Comair Services history

With the start of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, airports across the Midwest weren’t expecting too much in terms of growth.

In 1979 a Comair plane crashed at the Greater Cincinnati International Airport, killing eight people.

In 1980 the company reported an earnings loss and faced what the younger Mueller would later refer to as 'the company's darkest moment.'

With plans for a $1 million expansion of its home base, Comair was taken public in 1981, trading on the NASDAQ National Market System for the first time in July of that year.

Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante twin-engine turboprop commuter aircraft were added to Comair's fleet in 1982.

In 1984, Comair became a Delta Connection carrier with Delta Air Lines' establishment of a hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). That same year, Comair introduced its first international flights from Cincinnati to Toronto.

Zuliana De Aviacion was a Venezuelan airline formed in 1985 and based in the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela.

A series of unfortunate events, however, contributed to Corn-air’s first quarterly loss as a public company in March 1986.

Also in 1987, Comair began flying to Florida at the request of Delta, which had recently become the official airline for Walt Disney World in Orlando and needed the regional carrier to feed its airliners bound for larger cities.

1988: Comair, Inc. is reorganized into a subsidiary of a new parent firm, Comair Holdings, Inc.

In October 1990, David A. Siebenburgen succeeded David Mueller as president of Comair Holdings Inc.

By 1991, Comair’s aircraft fleet had grown to 75, including five new 340s for the Cincinnati market and 20 Embraer Brasilias for the Florida market.

In spring of 1992, Comair began seasonal flights to vacation sites such as Myrtle Beach.

Revenues reached $563.8 million, more than double the level of 1993, when the airline was just beginning to switch its fleet to jets.

Comair sustained the bad publicity generated by the American Eagle crash; in 1994 the company reported record revenues of $297 million, posted record profits of $28.5 million and carried a record 2.7 million passengers over the course of the year.

1995: Comair reaches an agreement with Bombardier to expand its fleet of Canadair jets to more than 75 by the end of the decade.

Comair will be liquidated as the airline could not secure the necessary capital to recommence operations < operated scheduled services on domestic routes as a British Airways franchisee, as from 1996 >

Net income for 1997 was $75.4 million, translating into a net profit margin of 13.4 percent and making Comair one of the most profitable airlines in the industry.

1998: An order is placed for 50 more Canadair regional jets, including the first 70-seaters.

Once a formal purchase agreement was completed, delivery was expected to continue through fiscal 1999.

In the early 2000's, Comair opened its own training centre based at the Operations Building in Rhodesfield, Johannesburg

Comair had started 2001 with the pilot’s group agreeing to strike starting on March 26, 2001.

Comair came to nationwide attention during winter 2004 when it canceled all of its flights on Saturday, December 25 and Sunday, December 26, stranding 30,000 people.

Comair's parent company Delta Air Lines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 14, 2005, bringing Comair into bankruptcy along with it.

In late 2006, Comair opened an additional crew base and hub at New York City's JFK Airport.

On May 25, 2007, Delta announced that Comair would operate 14 stretched CRJ900 aircraft for Delta Connection.

In March 2008, when the price of oil rose, Delta announced it would further reduce domestic capacity.

On February 10, 2009, Delta Connection announced that ground handling and gate service positions for Comair, Mesaba Airlines, and Compass Airlines would be transitioned to a new Delta Air Lines subsidiary.

By 2010 the carrier was in desperate need of cash, Comair announced in 2010 that it would slowly remove all Bombardier CRJ-100s over the next two years and become a fleet of only 44 Bombardier CRJ-700s and CRJ-900s.

Retirement would start in 2011.

In July 2012, Delta announced that it would be shutting down Comair.

He would eventually express this passion by taking flying lessons in mid-Missouri and joining AirlineGeeks in 2013.

In 2018, Comair entered into a joint venture with an IT company, Infinea (Pty) Ltd, establishing a jointly held company called Nacelle (Pty) Ltd.