Private company

Cochise Airlines

Commuter airline

Cochise Airlines was a commuter airline which was founded in 1971 in Tucson, Arizona. It operated until 1982. Cochise linked small cities in Arizona with Phoenix, Arizona and Tucson, Arizona and also served southern California and New Mexico at one point.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1971Founded1
  • HeadquartersTucson1

Cochise Airlines was a commuter airline which was founded in 1971 in Tucson, Arizona. It operated until 1982. Cochise linked small cities in Arizona with Phoenix, Arizona and Tucson, Arizona and also served southern California and New Mexico at one point.2

The story

According to the February 1, 1976 edition of the Official Airline Guide (OAG), Cochise was operating de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft as well as Cessna 402 prop aircraft. By 1979, the airline was flying Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II) turboprops. In 1979, the airline purchased two Convair 440 which were previously operated by Scandinavian Airlines. One route served with the Metro II at this time was Tucson (TUS) - Phoenix (PHX) - Yuma (YUM) - Imperial, CA (IPL) - Los Angeles (LAX) while another route served Phoenix (PHX) - Flagstaff (FLG) - Winslow (INW) - Gallup (GUP).

Besides serving Phoenix, Tucson, Imperial and Yuma, the February 1, 1976 OAG listed scheduled service operated by Cochise into the following destinations in Arizona: Flagstaff (FLG), Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Kingman (IGM), Lake Havasu City (LHU), Page (PGA), Prescott (PRC) and Winslow (INW).

By 1981, Cochise was flying a Convair 440 propliner nonstop between Tucson (TUS) and San Diego (SAN) and also on the Tucson - Phoenix - Yuma - El Centro - Los Angeles route in addition to Metro II propjet service on the latter route. The Convair 440 was the largest aircraft type ever operated by the airline. Also in 1981, Cochise was flying a Phoenix (PHX) - Blythe, CA (BLH) - Los Angeles (LAX) route in addition to operating its other routes within Arizona and southern California.

The air carrier's two letter airline code in the OAG was "DP".

From Wikipedia’s article on Cochise Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Destinations in 1974

According to its April 15, 1974 route map, Cochise was serving the following destinations:

Douglas, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona

Fort Huachuca/Sierra Vista, Arizona

Read the full text

Grand Canyon National Park Airport, Arizona

Kingman, Arizona

Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona - Hub

Prescott, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona - Home base and focus city

Yuma, Arizona

Destinations in 1979

According to its November 15, 1979 route map, Cochise Airlines was serving the following destinations:

Blythe, California

Flagstaff, Arizona

Fort Huachuca/Sierra Vista, Arizona

Gallup, New Mexico

Grand Canyon National Park Airport, Arizona

Imperial, California - El Centro, California was served via the Imperial County Airport

Kingman, Arizona

Los Angeles, California (LAX)

Phoenix, Arizona - Hub

Prescott, Arizona

Tucson, Arizona - Home base

Winslow, Arizona

Yuma, Arizona

The airline also served San Diego, California during the early 1980s.

Cochise ceased all operations on June 2, 1982.

Fleet

Piston aircraft:

Cessna 402

Convair 440 - largest aircraft type operated by the airline

Turboprop aircraft:

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter

Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II model)

From Wikipedia’s article on Cochise Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1982Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1971Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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