This article is about the US airline. See for the South African operator.
is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Delta Air Lines based in
Erlanger, Kentucky ,
USA , a city near the
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport , which serves
Cincinnati, Ohio . Comair is one of the world's largest regional airlines, operating under the name
Delta Connection to a large number of destinations in the USA,
Canada and the
Bahamas .
It also operates some flights from
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in
Atlanta, Georgia . Comair once operated a hub at
Orlando International Airport in
Orlando, Florida , but
Chautauqua Airlines has taken the reins of the dominant RJ airline in Orlando instead, although Delta's marketing solution is continually fluid. Recent Comair base announcements include, once again Orlando, Greensboro, and New York (JFK).
The airline was established in March
1977 and started operations in
1978 . It was founded by David Mueller and his father Raymond in Cincinnati and began scheduled services with three Piper Navajo aircraft. Under its parent Comair Holdings, it became a public company in July
1981 to support the growth and capital requirements to upgrade their fleet. It became a Delta Connection carrier in
1984 . In July
1986 Delta Air Lines acquired 20% of Comair stock, and acquired full ownership on
22 October 1999 .
On
March 26 ,
2001 , Comair's pilots went on strike. The strike cancelled the airlines flights and grounded its fleet. The strike ended after a settlement was reached three months later.
Comair came to nationwide attention in the United States during Christmas
2004 when it cancelled all of its 1,160 flights for Saturday
December 25 and Sunday
December 26 , stranding 30,000 people, many of them never reaching their destination for the holidays. The reason for this was the computer system that handled flight crew assignments had a hard coded limit of changes for a month. This was reached during
December 2004 due to weather in the Cincinnati area.
On
September 14 ,
2005 , Comair along with its parent Delta, filed for
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy .
On
October 13 ,
2005 , Comair announced that would cut costs by $70 million dollars annually. These savings are to be achieved by aircraft, flight, and employee reductions.
Comair operates to the following destinations (as of January 2005):
- Domestic scheduled destinations: Akron / Canton , Albany , Allentown / Bethlehem / Easton , Appleton , Atlanta , Atlantic City , Austin , Baltimore , Bangor , Binghamton , Birmingham , Boston , Buffalo , Burlington , Cedar Rapids , Champaign , Charleston, South Carolina , Charleston, West Virginia , Charlotte , Charlottesville , Chattanooga , Chicago , Cincinnati , Cleveland , Colorado Springs , Columbia , Columbus , Dayton , Daytona Beach , Denver , Des Moines , Detroit , Erie , Evansville , Fayetteville , Flint , Fort Lauderdale , Fort Myers , Fort Wayne , Grand Rapids , Green Bay , Greensboro / High Point , Greenville , Harrisburg , Houston , Huntington, Huntsville , Indianapolis , Jackson , Jacksonville , Kalamazoo , Kansas City , Knoxville , Lansing , Lexington , Little Rock , Louisville , Madison , Manchester , Melbourne , Memphis , Miami , Milwaukee , Minneapolis / St Paul , Moline , Myrtle Beach , Nashville , New York , Newburgh , Newport News , Norfolk , Oklahoma City , Omaha , Orlando , Panama City , Pensacola , Philadelphia , Pittsburgh , Portland , Providence , Raleigh / Durham , Richmond , Roanoke , Rochester , San Antonio , Sarasota / Bradenton , Savannah , Shreveport , Sioux Falls , South Bend , Springfield , St Louis , State College , Syracuse , Tallahassee , Tampa , Toledo , Tri-Cities Regional, Tulsa , Washington , West Palm Beach , Westchester County , Wichita , Wilkes-Barre and Wilmington .
- International scheduled destinations: Fredericton , Halifax , Montreal , Nassau and Toronto .
The following aircraft are operated by Comair as of
September 30 ,
2005 .
On
January 9 ,
1997 ,
Comair Flight 3272 operated by an
Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft, crashed while on approach to Detroit. There were 29 fatalities.
