COLEMAN AIR TRANSPORT CORPORATION: United States (1977-1980). CATC is set up at Rockford, Illinois, in 1977 to operate scheduled passenger and cargo services to regional destinations. Employing a fleet of Beech King Air 100s and Grumman Gulfstream G-1 turboprops, daily flights are inaugurated linking the company’s base with Milwaukee via Moline.
Services continue apace in 1978, as Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati join the route network. On November 12, 1979, taking advantage of the expansion possibilities of the Airline Deregulation Act, the carrier announces that it will inaugurate Douglas DC-9-10 service from Rockford to New York the following spring.
Having encountered regulatory difficulties with the FAA, the company loses its operating certificate on July 20, 1980, before it can start jetliner flights.
COLEMILL ENTERPRISES: Cornelia Fort Airpark, Nashville, Tennessee 37206, United States; Phone (615) 226-4256; Fax (615) 226-4702; Http://www. colemill. com/charter. html; Year Founded
1944. Colemill Enterprises is an FBO established at Cornelia Fort Airpark in 1944. In addition to the traditional overhaul and gas station activities of such a facility, the company also comes to operate domestic, later regional, passenger and express charter services.
By 2000, Operations Director Bill Colbert Jr. oversees a staff of eight full-time and six part-time pilots. The mixed piston - and turboprop-engine fleet includes 2 each Piper PA-31-310 Navajos and PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains and 1 each Beech King Air 90, King Air 100, B-55 Baron, and Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
COLGAN AIR: P. O. Box 1650, Manassas, Virginia 20108, United States; Phone (703) 368-8880; Fax (703) 331-3116; Http://www. colganair. com; Code 9L; Year Founded 1991. Following his experience with Colgan Airways, Charles J. Colgan Sr. returns to the commuter airline scene in late spring 1991. With joint Executive Vice Presidents Michael J. Colgan and Mary Colgan Finnigan, he establishes another small family-owned regional, National Capital Airways, the name being quickly changed to Colgan Air during the summer. Other Colgan family members directly involved are the director of reservations, Dorothy Colgan Chaplin and the purchasing director, Patrick S. Colgan.
Employing a single Beech 1900, the small carrier pioneer opens scheduled passenger flights in the fall linking Washington, D. C. (IAD) with Binghamton, New York, via White Sulphur Springs and Ekins, West Virginia.
Airline employment stands at 49 in 1992 and the fleet is increased by the addition of 2 Beech 1900s and 1 Beech 99. A new route is opened from Boston to Bar Harbor and Rockland in Maine and from Newark to Hyannis and Nantucket. Enplanements for the first full year of service total 18,267.
The workforce is increased to 80 in 1993 as 2 more Beech 1900s join the fleet. Passenger boardings skyrocket 138.8% to 43,000.
The fleet in 1994 totals 2 Beech 99s and 5 Beech 1900Cs. Customer bookings shoot up another 48% to 63,633.
Airline employment grows 6.7% in 1995 to 125. The fleet now comprises 6 Beech 1900Cs, but orders are placed for 2 1900Ds and 1 SAAB 340B. Enplanements soar 24.6% to 79,269.
Twelve new workers join the company in 1996 and the first Beech 1900D enters service in May. A code-sharing agreement is signed with Continental Airlines; under terms of the arrangement, the airline will offer “Continental Connection” flights from various Northeast and Middle Atlantic destinations to the major’s hubs at Boston, Charlotte, and New York (LGA).
Passenger boardings accelerate 11.4% to 88,344.
The workforce is slashed 64.2% in 1997 to 49. In April, the “Continental Connection” contract with Continental Airlines is expanded and now allows that major’s passengers to connect via Colgan flights to destinations in Beckley and Bluefield, West Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts, and several points in Maine. Over 60 flights per day are now offered on behalf of Continental.
Enplanements during the 12 months total 90,888.
Service is maintained without fanfare in 1998. Customer bookings accelerate 8.2% to 99,000.
On September 24, Colgan joins the “USAirways Express” network, bringing six new cities into the major’s commuter system. Beginning on October 11, “USAirways Express” flights are initiated to Boston from Augusta, Bar Harbor, and Rockland, Maine, as well as Rutland, Vermont, and to Washington, D. C. (lAD) from Beckley and Bluefield, West Virginia.
