History
Representing a new breed of commuter carrier, Express Airlines never intended to carry passengers under its own name. Instead, it represented a new “airline-in-a-box” concept to start up a code-sharing commuter operation to feed a major airline partner hub. Express Airlines was a subsidiary of Phoenix Airline Services, founded by Michael Brady in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brady started his career with Eastern Airlines in 1972, and a decade later became the President/CEO of the rapidly expanding Southeastern Commuter Airlines.
After Southeastern was acquired by growing competitor Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA, allied with Delta), Brady went to work for Metroflight Airlines in Texas where he was responsible for organizational development of a new subsidiary, Eastern Metro Express. From November 1983 to January 1985, Brady served as President/CEO of Eastern Metro Express, hubbed at Atlanta and Houston, which proved to be an early and successful pioneer in the 1980s code-sharing revolution and where he gained industry contacts and negotiating skills.
Leveraging his organizational acumen, Brady’s concept was to set up a parent airline corporation to handle maintenance, training, finance, accounting, and other administrative support functions. From the parent, wholly owned subsidiary airlines could then be established in a modular fashion, on a short timeframe, to feed a major airline partner. The resulting parent corporation was Phoenix Airline Services. As it was not affiliated with any particular airline, Phoenix Airline Services would have the freedom to pursue agreements with any number of larger carriers.
In early 1985, Republic Airlines decided to introduce a “Republic Express” branded commuter product to replace mainline flights at smaller cities that fed its growing hub in Memphis TN. Instead of partnering with an existing carrier at Memphis, as Republic had recently done with Simmons Airlines at Detroit, it signed a ten-year agreement with Phoenix Airline Services to create a new feeder from scratch. To operate the Republic Express flights, Phoenix Airline Services set up its first subsidiary, Express Airlines I. The efficiency of the concept was proven when Republic Express initiated service from Memphis on June 1, 1985, just four months later. Initial flights were flown with 19-seat Jetstream 31 aircraft, with larger 30-seat Saab 340s coming online in July.
With the Memphis operation up and running, Republic awarded a second agreement to Express Airlines I to establish a Republic Express operation at MSP. Express Airlines I initiated Republic Express service at MSP on December 15, 1985, using Jetstreams to replace mainline Convair 580 flights on routes to Aberdeen and Watertown, South Dakota.
The service grew rapidly, and by June 1986 Express I was operating Republic Express flights to 15 destinations in Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Six of these routes (Aberdeen SD, Bemidji, Brainerd, Hibbing, and Rochester MN, and Cedar Rapids IA) were flown in head-to-head competition with Mesaba/Northwest Airlink.
On October 1, 1986, the flight operations of NWA and Republic were merged into a combined Northwest. This meant Express I and Mesaba were now on the same team. Northwest network planners set out to rationalize the Airlink system and assigned one carrier to each feed market. Express I was the selected Airlink carrier for two markets previously served by both carriers – Hibbing MN and Cedar Rapids IA. Express I also picked up Duluth MN from Mesaba, and began new service to Eau Claire, Green Bay, and Oshkosh WI, and Rockford IL. Mesaba was assigned for several previous Express I routes – Watertown SD, and Bemidji, Brainerd, and Rochester MN.
Although the tails of the Express I aircraft were quickly painted red and given Northwest Airlink titles, many retained the grey stripes of their former Republic Express paint scheme for several years to come. Further, Express I flights at MSP continued to use the former RC ground-level boarding Gate 79 at the end of the Green Concourse, compared to Mesaba who was located at the end of the Gold Concourse.
Tragedy struck on December 1, 1993 when Flight 5719, a Jetstream 31 that had departed MSP, collided with terrain when approaching to land at Hibbing during poor nighttime weather. Both crew and all 16 passengers onboard were fatally injured in the crash. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the probable cause was a breakdown in coordination and the loss of altitude awareness by the flight crew. The aircraft was not equipped with a ground proximity warning system, which at the time was mandatory for larger aircraft.
In March 1997, Northwest Airlines purchased Express I from Michael Brady’s Phoenix Airline Services. Northwest installed Phil Trenary, former CEO of Lone Star Airlines, as the new CEO and President of Express I.
To consolidate the MSP Airlink operation, Saab 340 flying was transferred to Mesaba Airlines in August 1997. Some Express I Jetstream 31s lingered at MSP a bit longer, flying routes until January 1998 under a wet-lease agreement with Mesaba. For the next few years, Express I focused exclusively on building the Memphis Northwest Airlink operation. The exception to this was a short-lived intra-state shuttle route between Rapid City and Sioux Falls, South Dakota that Express I flew with Jetstreams in 1998.
The Regional Jet Age Begins
In May 1999, Northwest announced that it would place new 50-seat Bombardier CRJ aircraft with Express I, instead of Mesaba. The first Express I/Northwest JetLink CRJ flight operated from Memphis in June 2000. In July, Express I returned to MSP with a new CRJ route to Tulsa OK, along with Saab 340 replacement flights in several other markets. Express I’s employment doubled to 1,300 by mid-2001 and a Detroit base was opened, with 17 CRJs and 26 Saabs in the fleet.
Following the September 11 attacks, however, 650 staff were let go and the Saabs divested to Mesaba, leaving Express I an all-jet operation.
Further reorganization came in early 2002. In January, a new holding company for the airline, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation, was established. Shortly thereafter, Express I was formally renamed Pinnacle Airlines. In March, a new service agreement was inked with Northwest to increase Pinnacle’s CRJ fleet to 95 aircraft by the end of 2004 (later increased to 139). Northwest divested its majority interest and in November 2003 Pinnacle became a publicly-traded company.
