The story
Charles J. Colgan founded fixed-base operator Colgan Airways Corporation at Manassas Airport in Manassas, Virginia in 1965. It began scheduled service under contract with IBM in 1970 between Manassas and Dutchess County Airport near Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1986 Colgan Air received its first airline contract with New York Air operating as New York Air Connection with Beechcraft Model 99s, Beechcraft 1900Cs, and Short 330s.
New York Air was merged into Continental Airlines on February 1, 1987, at which time Colgan became a Continental Express feeder carrier. Jetstream 31 aircraft were then acquired. In 1986 and 1987 Colgan also code-shared with Pan Am as a Pan Am Partner on the Washington-Dulles to Norfolk, Virginia route. Colgan later sold out to Presidential Airways which was also a Continental Express operator. In mid 1988 Colgan and Presidential switched from a Continental Express feeder to become a United Express feeder carrier. This operation under the United Airlines banner also only lasted about one year before Presidential shut down in 1989.
After Presidential went defunct, Colgan and his son, Michael J. Colgan, restarted service under the name National Capital on a Washington Dulles International Airport to Binghamton, New York, route on December 1, 1991. Service was provided with Beechcraft 1900C equipment. This route was later dropped and the name Colgan Air adopted. On July 1, 1997 Colgan became a feeder for Continental Airlines once again, this time operating under the name Continental Connection.
On December 11, 1999, Colgan left the Continental system and became exclusively a US Airways Express carrier, focusing its routes around major US Airways stations such as LaGuardia Airport in New York City, Pittsburgh International Airport, and Logan International Airport in Boston. However, in 2005 Colgan acquired additional Saab 340 aircraft and resumed service as Continental Connection out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston (IAH).
Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, the day of the September 11 attacks, al-Qaeda hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari flew on Colgan Air Flight 5930 from Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine to Logan Airport in Boston, where they boarded American Airlines Flight 11.
On October 4, 2005, Colgan Air started providing flights for United Express flights out of Washington's Dulles Airport. Initially serving Charleston, West Virginia, and Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, Colgan expanded its United Express service to include State College, Pennsylvania; Charlottesville, Virginia; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Binghamton, New York.
Colgan Air was acquired by Pinnacle Airlines Corporation on January 18, 2007, for US$20 million. Under the terms of the purchase, Colgan's regional aircraft fleet continued to operate independently of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation's major subsidiary, Pinnacle Airlines, whose all regional jet fleet continued to fly and operate in the livery of Northwest Airlink. It was a strategic move by Pinnacle to get access to Colgan’s partners, Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.
Colgan Air began providing service out of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, as Continental Connection, starting in early 2008.
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Colgan's headquarters moved from Manassas to Pinnacle's headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, in December 2009.
In July 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation announced that the Colgan Air name would be phased out and all Pinnacle Airlines Corporation propeller flights would be operated by Mesaba Airlines. Colgan operated for two more years before winding down operations in 2012.
On May 15, 2012, Colgan Air ceased flying for US Airways Express. On June 5, 2012, flying in and out of IAH for United Express ceased. Colgan had previously operated as Continental Connection from IAH with Saab 340 aircraft prior to the Continental-United merger. On July 31, Colgan Air phased out operations with their Saab 340 fleet.
The last revenue flight, Colgan Air doing business as United Express Flight 3923 from Washington-Dulles to Albany, NY, was on September 5, 2012.
The remaining Bombardier Q400s on order were delivered to Republic Airways. Republic then phased out the Q400s between September 2014 and September 2016.
On January 3, 2017, the airline’s founder, Charles J. Colgan, died at the age of 90.
From Wikipedia’s article on Colgan Air, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3