CCAir, Inc. (

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

: CCAR) was a regional airline headquartered in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

."World Airline Directory". ''Flight International''. March 23, 1999
68
Retrieved on September 30, 2009.

Piedmont Commuter

CCAir was created on or about February 15, 1986 when Sunbird Airlines was renamed. Operating as a

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

Commuter / USAir Express code-sharing partner, its radio call sign was "Carolina". The CC stood for Carolina Commuter. Most of the employees were local people who were extremely loyal to the company. CCAir (beginning as predecessor Sunbird Airlines) had experienced a tremendous period of growth in the years 1985–1987. With the Piedmont/

USAir US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it was renamed Allegheny Airlines an ...

merger in 1989, the company experienced a tremendous change in the compensation arrangements with their senior partner. These problems eventually led to the company filing bankruptcy in order to protect themselves from creditors. Former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Ken Gann, was responsible for turning around the airline and restructuring it. CCAir was the first commuter airline to ever enter

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

and emerge profitable. CCAir began with a fleet of

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...

"Businessliner" piston-engined aircraft as well as

Beech 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by American manufacturer Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, deriv ...

and

Short 330 The Short 330 (also SD3-30) is a small turboprop transport aircraft produced by Short Brothers. It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive and had low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976. The 330 was based on ...

commuter turboprops. After the changeover to CCAIR the Cessna were retired and the Short 330's were replaced by the new

Shorts 360 The Short 360 (also SD3-60; also Shorts 360)Mondey, David. ''Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft''. New York: Crescent Books, 1981. , p. 228. is a commuter aircraft that was built by UK manufacturer Short Brothers durin ...

. CCAir also acquired the

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

BAe Jetstream 32 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the British ...

, a pressurized turboprop aircraft which proved a poor choice as most flights were operated under 10,000 feet and maintenance costs were high. In the mid-90s code-sharing partner

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

directed CCAir to begin the acquisition of DeHavilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft.

Under Mesa ownership

In 1999,

Mesa Air Group Mesa Air Group, Inc. is a Nevada Corporation commercial aviation holding company with headquarters at 410 North 44th Street, Suite 700 in the Camelback East area of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The company operates one regional airline subsi ...

acquired CCAir. Under Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein, CCAir and Mesa were operated as separate airlines. Some CCAir gate/ticket agents and ground handlers attempted to unionize, but the vote was narrowly against representation. Ornstein promised to work with ground personnel, but shortly thereafter canceled the ground handling service with US Airways Express. Also several cities in North Carolina,

Hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...

Southern Pines Southern Pines is a town in Moore County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,545 as of the 2020 census, up from 12,334 in 2010. History Founded as a winter health resort for Northerners,Southern Pines North Carolina 2040 Com ...

/ Pinehurst, Kinston and Rocky Mount lost their air service, which was flown by CCAir. The CCAir pilots resisted many offers to take pay cuts and deep concessions to have the chance for growth and flying regional jets. Ornstein slowly started making changes to CCAir. First the high-maintenance Jetstream 32s were grounded and Mesa's Beech 1900s were brought in to replace the Jetstreams. Finally, in 2002, a deep concessionary agreement was proposed to the CCAir pilots. When voted upon and ratified,

Air Line Pilots Association The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is the largest pilot union in the world, representing more than 79,000 pilots from 42 US and Canadian airlines. ALPA was founded on 27 July 1931 and is a member of the AFL-CIO and the Canadian ...

(ALPA) president, Duane Woerth promised the CCAir pilots he would sign off on the agreement, but reneged when he felt the agreement was too concessionary in nature. A few pilots attempted to sue ALPA in federal court in Charlotte, but US District Court Judge Graham Muellen upheld ALPA's decision not to allow the new collective bargaining agreement to take effect. On November 4, 2002, CCAir ceased operations. Most CCAir pilots found employment with Mesa and Mesa's collective bargaining agreement in their respective operations.

References

External links

CCAir
(archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ccair Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1987 Airlines disestablished in 2002 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991 Mesa Air Group US Airways Group Airlines based in North Carolina

Piedmont Commuter

Under Mesa ownership

See also

References

External links