According to Commuter/Regional Airline News, about 200 advertising agencies around the world were asked to help select the name from a list of 200 suggestions developed by a public relations firm. “We were changing everything–our culture, our fleet, the look of the airline, everything–so we went looking for a new name,” explained a company spokesperson. During the year, Professional Pilot magazine commended Pinnacle on its management/employee relations.
An initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ followed in November 2003. Northwest retained an 11 percent shareholding and two board seats. Proceeds from the IPO, which raised $271.6 million, went to the Northwest Airlines Pension Plans, which had been transferred the stock earlier.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., the publicly traded parent company, had revenues of $457.8 million for 2003, with net income of $35.1 million. Its major limitation at the time was contractual stipulations preventing it from operating larger, 70-seat regional jets, which made up the segment of the market considered by analysts to offer the most potential for growth, according to Air Transport World.
Pinnacle celebrated the arrival of its 100th regional jet in July 2004, naming it the Spirit of Beale Street in honor of a World War II B-24 bomber whose purchase was funded by the Memphis African-American community.
Pinnacle’s headquarters was expanded in 2004. To help meet its onboard staffing needs while maintaining flexibility, Pinnacle began hiring large numbers of part-time flight attendants. It also was using more part-timers as ramp workers. Pinnacle was hiring hundreds of pilots, but two new flight crew members were lost when they crashed on a positioning flight on October 14, 2004.
After filing for bankruptcy protection in September 2005, Northwest removed 15 aircraft from Pinnacle’s fleet. In 2006, Pinnacle entered into a new service agreement with NWA allowing it to operate larger aircraft up to 76 seats, and removed restrictions about entering into flying agreements with other airlines.
Pinnacle promptly responded to its newfound freedom. In January 2007, it purchased Colgan Airlines. As a wholly-owned subsidiary, Colgan operated turboprops in code-sharing agreements with Continental, United, and US Airways. Then, in April, Pinnacle Airlines announced it would begin flying 76-seat CRJ-900 aircraft for Delta Airlines starting in December 2007.
The Delta Connection
Delta and Northwest merged in October 2008, bringing all Pinnacle Airlines flying under the Delta Connection brand.
Pinnacle purchased Mesaba Airlines, its longtime Northwest Airlink and Delta Connection competitor, from Delta in June 2010. (See REFLECTIONS March, June, and September 2024 issues for how Mesaba’s evolution led to this junction.) Mesaba’s CRJ jet operation was to be consolidated with Pinnacle, while Mesaba was to take over remaining turboprop flying from the Colgan subsidiary, which had been badly tarnished by the high-profile crash of one of its Continental Connection flights at Buffalo NY in February 2009. Although Delta had terminated turboprop flying in November 2011, agreements were still in place with United and US Airways. After acquisition, Pinnacle merged all three subsidiary airlines into one. All pilots flying for Mesaba and Colgan eventually became pilots for Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.
However, several factors – including challenges with integrating the Mesaba operation and poor financial performance of its turboprop agreements – led Pinnacle to file for bankruptcy protection in April 2012. Through bankruptcy, Pinnacle was able to end its turboprop flying agreements and shutter both Colgan and Mesaba. After reorganizing, Pinnacle emerged from bankruptcy in May 2013 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Airlines. To signify a fresh start, the company changed its name to Endeavor Airlines, installed a new management team, and moved its headquarters operation from Memphis to MSP.
One of the few regional airlines serving MSP in the 1980s to survive into the present day, Endeavor currently flies exclusively as a Delta Connection carrier serving 126 destinations. Still flying under the original Express I “9E” operating certificate, it has a fleet of 130 aircraft and is the world’s largest operator of the CRJ-900 type. Although, in the mid-2020s, Endeavor continues to serve some short-haul routes from MSP to original Express I destinations including Rochester, MN and Cedar Rapids, IA, it also operates longer flights from MSP to destinations including New York-JFK and Memphis.
Route Maps
Timetables
The Express I / Pinnacle schedules were never independently published, but rather integrated into the Republic and Northwest issues.
Aircraft
The pairing of the British Aerospace Jetstream 31 and Saab 340 was the versatile core of the Express I operation, well into the late 1990s, and the durable & efficient Saabs would continue to grow in importance after the Mesaba and Colgan acquisitions, flying them all the way into the merged Delta era.
But the introduction of the Canadair / Bombardier Regional Jet cemented the company’s survival into the 2020s. The Pinnacle fleet at December 2009 included 126 CRJ-200 and 16 CRJ-900. Endeavor would continue with the CRJ series, and over the 2010s would phase out the smaller 50-seat craft but add 18 CRJ-700 (later also drawn down) and build the world’s largest fleet of CRJ-900: 121 strong by 2023.
Financial / Annual Reports
Employee Newsletters and Training Materials
We are seeking donations (whether physical or digital) of any and all company newsletter, training, and presentation materials.
Marketing Materials
While Republic and Northwest supplied most of the ephemera used by the carrier, there were some independently produced pieces that have found their way into our collection that we’ll reproduce and post here. And if you have any unique promotional items, we’d love to feature them!
Media
We are also seeking any video or audio recordings, or presentation slide decks, that would help us better tell the stories of the Express I / Pinnacle era.
If you do have materials to contribute, please send an email with as much detail and photos if possible to bruce.kitt @ northwestairlineshistory . org
