannesburg, between March and May 1946.
The inaugural return charter is flown on July 14 to Durban. The following month, the company receives a pair of Cessna 140s, which it quickly sells. The sale of additional units over the years will enhance corporate profits. At the beginning of the third quarter, L. E. Shagam establishes Commercial Air Services (Natal) (Pty.), Ltd. as a subsidiary at Durban and starts nonscheduled services employing a Bobcat leased from Joubert & Co. A Bobcat is also chartered to D. A. Eardley’s new Commercial Air Services (Rhodesia), Ltd., which is based at Bulawayo.
Destinations visited by Commercial Air Service during the year and into 1947 include Nairobi, Leopoldville, Stanleyville, Cairo, Luanda, Lagos, and Accra, as well as points throughout South Africa. Additionally, plans are made to operate scheduled services as a feeder for South African Airways (Pty.), Ltd. (SAA).
In need of additional capitalization, the carrier sells a half interest in itself to Airwork, Ltd. during the year. Airwork, which for some years has been widely known for its work in Egypt as Misr Airwork, Ltd., is winding down its involvement in that country and is ready for a new challenge. Miles D. M. Wyatt, the chairman of Airwork, becomes chairman of Commercial Air Services, but the three cofounders are left to operate the company on the scene.
Employing 3 Cessna 195s, the company launches scheduled services in July 1948 over a route from Johannesburg to Durban via Kroonstad, Odendaalsrust, Bloemfontein, Bethlehem, and Ladysmith.
The route is not profitable and, in May 1949, the service becomes a daily return flight between Rand Airport and the gold-mining Orange Free State town of Welkom. This route is not profitable either. When Mr. Martin, now company leader in South Africa, and his associates announce their intention to drop it, the Anglo American Corporation, which operates the Free State Goldfields, steps in with subsidy. The funds thus gained allow Commercial Air Services to purchase a pair of de Havilland DH 89A Dragon Rapides from Central African Airways Corporation in October.
When L. E. Shagham departs for Israel late in the year, his stake in Commercial Air Services (Natal) (Pty.), Ltd. is acquired and that company becomes a wholly owned subsidiary.
Operations continue apace in 1950 and late in the year, and in 1951 the fleet is further enhanced by the addition of two de Havilland DH 104 Doves (one purchased and one leased) from Airwork, Ltd. These enter service in May, but will prove extremely unreliable and expensive to operate.
Employing Cessna 195s, the company finally begins flying a return service 20 times a week from Durban to Margate in late 1952. Anxious that it be maintained, the Anglo American Corporation steps forward to offer a ?10,000 grant with which to acquire spare parts for the costly Doves. Despite this funding, the company loses money; to no one’s surprise, auditors point out that the loss is due to the continuing high cost of flying DH 104s.
CEO Martin signs a ?25,000 contract for the purchase of 2 ex-SAA Lockheed Model 18 Lodestars and spare parts from East African Airways Corporation in January 1953. The purchase is made after consultations with Airwork, Ltd., Anglo American Corporation, and undoubtedly with South African Airways (Pty.), Ltd. (SAA), which has flown the Lodestars. The owned Dove is sold to raise funds with which to make the initial payment. Lodestar service begins in April.
The Durban-Margate route is withdrawn in May 1954 and replaced the following month with a brief Welkom-Prieska service via Bloemfontein and Kimberley.
Operations continue apace in 1955-1960. Cofounder A. C. Joubert departs the company during the former year to seek his fortune in Rhodesian tin mining. During these years, the Durban-Margate service is resumed and a newspaper delivery route is opened between Durban and Port Elizabeth. Three more Lodestars are acquired. During the latter year, British United Airways, Ltd. acquires Airwork, Ltd., together with the CAS stake.
By 1959-1961, Commercial Air Services is providing 11-times-a-week return services between Johannesburg and Welkom, plus Saturday-only flights between Welkom and Durban. Also during the decade’s final year, a daily roundtrip is inaugurated from Bulawayo to Umtali via Fort Victoria and Salisbury.
The British United Airways, Ltd. interest is purchased by Martin and Zimmerman in 1962. The following year a Douglas DC-3 is purchased out of Canada and is placed into service on the Johannesburg to Welkom route. A new Cessna 195 service is initiated to Phalaborwa in 1963, but proves so popular that the lift capacity of the L-18s must be assigned to it.
In 1964, a Cessna 205, later replaced by Lodestars and a larger C-206 Super Skywagon, launches a new roundtrip route from Johannesburg to Sishen via Vryburg, Kuruman, and Hotazel. Later in the year, a second DC-3 is purchased from Swissair, A. G.
By 1965, the company is operating a fleet of 5 Cessnas, 2 Douglas DC-3s, and 5 L-18 Lodestars; M. McFarland becomes general manager. The Welkom terminus is extended by Cessnas to Norvalspont beginning on February 1.
