Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Pinnacle Airlines

 
Hoover's Profile: Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
 
(NASDAQ (GM):PNCL)
Company Financials
Income Statement
Balance Sheet
Cash Flow Statement

Contact Information
Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
1689 Nonconnah Blvd., Ste. 111
Memphis, TN 38132
TN Tel. 901-348-4100
Toll Free 800-603-4594
Fax 901-348-4130

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.pncl.com
Employees: 5,644
Employee growth: 6.2%

In an up-and-down industry, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (PNCL) hopes to maintain peak performance. The holding company's main subsidiary, regional carrier Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., flies to about 115 cities in more than 35 states and in Canada, mainly on behalf of Delta Air Lines (which bought PNCL's former parent Northwest Airlines). The regional carrier operates a fleet of about 140 Canadair regional jets, which are made by Bombardier. PNCL's other operating unit, regional carrier Colgan Air, serves more than 35 cities in about 10 states under contracts with US Airways, Continental Airlines, and UAL's United Airlines. Colgan Air operates a fleet of about 50 turboprop aircraft, mostly Saab 340s.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2008:
Sales: $864.8M
One year growth: 9.8%
Net income: ($4.9)M

Officers:
Chairman: Donald J. Breeding
President, CEO, and Director: Philip H. Trenary
VP and COO: Douglas W. Shockey

Competitors:
Mesa Air
Republic Airways
SkyWest

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a word or phrase...
All Community Q&A Reference topics
 
Stock Chart: Pinnacle Airlines
Top
 
Company News: Pinnacle Airlines
Top
 
Company History: Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
Top

Incorporated: 1985 as Express Airlines I, Inc.
NAIC: 481111 Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. is the holding company for Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., a regional airline based in Memphis. As Northwest Airlink, Pinnacle operates feeder routes on behalf of Northwest Airlines Corporation. Pinnacle operates a fleet of more than 130 regional jets to more than 100 destinations, with secondary hubs in Detroit and Minneapolis-St.Paul. More than six million people flew the airline in 2004; it has been ranked as the world's fastest-growing airline as well as the eighth largest regional carrier.

Pinnacle Airlines was incorporated in Georgia in early 1985 as Express Airlines I, Inc. The Roman numeral "I" in the company's name indicated plans to build a family of regional feeders under parent company Phoenix Airline Services, Inc. It was led by Atlanta entrepreneur Michael J. Brady, who had formerly been head of Eastern Metro Express, a feeder for Eastern Airlines, and had formed another regional airline, Southeastern Airlines (later part of Atlantic Southeast Airlines). He also helped launch a local fighter aircraft adventure business called Sky Warriors.

Express I soon landed a contract to supply feeder traffic to Republic Airlines and by June 1 was flying as Republic Express. The company's original fleet consisted of three 19-seat British Aerospace Jetstream 3100s, which connected Memphis with three destinations: Columbus and Greenville, Mississippi, and Monroe, Louisiana. By December 1985, it had a dozen turboprops, including two 33-seat Saab 340s, flying to ten cities. It also started flying out of Minneapolis-St. Paul during the month.

The fleet more than doubled to 27 planes by June 1986. Republic Airlines was acquired by Northwest Airlines in October 1986, and Republic Express, also called Express Airlines I, Inc. (Express I for short), began operating as an NWAirlink carrier.

Express I's fleet shifted entirely to the Saab 340s in the 1990s, and grew to 32 aircraft. The route network expanded to include 56 southeastern and midwestern destinations. The airline suffered its first disaster when one of its turboprops crashed on December 1, 1993, killing 18 people.

Like other airlines, Express I was forced to undergo extensive cost-cutting in the early 1990s recession. It was profitable, however, by the mid-1990s. Revenues were about $150 million in 1995, when more than 1.5 million passengers were carried. It was (with Business Express) one of the top two privately owned regional airlines in the United States.

A second company, Express II, was created from the operations at the Minneapolis hub, but it soon was recombined with Express I. Parent company Phoenix Air Services also was providing back-office support to an affiliated company, Chicago Express.

