Allegheny Airlines

Allegheny Airlines

IATA ICAO Call sign AL ALO ALLEGHENY
Founded	March 7, 1939; 85 years ago (1939-03-07) (as All American Aviation)
Commenced operations	January 1, 1953; 71 years ago (1953-01-01) (as Allegheny Airlines)
Ceased operations	October 28, 1979; 45 years ago (1979-10-28) (expanded and renamed to USAir)
Hubs	Allegheny County (1946–1951) Pittsburgh (1951–1979)
Parent company	US Airways Group
Headquarters	Crystal City, Virginia, U.S.
Key people	Ed Colodny (President & CEO)

Allegheny Airlines was a local service carrier that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979, with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S.^[1] It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which itself merged with American Airlines. Its headquarters were at Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia.^[2]

Allegheny Airlines began as All American Aviation Company providing mail delivery starting on March 7, 1939.^[3] It was founded by du Pont family brothers Richard C. du Pont and Alexis Felix du Pont Jr.

In 1949, the company was renamed All American Airways as it switched from air mail to passenger service. On 1 January 1953 it was again renamed, to Allegheny Airlines. Like other local service airlines, Allegheny was subsidized; in 1962 its revenue of $23.5 million included $6.5 million in "public service revenue".^[4]

In 1953, Allegheny's network blanketed Pennsylvania, reaching Newark NJ to Cleveland and Huntington WV. It added Detroit (YIP) in 1956, Boston in April 1960, La Guardia in 1964, Norfolk in 1966, Toronto in 1967, and Louisville-Nashville-Memphis in 1968. The Lake Central Airlines merger in July 1968 added Chicago and St Louis, and the Mohawk Airlines merger in April 1972 added Montreal, Minneapolis and many New York cities. Houston in 1978, then Florida at the end of 1978 (TPA-MCO-PBI) and Phoenix in 1979.

In 1959, Allegheny debuted its first turbine airliner, a Convair 540, a Convair 340 with the piston engines replaced by Napier Elands. When Rolls-Royce bought Napier it dropped the Eland, so 540s in the United States reverted to piston; Allegheny's last 540 flights were in 1962. The airline bought new Fairchild F-27Js that the company named "Vistaliner". The F-27J was a U.S.-built version of the Fokker F27. The airline switched to General Motors/Allison turboprops in the Convair 580 which the carrier named the "Vistacruiser", the first CV580 flight was in June 1965. The last DC-3 flights were in 1962 and the last piston flights were in 1967.

In 1960, Allegheny headquarters were in Washington, D.C.^[5]

In 1965, Allegheny announced it would add the first jet aircraft type to its fleet—the Douglas DC-9-10—which the airline stated would be placed into service in 1966.^[6] Allegheny then added other jets, notably the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 which the company named the "Vistajet". Later jets included Boeing 727-100s, 727-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50s.^[7][8] The Mohawk merger added British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets to the fleet as well. Allegheny Airlines was also the first airline with a network of affiliated regional airlines, the Allegheny Commuter system, which began with Henson Airlines in 1967.

As deregulation dawned, Allegheny, looking to shed its regional image, changed its name to USAir on October 28, 1979.^[9]

After Allegheny Airlines rebranded itself as USAir, the company retained its earlier name for its Allegheny Commuter service until 1989 when it became US Airways Express.

Under USAir, which eventually renamed itself US Airways, the Allegheny name continued to be used by the parent company, keeping the trademark under US Airways' control. Suburban Airlines was originally headquartered at the Reading Airport in Reading, Pennsylvania, and flew a large fleet of Short 330s and Short 360s, being the launch customer for the Short 360. It had three Fokker F27s, and was the last US operator of passenger F27s. After replacing much of its Short fleet with de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8s and retiring the F27s, Suburban merged with another wholly owned USAir subsidiary, Pennsylvania Airlines, which was headquartered at Harrisburg International Airport near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The combined airline retained the historic Allegheny Airlines name until it was merged with another wholly owned subsidiary, Piedmont Airlines.^[10][11] The subsequent airline retained the Piedmont Airlines name. After retiring earlier aircraft, Allegheny, before and after its mergers, mainly flew De Havilland Canada Dash 8s to 35 airports in the northeastern United States, and eventually Canada, from hubs at Boston and Philadelphia. Its activities and Activities Dash 8 fleet were incorporated into a regional airline, Piedmont Airlines, in 2004.

