ExpressJet Airlines

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ExpressJet Airlines

IATA XE ICAO BTA Callsign JET LINK
Founded	1986
Hubs	Cleveland Hopkins International Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport Newark Liberty International Airport
Frequent flyer program	OnePass
Fleet size	249
Destinations	151
Company slogan	A New Way to Move People.
Parent company	ExpressJet Holdings, Inc.
Headquarters	Houston, Texas
Key people	CEO - Jim Ream
Website	http://www.expressjet.com/

ExpressJet Embraer ERJ 145XR with winglets parked at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The largest operator of ERJs is ExpressJet, under the colors of Continental Express.

Former logo for ExpressJet

ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: XJT) is an American regional airline based in the Greenspoint area of Houston, Texas.

Although an autonomous business entity since its divestiture from Continental Airlines, Inc., it continues to operate as Continental Express for Continental Airlines from hubs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey and Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio.^[1] Its training center is on the grounds of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.^[2]

ExpressJet operated its own point-to-point service with its main hub at LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California. This service ended on September 2, 2008.

In April 2008, SkyWest, Inc. proposed an acquisition of ExpressJet at a price of $3.50/share. ExpressJet Holdings Inc. said its special committee unanimously rejected the proposal. SkyWest rescinded the offer in early June after ExpressJet Holdings and Continental signed a new 7-year Capacity Purchase Agreement.

History

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The airline was established in 1986 and started operations in 1987. Its origins were in a group of small commuter airlines acquired by Continental Airlines. These included Bar Harbor Airlines in Maine, Provincetown-Boston Airlines in New England, Rocky Mountain Air in Denver, Colorado and Britt Airways in Terre Haute, Indiana. Express Jet operates under the original Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificate issued to Britt, which began operations as Continental Express in April 1987 and was later acquired by Continental Airlines.^{[citation needed]} ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. incorporated in 1996.^[3]

ExpressJet was spun off from Continental in 2002. Afterwards the company began plans to move into a corporate headquarters location.^[4] ExpressJet has over 8,000 employees. ExpressJet Holdings also owns American Composites LLC, Saltillo Jet Center, and InTech Aerospace Services. Together with other facilities throughout the U.S. they make up ExpressJet Services which provides third-party maintenance, repair and overhaul services for a variety of aircraft types. ExpressJet Holdings also has non-controlling interests in Wings Holdings LLC 49% and Flight Services and Systems Inc 44%.^{[citation needed]}

Before ExpressJet became independent, it was headquartered in Continental Center I in Downtown Houston.^[5][6][7]

Following a December 2005 decision by Continental to reduce ExpressJet's Continental Express flying by 69 aircraft, the airline elected to operate the aircraft independently. On December 31, 2006, the airline began its charter operation. It currently operates 6 aircraft for charter services under the Corporate Aviation Division. On February 5, 2007, the airline announced service to 24 cities in the west coast, southwest, and midwest regions of the United States beginning in April 2007.^[8]

On April 2, 2007, the airline began point-to-point services under its own name from locations throughout the USA. The airline had a total of 42 aircraft in their branded operation. According to ExpressJet CEO James Ream, LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California (alternate airport to nearby Los Angeles International Airport) would become the airline's "biggest center of operation".^[9]

Continental Center I, Continental Airlines's headquarters in Downtown Houston, formerly housed ExpressJet's headquarters

JetBlue Airways announced on March 7, 2007 that ExpressJet would operate four of its Embraer 145 jets on JetBlue routes while JetBlue's Embraer 190 jets are being serviced.^[10]

In June 2007, the airline began service at Los Angeles International Airport to western ski markets and Mexico on behalf of Delta Air Lines under the Delta Connection banner using 10 EMB 145XR aircraft.^[11] In July 2007, the agreement was increased to 18 aircraft. In July 2008, the airlines announced that their agreement had been terminated and ExpressJet would end all Delta Connection flying by September 1.^[12]

In September 2007, the airline agreed to provide feeder service for Frontier Airlines from Denver International Airport while federal certification for Frontier's Lynx Aviation turboprop subsidiary is underway. ExpressJet flew to 5 cities from Frontier's Denver hub using 50-seat ERJ 145 regional jets until Frontier's subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, received DOT approval in December 2007. As of December 7, ExpressJet has discontinued providing feeder service for Frontier Airlines. ^[13]

A few days after announcing the end of its agreement with Delta, ExpressJet announced on July 8, 2008, that it would also end its independent ExpressJet-branded flying on September 2 due to the oil price increases since 2003.^[14]

ExpressJet began a temporary contract with United Airlines to fly as a United Express carrier beginning June 2009. The contract is for approximately 10 aircraft that operate out of United's O'Hare and Washington (Dulles) hub. The aircraft are flown in ExpressJet livery. The contract ended on September 2, 2009.

ExpressJet has signed a multiple year contract with United Airlines for 22 ERJ-145 aircraft. The aircraft will be flown, for the first time, in full United Express colors. Additionally, 10 more ERJ-145s; in ExpressJet colors, will operate for United during the peak Summer travel season in 2010. First flights will start December 1, 2009 with full implementation by Spring 2010.

The airline was criticized by the news media after an incident where passengers were forced to stay on a parked plane at Rochester, Minnesota, on August 21, 2009, for six hours with no food and overflowing toilets. The airline crew tried over thirty times to call the contract carrier, Delta Connection, (whom services the Rochester airport) to let the passengers off. The agents for the regional Mesaba Airlines refused. The Department of Transportation announced its findings in September 2009, citing the main cause of the incident as the Mesaba Airline station's refusal to park the aircraft. ^[15]

Destinations

Embraer ERJ 145 operated by ExpressJet d. b. a. Continental Express

ExpressJet Airlines, as an independent carrier, flew to 20 destinations throughout the United States until the airline suspended independent flying on September 2, 2008.

Discontinued routes

Effective September 1, 2008

• ExpressJet Airlines ended all service as Delta Connection; XJet closed its Delta Connection hub at Los Angeles International Airport.

Effective September 2, 2008

• ExpressJet Airlines ended all remaining service on its branded operations, suspending the airline's run as an independent carrier.

Fleet

As of October 2009, the ExpressJet Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[16]

Corporate headquarters

ExpressJet headquarters in Greenspoint, Houston

ExpressJet has its headquarters in the North Belt Office Center IV, an building in the Greens Crossing office park, a 484-acre mixed-use office park; the office park is in the Greenspoint area of Houston.^[3][17][18] ExpressJet is one of three tenants that leases space in the two-building, 107,200 square foot North Belt Office Center complex, which includes buildings III and IV. FORT Properties manages both buildings. ExpressJet uses the location due to the proximity to George Bush Intercontinental Airport and to Continental Center I, the Continental Airlines headquarters in Downtown Houston.^[3] ExpressJet had relocated its headquarters to its current location by 2006.^[19]

External links

• ExpressJet Holdings
• ExpressJet Airlines (Archive)
• ExpressJet Charter
• ExpressJet Airlines Fleet Age
• ExpressJet Airlines Fleet Detail

References