There were a couple of major developments in the Northwest/Express I relationship in 1994. In March of that year, Northwest switched to a very successful new system of connecting flights at Memphis. In October, Express I entered a novel new contract wherein it merely sold all of its seats to NWA for a fixed price, freeing it from fare wars and marketing considerations. NWA handled all booking and scheduling. Express I was leasing all of its aircraft from Northwest.

Northwest bought Express I from founder and CEO Michael J. Brady and CFO Glenn Schabb in April 1997. The price was later reported to be $33 million.

Phil Trenary, founder of Lone Star Airlines, was named its new CEO and president. The Minneapolis-St. Paul operation was transferred to sister Airlink carrier Mesaba Airlines, while the corporate headquarters were relocated from Atlanta to the Memphis base of operations in August 1997.

Trenary was given the task of immediately improving Express I's customer service, operational reliability, and costs. This was accomplished with the help of key executives brought in from Lone Star and Northwest, and an emphasis on staff training and motivation. A new program called ITMAD--Input That Makes a Difference--encouraged employees to contribute ideas.

Express I had about 1,200 employees in 1999 and was flying more than one million passengers a year. Its network connected three dozen destinations in 11 states.

Northwest was a little late in transitioning its feeders in the industrywide shift from turboprops to small jets. Express I acquired its first 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) in April 2000; this plane was dubbed "The Spirit of the Memphis Belle" after the storied World War II bomber. A month earlier, the airline had joined FlightSafety International in opening a $23 million Flight Learning Center in Memphis to meet its increased training requirements. (NWA's other Airlink partner, Mesaba, would not get regional jets until 2005.)

Business really took off after the addition of the CRJs, as Northwest increased its flights at Memphis-Shelby County Airport by 25 percent and started a major expansion program of its facilities there. Express I's payroll doubled to 1,300 employees within a year, and it opened a second hub in Detroit as Northwest Airlines reorganized its regional feeders along market-based rather than strictly geographical lines. By this time, Express I was operating 17 CRJs and 26 Saab 340s to 56 destinations. About 650 employees, however, were laid off following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The Saabs were divested by November 2001, giving Express I an all-jet fleet.

Express I was renamed Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. on May 8, 2002. A holding company, Pinnacle Airlines Corp., had been formed in January 2002. 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 sugges- tions 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 seemed to be 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.

Earnings were up 16 percent to $40.7 million on revenues of $635.5 million in 2004. The company ended the year with about 1,100 pilots. It was the fastest-growing of about five dozen regional airlines in the United States.

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.

An expansion of Pinnacle's headquarters was underway. 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.

At the time of the company's 20th anniversary in 2005, Pinnacle was ranked by Airline Business News as the world's fastest-growing airline and the eighth largest regional. It had 3,400 employees and was operating 134 jets to about 100 destinations.

Within some limits, Pinnacle was free to pursue business from other carriers. Northwest's guarantee of a minimum operating margin for Pinnacle was set to expire in 2008, and its contract would be up for renewal several years after that.

Principal Subsidiaries

Pinnacle Airlines, Inc.

Principal Competitors

American Eagle Airlines, Inc.; Comair, Inc.; ExpressJet Airlines, Inc.; MAIR Holdings Inc.

Further Reading

"Analyst Urges a Pinnacle Buy After Detailed Study," Commuter Regional Airline News, March 15, 2004.

Arnoult, Sandra, "In Memphis, But Not Blue," Air Transport World, February 2001, pp. 82+.

------, "Pinnacle of Success: Pinnacle Airlines Has Achieved Remarkable Things Over the Past Few Years, But the Future Brings New Challenges," Air Transport World, August 2004, pp. 67+.

Black, Bob, "Pinnacle Airlines: Regional Feeder Soaring to New Heights," Airline Pilot Careers, April 2005, pp. 16-20, 23-25.

