Pinnacle Airlines Corp has confirmed it will retire all remaining Raytheon Beech 1900D turboprops currently flown by subsidiary Colgan Air in 2008.
Chief operating officer Doug Shockey, in a recent presentation to investors, said the company is “removing [the] uneconomical Beech 1900 fleet from service” by the end of the year.
The move had been under consideration since Pinnacle acquired Colgan in early 2007, and was officially decided in September. According to Pinnacle, Colgan currently operates seven 1900Ds. Flight’s ACAS database lists Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corp as the owner of the turboprops.
Colgan’s fleet also includes 42 Saab 340s. These aircraft are flown on behalf of Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways. Additionally, the regional carrier is slated to begin operations for Continental from New York Newark with the first of 15 Bombardier Q400s on order with the manufacturer.
A source tells ATI that the first services have been loaded into the computer reservations system and include three daily flights from Baltimore/Washington International Airport to Newark starting on February 4.
Other cities expected to be served by Colgan from Newark include Burlington, Vermont; Chicago Midway; Cleveland, Ohio; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Montreal Trudeau; Norfolk, Virginia; Piedmont Triad, North Carolina; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia and Toronto Pearson. These destinations comprise a preliminary schedule revealed by Pinnacle, and reported by ATI today.
Continental could not be reached for comment.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
