Capitol Airways (not to be confused with Capital Airlines (1946–1984)), was a charter airline from the United States. It was founded by former Army Air Corps pilots, Jesse Stallings, Richmond McGinnis, and Francis Roach, following the end of World War II. The European Director of Operations was Chuck Carr and the LBG Airport Mngr, P. Landelle. Gatwick Ops was the European Office. In the late 70's, Capitol Air became a scheduled carrier thanks to the Air Deregulation Act of 1978. The airline was incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in Smyrna, TN.
Capitol Air maintained a large presence in the eastern United States as well as in Europe. Their hubs were John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, as well as Brussels, Belgium and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Form New York/JFK Capitol Air served the following cities: Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago O'Hare(ORD), Brussels(BRU), Frankfurt(FRA), Paris, France (LBG) Aguadilla (BQN), San Juan (SJU) and Puerto Plata (POP). From San Juan they serviced Miami, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Santo Domingo. Even though they went scheduled, charters were still a big part of their operations. Many of the charters operated in/out of San Juan were for Canadian tour operators that needed the air service in conjunction with cruises that departed San Juan every Saturday. The airline used primarily McDonnell Douglas DC-8 jets, but around 1980 brought DC-10 equipment into its fleet.These aircraft were all leased from International Air Leases in Miami, owned by George Batchelor. Capitol Air also operated many charter flights for the United States military. One major trunk route in the mid-1970s connected Rhein-Main Air Base (Frankfurt), Germany to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina with a refueling stop in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Capitol Air declared bankruptcy in the mid-1980s after new owner George Bachelor dismantled the airline for his new venture, another charter airline becoming a scheduled airline. The carrier was Arrow Air.
During the early 80's, one of Capitol Air's DC-8 was hijacked and diverted to Cuba.
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