Dunlap, Stanley, "Memphis-Based Pinnacle Airlines Has Reason to Celebrate," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), June 11, 2005.

"Express Airlines I Improves Performance Through New Technology," Commuter Regional Airline News, July 23, 2001.

"Express I's Trenary Named Regional Airline Executive of the Year," Commuter Regional Airline News, May 8, 2000.

Fedor, Liz, "NWA Jets Promised to Pinnacle, Not Mesabe; Pilot Labor Costs a Question Mark," Star Tribune (Minneapolis), September 16, 2003, p. 1D.

------, "Pinnacle IPO Boosts Pension Funds; NWA to Contribute More Cash As Well," Star Tribune (Minneapolis), November 26, 2003, p. 2D.

"How They Did It: Express Airlines I Takes on Customer Service, Morale," Commuter Regional Airline News, February 16, 1998, p. 4.

Iverson, Doug, "Northwest Airline Operator Averts Pilot Strike," Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, March 5, 1996.

Maki, Amos, "Pinnacle Airlines Overcomes Bad Reputation to Win Over Industry," Memphis Business Journal, September 27, 1994.

Moorman, Robert W., "Memphis Belle," Air Transport World, August 1999, pp. 46+.

Morton, Kate Miller, "Memphis, Tenn.-Based Pinnacle Airlines to Expand Corporate Headquarters," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), June 9, 2004.

Moylan, Martin J., "Pinnacle Airlines' Pilots Pin Hopes on Raise from Northwest Regional Carrier," Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, January 25, 2005.

"One-on-One with Express Airline I's Phil Trenary," Commuter Regional Airline News, February 2, 1998, pp. 6+.

"One-on-One with Express I's Michael Brady," Commuter Regional Airline News, January 9, 1995, pp. S1+.

Paulk, Michael, "I Have Never Been Bored in the Job. Never," Memphis Business Journal, August 25, 2000, p. 13.

"Pinnacle Airlines Seeks Independence from Northwest," Commuter Regional Airline News, November 17, 2003.

"Pinnacle Fleet to Grow with Independence; Airline Positions Itself for Successful IPO," Commuter Regional Airline News, November 11, 2002.

"Pinnacle's SEC Filing Outlines Potential Risks and Benefits," Commuter Regional Airline News, March 4, 2002.

Richfield, Paul, "Red-Tail CRJs Debut in Memphis," Business & Commercial Aviation, July 2000, p. 40.

Roberts, Jane, "Memphis, Tenn.-Based Pinnacle Airlines Trains New Flight Attendants," Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, August 5, 2004.

------, "Memphis, Tenn.-Based Regional Airline's Stock Offering Fails to Fly High," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), November 26, 2003.

------, "Pinnacle Airlines Celebration in Memphis, Tenn., Features Tuskegee Airman," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), July 9, 2004.

------, "Pinnacle Airlines Slashes Hours, Benefits of Some Full-Time Ramp Workers," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), August 2, 2003.

------, "Pinnacle Airlines Welcomes Newest Jet to Its Fast-Growing Regional Fleet," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), July 8, 2004.

------, "Regional Airline to Cut 140 Jobs at Memphis, Tenn., Airport," Commercial Appeal (Memphis), September 26, 2003.

Thurston, Scott, "Northwest in Talks to Buy Atlanta-Based Commuter Affiliate," Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, March 15, 1997.

Wilson, Benet J., and Karen Huffer, "One-on-One with Express Airline's Mike Brady," Commuter Regional Airline News, March 10, 1997, pp. 4+.

------, "Out with the Old, In with the New: Trenary Takes Over at Express," Commuter Regional Airline News, April 7, 1997, p. 8.

