Shortest-lived startup that actually flew?

[Old School 737]

Tahoe Air out of South Lake Tahoe. Had 737-200's. Flew recently (within the past five or six years) to LAX.



Any specific info on these would be entertaining.

GP[/QUOTE]

It was flown by Casino Express "DBA" Tahoe Air. The Tahoe people quit paying us so we quit flying for them. Casino Express has been around since about 1991 and are still flying under the Extra Airways name and Ruby Mt. call sign now.

 

[ol' synch]

Chicago Air out of Midway, 1987-8?? Lasted about six months???

 

[Citrus531]

Yeah, Air 21 out of LAS... They flew a couple of F-28's to bustling places such as FAT (Fresno).

Of course, there was Eastwind Airlines out of Trenton, NJ aka as "The Bee Line." They had a few 732's and flew between TTN-GSO (why I don't know) and a few other places. They were only around for a few years (early 90's I think).

There was also a proposed start-up in SO CAL that wanted to fly LET turboprops. I can't remember the name of the airline though...

i remember an Eastwind crew being up close witnesses to TWA 800 back in July of 1996....on part of the ATC tape from that night...I thought they were around till 1997ish and maybe had a -700?

 

[Publishers]

I think Skybus may techincally be the winner. They flew as a public charter fairly successfully for a few months but Private Air and Express One were the actual carriers. Skybus then got thier own certificate but I do not think they ever flew one of their own flights.
Legend never got off the ground I don't think-- even a certificate because of some galley related issue.

 

[njcapt]

I think Skybus may techincally be the winner. They flew as a public charter fairly successfully for a few months but Private Air and Express One were the actual carriers. Skybus then got thier own certificate but I do not think they ever flew one of their own flights.
Legend never got off the ground I don't think-- even a certificate because of some galley related issue.

As of a month ago, Skybus still planned to start up in 2007. Legend flew for 9 months before flaming out over the galley issue (I think). Vanguard Airlines lasted seven and a half years - November 1994 through June 28th, 2002. I got out five weeks before they cratered.

 

[B727FA]

The galley issue at Legend was scrapped for certification issues. They installed "traditional" galleys to avoid the problem.

The first SkyBus never made it off the ground with their own cert.

I still say Presidental is the winner...

 

[oldxfr8dog]

How about Royal West Airlines, LAS 1987.
Purple BAE-146s.

 

[Old School 737]

Lorair? A 737-200 outfit out of TUS?

 

[V-STALL]

Anyone remember JetTrain? MCO-EWR-PIT. I remember them flying for about a summer. Bad service, bad planes, cool logo.

http://www.visitingphx.com/rp1j.html

 

[TOGA]

Wow. Informative, entertaining . . . and somehow disturbing. Thanks for all the responses! Can you imagine the hardships endured by so many of our fellow pilots and their families during these failures? It sounds like some of you don't need to imagine.