How it started
History
Originally announced in April 1989, L'Express was founded by local entrepreneur Stephen Read with the intention of providing an intrastate airline to serve the major cities of Louisiana. The airline originally served New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Lafayette and Lake Charles with 45 weekly flights. Service was originally to commence in June 1989, however, service began later that August. For its first year, the airline saw gross revenues of $7 to $8 million.
By September 1990 L'Express was looking to expand service into other areas of the Gulf South area outside Louisiana. Service was first expanded to Houston, Birmingham and Mobile with future plans to expand to Jackson and Little Rock in Fall 1990 and to both Pensacola and Dallas/Fort Worth by winter 1991.
Due to increasing fuel costs, on January 9, 1991, L'Express filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The airline continued to operate, operating 80 daily flights by the summer of 1991 In February 1992, the airline ceased operations after its nine planes were repossessed by the finance company of their manufacturer, The Beech Aircraft Corporation, due to non-payment. Grounded on February 15, airline officials officially shut down its operation on February 28.
From Wikipedia’s article on L'Express Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2