As of October 2023^[update], an American Airlines Airbus A321, registered N579UW, is painted in Allegheny colors.^{[citation needed]} It recently was on an Airbus A319 registered N745VJ, before being repainted into standard American livery in March 2023 and US Airways also operated this aircraft with a retro Allegheny Airlines paint scheme.

This is a list of cities served by Allegheny Airlines until October 1979. It does not include destinations served before that year. Allegheny flew to dozens more cities at some point, including Erie, Providence and the Wyoming Valley.^[12][13]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (May 2015)

• Montreal, Quebec – Montreal International Airport
• Toronto, Ontario – Toronto International Airport

Allegheny also briefly operated Douglas DC-9-10 aircraft.

• On November 14, 1955, an Allegheny Airlines Martin 2-0-2 was undertaking training flights at Wilmington Airport in New Castle County, Delaware, when the No. 1 engine caught fire during a single engine approach. On landing, the left main landing gear collapsed, and the aircraft was withdrawn from service and used for spare parts.^[18]
• On December 1, 1959, Allegheny Airlines Flight 371, a Martin 2-0-2, crashed into a mountain on approach to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States. There were 25 fatalities.^[19][20]
• On October 19, 1962, an Allegheny Airlines flight attendant, Françoise de Moriere, fell to her death after being blown out a Convair 440 emergency exit door on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Providence, Rhode Island, during a scheduled descent into Hartford, Connecticut.^[21] This incident inspired James Dickey's poem "Falling".^[22]
• On November 2, 1963, an Allegheny Airlines Martin 2-0-2 was damaged beyond repair under unknown circumstances while taxiing at Newark International Airport.^[23]
• On July 23, 1965, Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 crashed northeast of the Williamsport Regional Airport due to a right engine failure and subsequent failure to follow engine out procedures by the flight crew. None of the 40 occupants on board were killed, but 23 were injured.
• On November 29, 1966, Allegheny Airlines Flight 305, operated by a Convair 440, suffered a complete electrical failure on takeoff from Capital City Airport in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The pilots attempted to abort the takeoff, but the reversers did not work, and the aircraft overran the runway, striking an approach light tower. The cause of the failure was later determined to be an improperly installed heater.^[24]
• On December 24, 1968, Allegheny Airlines Flight 736, a Convair 580, crashed on approach to Bradford, Pennsylvania, killing 20 of the 47 people on board.^[25]
• On January 6, 1969, Allegheny Airlines Flight 737, a Convair 580, also crashed on approach to Bradford, Pennsylvania, killing 11 of the 28 people on board.^[26]
• On September 9, 1969, Allegheny Airlines Flight 853, a DC-9 en route from Cincinnati to Indianapolis, collided with a small private plane and crashed into a soybean field southeast of Indianapolis, near Shelbyville, Indiana, killing all 83 people aboard both aircraft.
• On June 7, 1971, Allegheny Airlines Flight 485, a Convair 580, en route from Washington, D.C., to New Haven, Connecticut (via New London, Connecticut) crashed short of the runway at New Haven. 26 passengers and two crew members were killed; two passengers and one crew member survived. Pilot error was the cause of the crash.^[27]
• On June 23, 1976, Allegheny Airlines Flight 121, a DC-9, crashed on the runway due to windshear at Philadelphia International Airport. There were 86 injuries and no fatalities.^[28]
• On July 9, 1978, Allegheny Airlines Flight 453 crash-landed at Greater Rochester International Airport while arriving from Boston Logan International Airport. The BAC-111 aircraft was carrying 77 people, and there was one serious injury.^[29]
• On February 12, 1979, Allegheny Airlines Flight 561, a Nord 262 bound for Washington-National Airport crashed shortly after takeoff from North Central West Virginia Airport because of snow on the aircraft's wing and empennage surfaces. Two died out of the 25 passengers and crew on board.^[30]

• Air transportation in the United States
• List of defunct airlines of the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allegheny Airlines.

• Timetableimages.com has timetables from the 1950s and 1960s showing where Allegheny flew and what it cost
• Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 memorial website by Dan McGlaun on the September 9, 1969, crash near Indianapolis