Emerald Air (IATA: OD) was an airline headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States.[1] It was formerly known as Emerald Valley Airlines. Emerald Airlines brief history is marked by arrangements to feed connecting flights into both passenger airlines and cargo airlines much larger route systems.
Contents |
Emerald began operating scheduled cargo flights, which fed Purolator Courier's Columbus, Ohio hub, in October 1978.
In June 1981 the airline began scheduled flights to feed Pan American World Airways's Houston hub. Emerald was promoted in print advertising by the carriers as Emerald the Pan Am Express.
For a brief while in the mid-1980s, Emerald Air operated a connecting service on behalf of Continental Airlines from Houston Intercontinental Airport to Houston Hobby Airport, called the Houston Proud Express. Unlike the Pan Am operations the aircraft livery of Emerald was painted to mimic that of Continental Airlines' then present orange colors and scheme.
By 1985 Emerald ceased operations and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[1] In 1991, BIA-COR Holdings Inc., acquired Emerald Air's FAA and DOT operating certificate, along with Emerald's three McDonnell Douglas DC9-14 aircraft; and renamed the carrier Braniff International Airlines, Inc., before promptly going out of business. Parts of Emerald thus became the third and final resurrection of the Braniff name.[1]
Emerald Air operated a fleet of:[2]