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Shuttle America

 
Hoover's Profile: Shuttle America Corporation
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Contact Information
Shuttle America Corporation
8909 Purdue Rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46268
IN Tel. 317-484-6000
Fax 317-484-6040

Type: Subsidiary
On the web: http://www.shuttleamerica.com

Flying passengers back and forth, back and forth, Shuttle America provides regional service for Delta Air Lines as a Delta Connection carrier and for United Airlines under the United Express name. It also flies for Mokulele Airlines. As a regional carrier, Shuttle America connects smaller markets with its clients' major hubs. It operates mainly in the eastern half of the US with a fleet of about 40 Embraer 170 regional jets, which can carry about 70 passengers. The company was acquired in 2005 by Republic Airways Holdings, which also operates regional carriers Chautauqua Airlines and Republic Airlines. Shuttle America began operations in 1998.

Officers:
President: Bryan K. Bedford
Director Operations: Scott Delacey
CFO: Robert Cooper

Competitors:
American Eagle
ExpressJet
SkyWest

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Wikipedia: Shuttle America
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Shuttle America Airlines
Shuttleamericalogo.png
IATA
S5		 ICAO
TCF		 Callsign
MERCURY[1]
Founded 1995
Hubs As United Express:
Washington Dulles International Airport
Denver International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
As Delta Connection:
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Frequent flyer program SkyMiles (Delta Connection)
Mileage Plus (United Express)
Member lounge Delta Sky Club
(Delta Connection)
Red Carpet Club
(United Express)
Alliance SkyTeam (Delta Connection)
Star Alliance (United Express)
Fleet size 60[2]
Destinations See Below
Parent company Republic Airways Holdings
Headquarters Indianapolis, Indiana
Key people Bryan Bedford (CEO)
Website http://www.shuttleamerica.com

Shuttle America Corporation is a regional airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana,[3] USA. It feeds United Airlines flights at Chicago, Denver, and Washington (Dulles) as United Express, and feeds Delta Air Lines flights at Atlanta and New York (LaGuardia) as Delta Connection and Delta Shuttle.

Contents

History

Shuttle America was established in 1995 and began operations on November 12, 1998 [4] as a low-fare commuter airline, headquartered in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, the location of Hartford's Bradley International Airport. Shuttle America's first route was Hartford, Connecticut to Buffalo, New York. Shuttle America got much publicity for their launch because of their "super-low $29 fares". Shuttle America's first aircraft; registered N801SA, was a 50-seat Bombardier Dash 8-300 with leather seats and a very creative and patriotic paint scheme. Shuttle America had rapid growth in its first year, adding more aircraft and destinations. [5]

In 1999, Shuttle America made a controversial move to reach the Boston market. Instead of choosing the busy Logan Airport in East Boston, Shuttle America chose a nearby regional airport, Hanscom Field. Located in Bedford, Massachusetts, just 12 miles (19 km) west of Boston, it had amenities not found at the larger Logan Airport. With free parking, rental cars, and convenience to the I-95 highway, it was promoted as "Hassle-free Hanscom Field". From Hanscom, Shuttle America served Buffalo, LaGuardia Airport in New York, Trenton, New Jersey, and Greensboro, North Carolina via Trenton. At that time Trenton, New Jersey was acting as a hub because of its central location in their route network.

At the peak time of their operation, the airline was operating 6 Dash 8-300 aircraft and transported over 3000 passengers per day. Additional destinations served during this time period include Albany, New York, Islip, New York, Norfolk, Virginia, and Wilmington, Delaware. Despite the success in quickly expanding operations, the airline attained financial trouble with its growth.

Just before the September 11, 2001 attacks, Shuttle America went into bankruptcy and was purchased by Wexford Holdings LLC., who at the time also owned Chautauqua Airlines. Shuttle America then started flying as US Airways Express in a codeshare agreement, adding service to US Airways' Philadelphia and Pittsburgh hubs as well as seasonal service to Martha's Vineyard, MA. At the same time, Shuttle America was transitioning to the smaller Dash 8-100 and started taking deliveries of all the former Chautauqua Saab 340's. The Dash 8-100's had been leased from Allegheny Airlines and were a temporary stop gap measure to allow for the spool up of the Saab 340 fleet. The Dash 8-300's were eventually sold to various airlines including Caribbean Star and Piedmont Airlines as the independent branding of Shuttle America was phased out. In 2002, Shuttle America moved its headquarters to Fort Wayne, Indiana. In spring 2005, it was purchased by Republic Airways Holdings.[citation needed]

Shuttle America Embraer 170 operating for Mokulele Airlines

In October 2008, an operating partnership was established with Mokulele Airlines to feed their hub in Honolulu with three aircraft. These Embraer 170 aircraft operated in the livery of Mokulele Airlines until October 2009, when Republic entered into a new joint venture agreement with Mesa Air Group, with the latter airline's Canadair Regional Jet aircraft operating jet flights within Hawaii.[6]

Operations

Shuttle America currently has five crew member bases: Atlanta, Columbus, Chicago, Indianapolis and New York-LaGuardia. Its fleet comprises Embraer 170 jetliners with a two-cabin seating configuration, allowing for 6 seats in First Class and 64 seats in coach. These aircraft were initially operated by sister company Chautauqua Airlines, but Chautauqua was forced to transfer their 170s to Shuttle America after the pilots' union at American Airlines claimed the aircraft violated a "scope clause" regulating the size of regional aircraft operated by airlines that also operate under the American Airlines brand.[citation needed] Beginning in July, 2008, slightly larger Embraer 175 aircraft will begin to replace the Embraer 170 fleet. Towards the end of 2008, the airline achieved a major feat by being chosen to replace Delta Shuttle's MD-88 operations between New York's La Guardia Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport on the same hourly schedule that Delta has operated with larger aircraft for decades. Additionally, the Delta Shuttle service between Washington Reagan and Boston Logan Airport has partially switched over to Shuttle America with hourly operations.

Callsign

On July 3, 2007, Shuttle America received approval from the ICAO to change its ATC callsign from Shuttlecraft to Mercury. However, prior to the changing of the callsign to Mercury it was changed to Crossroads, but the word cross was confusing to air traffic controllers. This change was necessary due to the similar sounding Air Shuttle callsign used by Mesa Airlines. The IDENT code remained the same as TCF.

Destinations

As of December 2008 [7]

Operated as United Express

Shuttle America Embraer 170 in United Express livery

Operated as Delta Connection

Shuttle America Embraer 175 in Delta Connection livery

Fleet

The Shuttle America fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 30 October 2009)[2]:

Aircraft Total Passengers
(First/Economy)		 Notes
Embraer E-170-100 44
70 (6/64)
 37 operated as United Express
2 operated as Delta Connection
3 operated for Mokulele Airlines
2 used for dedicated services
Embraer E-175 16
76 (12/64)
 operated as Delta Connection

Incidents

External links

References

  1. ^ ICAO8585 Edition 141
  2. ^ a b ch-aviation.ch fleet list
  3. ^ "Contact Us." Republic Airways Holdings. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
  4. ^ Flight International 12-18 April 2005
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ "Mokulele, go! airlines merging". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 2009-10-13. http://www.starbulletin.com/news/bulletin/64181527.html. Retrieved 2009-11-13. 
  7. ^ Republic Airways fact sheet

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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