— Frederick C. Ingram


 
Wikipedia: Pinnacle Airlines
Top
Pinnacle Airlines
IATA
9E
ICAO
FLG
Callsign
FLAGSHIP
Founded 1985 (as Express Airlines I)
Hubs As Northwest Airlink
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Memphis International Airport
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
As Delta Connection
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International
Focus cities Indianapolis International Airport
Frequent flyer program WorldPerks
SkyMiles
Member lounge WorldClubs
Alliance SkyTeam
Fleet size 137
Destinations
Parent company Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
Headquarters Memphis, Tennessee
Key people Philip H. Trenary (President and CEO)
Website: http://www.flypinnacle.com

Pinnacle Airlines (formerly Express Airlines I) is an American regional airline based in Memphis, Tennessee,[1] operating Northwest Airlink for Northwest Airlines and Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. Its main base is Memphis International Airport, with hubs at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.[2]

Contents

History

The airline was established in February 1985 as Express Airlines I with the intent of offering regional airline passenger feed to a code sharing, major airline’s hub.[3] Express I began its first code sharing agreement with Republic Airlines in May 1985.[4] 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 with 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 its intent to acquire Republic Airlines. Following regulatory approval and ratification by the shareholders of the respective companies, Republic was absorbed into Northwest effective October 1, 1986.

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, until then, had been privately held. Effective from 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. This award was for a minimum of 42 CRJs designated to operate as Northwest Jet Airlink. Delivery of the CRJs began in April 2000 and the first Northwest CRJ lifted into the sky on June 1, 2000 bound for Greenville – Spartanburg, SC.

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

Express Airlines I changed its name to Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. on May 8, 2002. Pinnacle's call sign is "Flagship", due to an Arkansas charter company that has already claimed the call sign "Pinnacle". The flagship radio call sign was used from almost the beginning of the airline in 1985. For a couple of weeks the carrier used jetstream and the tail number. The use of "flagship" came because several of the original people, in particular the VP of Flight Operations and Director of Training, came from the then defunct Dolphin Airlines in Florida, which had used the call sign prior to their demise. In November, 2003, Pinnacle Airlines became a publicly traded company, using the symbol PNCL on the NASDAQ. Pinnacle has been contracted to fly 124 CRJ's on behalf of Northwest Airlines. On July 18, 2004, the 1st CRJ was christened the 'Spirit of Memphis Belle,' in honor of a WWII bomber that was paid for with funds raised by the African-American community in Memphis. The 100th CRJ was christened "Spirit of Beale Street" to honor Pinnacle's home town.

On January 18, 2007, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced the acquisition of Colgan Air, which will continue to operate independently.[5] The acquisition of Colgan Air is a $20 million strategic move to get access to Colgan’s partners, Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways[6].

The airline has 3,436 employees (at March 2007).[2]

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.[7]

Pinnacle Airlines is currently in the process of painting all of its CRJ-200 fleet from Northwest Airlink to Delta Connection. 2 aircraft are being painted per 8-10 days and the project should take about 16 months.

Future

Northwest agreed with Pinnacle on a new Air Service Agreement on December 21, 2006. The details of this ASA include a contract to have Pinnacle fly 124 CRJ's until 2017. Northwest has also put a clause in the contract allowing the CRJ-200 aircraft to be converted to 76 seat aircraft.

Part of the new ASA included a clause that if Pinnacle management and ALPA do not agree on a new pilot contract by March 31, 2007, then Northwest can remove up to 17 CRJs from Pinnacle's fleet. Since this deadline passed with no new pilot contract, Northwest is exercising their right to remove 17 CRJs from Pinnacle, starting in September at a rate of two CRJs per month. These 17 CRJs were removed from Pinnacle and handed over to Mesaba Airlines in 2008.

Northwest has also allowed Pinnacle to seek flying from other carriers and this began in January 2008 when Pinnacle's new subsidiary Colgan Air started flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport under the "Continental Connection" banner. Colgan already flies as Continental Connection out of Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport using 34-passenger Saab 340 turboprops and flies to cities in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Under this new agreement, Colgan will operate 74-passenger Bombardier Q400 turboprops from Newark. Continental will announce destinations at a later date. One confirmed destination will be Pearson Airport in Toronto, Canada. This is to compete with Canadian carrier Porter Airlines who plans to serve Newark from Toronto City Centre Airport. Both carriers will be using the same aircraft, a Bombardier Q-400.