Having shared the risk with Martin and Zimmerman for three years, Max Geffin is now bought out by the latter. A third DC-3 is purchased from Alitalia, S. p.A.; a total of 15,711 passengers are flown on the year.
Airline employment in 1966 stands at 155. DC-3 service is undertaken from Johannesburg to Durban, Phalaborwa, and Skukuza.
Plans are made to completely restructure the company and it public. At the end of the year, a new subsidiary, Aircraft Distributors of Southern Africa (Pty.), Ltd., is formed to handle aircraft sales, which now include Hughes Helicopters, as well as Cessna.
In partnership with Letaba Safaris, CAS undertakes Cessna flight-seeing and tourist services to the national game parks during the spring of1967.
More importantly, company airmen begin operating SAA DC-3s on scheduled flights to, from, and between Cape Town, Oudtshoorn,
George, Plettenberg Bay, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Queenstown, and East London. This contract service allows the state carrier to assign its own flyers to its newer Vickers Viscounts and Boeing 727-44s.
Basutair, Ltd. is reformed into Lesotho Airways (Pty.), Ltd. during midyear, with the assistance of Commercial Air Services. Basutair’s founder and managing director, Richard Southworth, remains in charge. A Douglas DC-3 is wet-leased from CAS and, under contract to the government, it is employed, beginning on October 2, to offer a scheduled weekly roundtrip between Maseru and Johannesburg. A second weekly roundtrip is offered as a pooled frequency in partnership with South African Airways (Pty.), Ltd.
The long-anticipated CAS corporate reorganization occurs on November 1 with the formation of Comair Holdings (Pty.), Ltd., which will operate the renamed Comair (Commercial Airways [Pty.], Ltd.) and Aircraft Distributors of Southern Africa as subsidiaries. Shareholding is traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
COMMERCIAL AIR SERVICES (NATAL) (PTY.), LTD.: South Africa (1946-1952). L. E. Shagam establishes CAS (Natal) as a subsidiary of Commercial Air Services (Pty.), Ltd. at Durban on 1946. Revenue flights to Margate commence with a single Cessna UC-78 Bobcat leased from the parent.
When Shagam departs for Israel in 1949, his stake is purchased by CAS, which continues to operate under the direction of E. T. Watkinson. A Cessna 170 is leased from Commercial Air Services (Pty.), Ltd. and flights continue into 1952.
COMMERCIAL AIR SERVICES (RHODESIA), LTD.: Southern Rhodesia (1946-1960). The brainchild of three South African airmen, A. C. Joubert, Leon Zimmerman, and J. M. S. Martin, while in Egypt in September 1942, Commercial Air Services (Pty.), Ltd. had been formed and registered at Johannesburg as a small charter and FBO company during 1943. World War II prevented the start-up of operations until 1945, when the Cessna dealership for South Africa is procured.
Joubert, Zimmerman, and Martin locate 10 Cessna UC-78 Bobcat military utility transports (some sources will suggest the planes are Fairchild UC-61 Arguses) at Cairo. Purchased for ?1,000 each from the U. S. Foreign Liquidations Commission, they are ferried to Rand Airport, Germiston, near Johannesburg, between March and May 1946.
During the ferry flights south, Joubert and Martin stop at Bulawayo, where they enter into a relationship with local entrepreneur D. A. Eard-ley. In August, with assistance from the South Africans in the form of a leased Bobcat, Eardley forms Commercial Air Services (Rhodesia), Ltd. and launches nonscheduled services.
A hangar is purchased at Kumalo Airport in February 1947 and a Piper J-3 Cub and de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth are acquired with which to begin a flight school. It also becomes Rhodesia’s Cessna dealer and brings in one each Cessna 120 and C-140. Late in the year, the flight school aircraft are sold as an order is placed for a C-170.
The larger Cessna is delivered in October 1948. A year later, a C-195 is acquired from Commercial Air Services (Pty.), Ltd. In 1950, the company receives a contract from the Bechuanaland Protectorate to operate a scheduled twice-monthly return service from Bulawayo to Maun via Francistown. It is launched in early 1951 with a second C-195, which was acquired with funds received from the sale of the C-120 and C-140.
A third C-195 arrives in August 1952 as the C-170 is withdrawn and sold. Early in 1953, an asbestos concern contracts for personnel flights with the company, but specifies that a twin-engine plane be employed. As a result, a Beech 18 is acquired with which to begin the corporate service in August. Flights continue apace in 1954.
In 1955, the Central Africa Air Authority grants CAS (Rhodesia) permission to inaugurate a C-195 route from Bulawayo to Livingstone via Wankie. This is the last significant development in the carrier’s history prior to its merger, with several other small airlines, to form Rhodesia United Air Carriers, Ltd. in December 1960.
COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT: United States (19281930). CAT is organized at Seattle in late fall 1928 to offer international flights to Vancouver, British Columbia. Employing a Ryan B-1 Brougham, the carrier inaugurates scheduled service in December to take advantage of the possibilities of generating Christmas traffic.
The operation is continued until 1930.
World History
