Wright Air Lines
| File:Wright Airlines Logo.png | |||||||
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| Focus cities | Cleveland, Detroit | ||||||
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| Headquarters | Cleveland, Ohio | ||||||
| Key people | Gerald Weller | ||||||
| Website | none, defunct airline | ||||||
Wright Airlines, founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966, is regarded as the first United States regional airline. The airline was based in Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport. The airline has since gone out of business.
Business
The founder and first president of the airline was Gerald Weller. This regional airline was the first to be financed through the sale of stock on Wall Street [1].
Wright was also considered to be a commuter airline. An example of how they operated was shuttle service with scheduled departures at one hour intervals being flown between Cleveland and Detroit with reservations not being required in advance [2].
During its existence, Wright Airlines had these acquisitions and mergers:
- 1968 acquired Tyme Airlines
- 1968 merged with Air Commuter Airlines
- 1983 merged with Aeromech Airlines
After each of these mergers, the Wright name was retained.
Livery
The aircraft livery of the airline varied, and through its existence was either orange and tan on white, blue and tan on white, or dark orange, orange and tan on white.
Destinations in 1984
According to its October 1, 1984 system timetable, Wright was serving the following destinations:[1]
- Beckley, WV (BKW)
- Bluefield/Princeton, WV (BLF)
- Clarksburg/Fairmont, WV (CKB)
- Cincinnati, OH (CVG)
- Cleveland, OH (CLE) - Cleveland Hopkins International Airport - Focus city
- Cleveland, OH (BKL) - Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport - Home base
- Columbus, OH (CMH)
- Dayton, OH (DAY)
- Detroit, MI (DET) - Detroit City Airport
- Detroit, MI (DTW) - Detroit Metropolitan Airport
- Elkins, WV (EVN)
- Greensboro/High Point, NC (GSO)
- Huntington/Ashland, WV (HTS)
- Louisville, KY (SDF)
- Morgantown, WV (MGW)
- Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) - Hub
- Syracuse, NY (SYR)
- Washington, DC (DCA) - Washington National Airport
Aircraft types operated
The airline flew a wide range of aircraft types selected according to the route and number of passengers.
- Beechcraft Model 18 (Twin Beech)
- Beechcraft Model 99A
- British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven
- Convair 440 "Metropolitan" (improved version of Convair 340 with soundproofing and weather radar)
- Convair 600 (turboprop conversion of Convair 240)
- Convair 640 (turboprop conversion of Convair 340 and 440)
- De Havilland DH-114 Riley Heron
- De Havilland DH-114-2B Heron
- de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
- Douglas DC-3
- Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante
- Short 360
Aircraft acquired when Wright Airlines purchased Aeromech 10/01/83
Safety record
The airline had a good safety record with few accidents or incidents. None are known to have been fatal accidents.
Similar but non-related airlines
- North-Wright Airlines, sometimes called North Wright Airlines.
See also
- List of largest airlines
- List of national airlines
- List of low-cost airlines
- List of defunct airlines
- Cargo airline
- List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- Airline call sign
- ICAO airline designator
- IATA airline designator
References
- ^ http://www.departedflights.com, Oct. 1, 1984 Wright Airlines system timetable