On April 30, 2007, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. signed a 10 year contract with Delta Air Lines to be a Delta Connection carrier. The 16 Bombardier CRJ 900's began delivery in November 2007 and the deliveries are scheduled to be complete by May 2009. The first batch of delivered aircraft are based in Atlanta and began service in December 2007. As of July 2008, Pinnacle has 11 CRJ-900 operating for Delta Air Lines. On June 10, 2008 Pinnacle announced that Delta planned to withdraw from the contract by July 31, 2008 for failure to make its timetable. However, on July 18, 2008 Delta announced that an agreement had been reached that would allow Pinnacle to continue flying for Delta under the terms of the initial contract. The remaining 4 CRJ-900s will be delivered between January and May 2009, at which point all 15 CRJ-900s will be in service for Delta Connection.[8]

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. will move Colgan Air headquarters from Manassas, VA to the corporate headquarters in Memphis, TN in summer 2009. The exact date of the move has not yet been determined. Pinnacle Airlines Corp. will possibly combine the flight operations of the two airlines meaning Pinnacle would operate under United Express, USAir Express, Continental Connection, and Delta Connection/Northwest Airlink.

Destinations

Pinnacle flies out of four hubs, Detroit MI, Memphis TN, and Minneapolis-St. Paul MN for Northwest Airlines and Atlanta for Delta Air Lines. Pinnacle currently serves over 110 cities in 39 states and Canadian provinces. It operates well over 800 flights a day.[9] See Northwest Airlink destinations.

Fleet

The Pinnacle Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft as of December 2008:[10]

A Pinnacle Airlines CRJ 200
Aircraft Total Passengers
(First/Economy)
Routes Notes
Bombardier CRJ-200LR 121 50 (50) Domestic/International short haul Operated for: Delta Connection
Bombardier CRJ-900 16
76 (12/64) Domestic/International short haul Operated for: Delta Connection. Seven are temporary and will be transferred to Atlantic Southeast Airlines (2) and Mesaba Airlines (5) as orders are delivered.

Incidents and accidents

  • Flight 3701 was a Bombardier CRJ200 with a crew of two operating a ferry flight (with no passengers) from Little Rock, Arkansas to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It crashed on October 14, 2004 in a residential area in Jefferson City, Missouri due to the flight crew pushing the plane past its capabilities and ignoring warnings. Both pilots were killed. The NTSB has since finished its investigation of the accident.[11]
  • Flight 4712 was a Bombardier CRJ200LR from Traverse City, Michigan "which overran the runwaywhile landing at Cherry Capital Airport (TVC), Traverse City, Michigan, during a snowstorm on April 12, 2007. The aircraft received substantial damage, but the 52 people onboard were not injured. The Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilots’ decision to land at TVC without performing a landing distance assessment, which was required by company policy. This poor decision-making likely reflected the effects of fatigue produced by a long, demanding duty day, and, for the captain, the duties associated with check airman functions. Contributing to the accident were 1)the Federal Aviation Administration pilot flight and duty time regulations that permitted the pilots’ long, demanding duty day and 2)the TVC operations supervisor’s use of ambiguous and unspecific radio phraseology in providing runway braking information. Four safety recommendations were issued to the FAA addressing timely post accident drug testing, training on landing distance assessment performance, ground operations personnel communications, and criteria for runway closures in snow and ice conditions. The NTSB adopted the report on June 10, 2008."[12]

References

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Hoover's Profile. ©2008 Hoover's, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Stock Quote. © MarketWatch, Inc. 2008. All rights reserved. Subject to the Terms of Use. Designed and powered by Dow Jones Client Solutions.
MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, BigCharts and the BigCharts logo are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. Dow Jones is the registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc.  Read more
Company History. International Directory of Company Histories. Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pinnacle Airlines" Read more