Pinnacle Airlines Corp. - History

History

In February 1985, Pinnacle was established as Express Airlines I, offering regional airline passenger service into a major code sharing airline’s hub. Express I began its first code sharing agreement with Republic Airlines in May 1985. Republic was the dominant carrier in Memphis but, in keeping with the hub-and-spoke concept, wanted to add more smaller cities and free up its larger DC-9 jets to serve longer stage-length routes. Express I was able to accomplish this by beginning service on June 1, 1985, to 3 cities using BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft. Within six months, Express Airlines I was operating in ten markets using nine Jetstream 31s and two Saab 340 aircraft.

On December 15, 1985, a second contract opened operations at a Republic Airlines home base at Minneapolis-St. Paul. By its first anniversary, Republic Express was operating 20 Jetstream 31s and seven Saab 340s in 32 markets. In Spring 1986, Northwest Airlines announced the acquisition of Republic, which was completed on October 1, 1986, following regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Over the next decade, Express I provided airline services to 56 cities in the Southeast and upper Mid-West. In 1997, Northwest Airlines elected to make changes in the structure of Express I, which was a privately held company. On April 1, 1997, Express I became a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest Airlines. In order to consolidate the many Airlink systems operated at that time, Express I transferred flying at Minneapolis-St. Paul, allowing it to concentrate on the Memphis Hub.

In August 1997, Express I moved its corporate headquarters to Memphis, allowing all the various departments to function from its main base of operations. On May 7, 1999, Express I announced a major transition into the jet age as its parent company announced that Express would be the launch operator of the Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) at Northwest.

Express I further expanded by the development of three additional Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) facilities related to CRJ operations. The primary CRJ MRO is located in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is capable of handling up to four aircraft under cover. Other two CRJ maintenance sites are located Indiana at South Bend and Fort Wayne.

Express Airlines I changed its name to Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., on May 8, 2002. In November 2003, Pinnacle Airlines became a publicly traded company, using the ticker symbol PNCL on the NASDAQ. Pinnacle has been contracted to fly 124 CRJ's on behalf of Northwest Airlines. On July 18, 2004, the first CRJ was christened the "Spirit of Memphis Belle" in honor of the WWII bomber that was paid for with funds raised by the African-American community in Memphis. The 100th CRJ, aircraft N8944B, was christened "Spirit of Beale Street" in honor Pinnacle's home town entertainment district, which was later reassigned to Mesaba Airlines. Just recently, Pinnacle re-christened a freshly painted CRJ in the Delta Connection livery, aircraft N8560F, as the new "Spirit of Beale Street."

On January 18, 2007, Pinnacle announced the acquisition of Colgan Air, which continued to operate independently. The acquisition of Colgan Air was a $20 million strategic move in order to gain access to Colgan’s partners, Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.

On January 4, 2008, Pinnacle took the last step in becoming independent again with the purchase of its Class A Preferred stock from Northwest Airlines. Pinnacle bought and operated Mesaba Airlines.

On January 4, 2012 Mesaba Airlines ceased operations when the operating certificate was returned to the FAA and all turbojet aircraft and personnel became part of the Pinnacle Airlines operating certificate, while all turboprop aircraft and personnel became part of the Colgan Air certificate.

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