Great Plains Airlines was a regional airline headquartered in

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

History

The airline was founded by Jack Knight and Jim Swartz to give

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

and Tulsa travelers affordable quality non-stop service to a number of destinations, ultimately with direct flights to heavily traveled business destinations on the east and west coasts. The airline was founded in 2001 with a mix of tax credits and government loans totaling $27 million and expanded rapidly, filing with the

Air Transportation Stabilization Board The Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) is an office of United States Department of the Treasury created to assist US airlines in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act, si ...

for a guarantee of $17 million from a $25 million loan, though this was rejected, as the Board deemed the airline's business plan to be too risky. To assist in starting the airline, an

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

was purchased from Ozark Airlines, an airline not related to the original

Ozark Airlines Ozark Air Lines was a local service carrier (originally known as a feeder airline) in the United States that operated from 1950 until 1986, when it was purchased by Trans World Airlines (TWA). Ozark got a second chance to be an airline when t ...

, but a small regional airline operating

Dornier 328JET The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is a Regional jet, commuter airliner, based upon the turboprop-powered Dornier 328, developed by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH. It would be the last Dornier-designed ...

s. The airline also took over operation of Ozark's two aircraft, and later expanded the fleet to five aircraft including a

Dornier 328 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Germany company Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by US firm Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the ...

turboprop by the time of the airline's closure. In 2002 Great Plains joined with commuter airline Rio Grande Air to provide a feeder network from

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

to the smaller New Mexico cities of

Alamogordo Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains (New Mexico), Sac ...

and

Taos Taos or TAOS may refer to: Places * Taos County, New Mexico, United States ** Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico *** Taos art colony, an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico ** Taos Pueblo, a Native American ...

as well as to

Durango, Colorado Durango is the home rule city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis College ...

. Rio Grande Air adopted Great Plains "ZO" code on their flights. The airline filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations in 2004 after attempts to secure additional financing and investments were unsuccessful. After it ceased operations, all five of the company's aircraft were repossessed by creditors and all other property belonging to the airline was auctioned off. The airline also sold its tax credits to a third party for $15 million, but was ultimately unable to repay $7.1 million of a December 2000 loan arranged by local government agencies, triggering a lengthy dispute between the Tulsa Airport Improvement Trust (TAIT), the Tulsa Industrial Authority (TIA), the

Bank of Oklahoma BOK Financial Corporation — pronounced as letters, "B-O-K" — is a financial services holding company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Offering a full complement of retail and commercial banking products and services across the American Midw ...

and the city of Tulsa. TAIT had guaranteed the loan by agreeing to buy the mortgaged Air Force Plant No. 3 adjacent to

Tulsa International Airport Tulsa International Airport is a civil-military airport five miles (8 km) northeast of Downtown Tulsa, in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named Tulsa Municipal Airport when the city acquired it in 1929 ...

from the TIA if the airline defaulted, but this agreement was deemed to violate

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

policies prohibiting an airport authority from subsidizing a particular airline, and TAIT was sued by the TIA after declining to buy the plant for this reason. After a 2011 settlement attempt using city of Tulsa funds was rejected as illegal by the

Oklahoma Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma.

, the dispute was finally settled in August 2015 for $1.69 million. The airline had several signature items, including

Krispy Kreme Krispy Kreme, Inc. (previously Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.) is an American multinational doughnut company and coffeehouse chain. Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), who bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans ch ...

donuts and

Arby's Arby's is an American fast-food restaurant, fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants. The flagship property of Inspire Brands, it ranked third in systemwide sales in the United States in the quick-service and fast-ca ...

sandwiches served on board.

Destinations

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

* Chicago, Illinois (Midway) *

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

* Washington, DC (Dulles)

Code share with Rio Grande Air

Alamogordo, New Mexico Alamogordo () is a city in and the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force ...

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

Fleet

Fairchild Dornier 328JET The Fairchild-Dornier 328JET is a commuter airliner, based upon the turboprop-powered Dornier 328, developed by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH. It would be the last Dornier-designed aircraft to reach production before ...

regional jet aircraft * Fairchild Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft

References

{{Portal bar, Companies, Aviation Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 2001 Airlines disestablished in 2004 Companies based in Tulsa, Oklahoma Defunct companies based in Oklahoma American companies established in 2001 American companies disestablished in 2004 2001 establishments in Oklahoma

History

Destinations

Code share with Rio Grande Air

Fleet

See also

References