To help provide needed capacity, the company requests three SAAB 340Bs in November. Documents bringing the carrier into the “USAir-ways Express” family are officially signed in December.
Customer bookings surge 32.4% to 131,000.
Airline employment at the start of 2000 stands at 224, a 17.9% increase during the previous 12 months.
The Swedish-made turboprops are delivered during the first quarter and are employed in February to launch new “USAirways Express” service from Charlottesville to New York (LGA). SAAB 340B service from New York (LGA) to Hyannis via Nantucket begins on June 15.
COLGAN AIRWAYS: United States (1970-1989). In 1970, Manassas, Virginia-based FBO operator Charles J. Colgan Sr., who has enjoyed success in providing charter flights in support of the local IBM facility, establishes an airline division. Employing a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, he inaugurates scheduled passenger and cargo commuter flights on June 19 from his base to Poughkeepsie, New York, via Washington, D. C. (DCA).
During the next eight years, the carrier is gradually expanded, first with services to Binghampton and then to Raleigh, North Carolina. With 2 Beech 99s now available, Colgan boards 17,997 passengers in 1978 and hauls 35.5 tons of freight.
Passenger boardings drop 8.3% in 1979 to 17,000; however, cargo traffic operated accelerates 13.1% to 80,000 pounds. In 1980, Colgan oversees 9 employees and a fleet comprising 2 Beech 99s and the Navajo Chieftain. Enplanements plunge again, down by 40.2% to 9,861. Freight falls too, by 28.5%, to 57,507 pounds.
On April 1, 1981, two new routes are initiated out of Washington, D. C., one to Atlantic City and the other to Hot Springs, Virginia. Enplanements for the year total 14,847, a boost of 50.6%.
During 1982-1983, services are introduced to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Asbury Park, New Jersey, and to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Additional Beech 99s are acquired. Passenger boardings skyrocket 85.7% to 29,139 in the former year and 37.4% to 37,754 in 1983.
Following the demise of Clarksburg, West Virginia-based Aeromech Airlines and its successor Wright Airlines in late 1984, Colgan is awarded their Essential Air Service (EAS) contract and reorganizes its route network.
All of the services added in 1982-1983 plus flights to Hot Springs are suspended. In their place are new frequencies to Pittsburgh and Allentown and the West Virginia cities of Elkins, Clarksburg, and Morgantown, all flown out of Washington, D. C. (DCA). Customer bookings jump 9.6% to 41,535.
The fleet in early 1985 comprises 7 Beech 99s. On November 15, the carrier becomes a code-sharing partner of Texas Air Corporation (TAC) subsidiary New York Air. In December the fleet is expanded by the addition of 2 purchased CASA C-212 Aviocars and 2 leased Shorts 330s as New York Air Connection feeder flights are initiated.
Support from the nonunion national helps passenger boardings to jump 21.5% to 50,482.
The 100-employee small regional is acquired on August 13, 1986 by Presidential Airways to provide feed to the new large regional’s base at Washington, D. C. (IAD). Customer bookings skyrocket 94.5% to 98,165.
When Continental Airlines absorbs New York Air in February 1987, new opportunities are opened for both Presidential and Colgan. In March, the former abandons its efforts to become a national carrier and instead agrees to become a “Continental Express” airline dedicated to providing feed to Dulles from midsize regional airports.
Colgan, on the other hand, re-signs as a “Continental Express” partner with the mission of serving the same destination from smaller communities. The fleet now includes 7 British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31s.
Operations continue in 1988-1989, but when Presidential declares Chapter XI bankruptcy in October of the latter year and ceases on December 4, Colgan must immediately follow suit.
COLLONDALE AIR SERVICE (PTY.), LTD.: South Africa (1959-1968). Kenneth Brown establishes CAS at East London in 1959 to provide passenger and cargo charters to local destinations. Revenue operations begin and continue with a Cessna 175, C-206, and a Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six.
John Roderick & Co. (Pty.), Ltd., which owns Rodair (Pty.), Ltd. at Bloemfontein, takes over CAS in 1964, operating it as a subsidiary and allowing it to keep its previous name. A small PA-11 Colt is added to the fleet in 1967. Operations cease about a year later.
World History
