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| Founded | 1986 | |||
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| Hubs | ||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Mileage Plus (United)
SkyMiles (Delta) |
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| Alliance | Star Alliance as United Express
SkyTeam as Delta |
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| Fleet size | 244 | |||
| Destinations | 151 | |||
| Company slogan | A New Way to Move People. | |||
| Parent company | SkyWest, Inc. | |||
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | |||
| Key people | President & COO - Brad Holt | |||
| Website | http://www.expressjet.com/ | |||
ExpressJet is an American airline based in College Park, Georgia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc., parent company of the air carrier SkyWest Airlines.[1]
Although an autonomous business entity since its divestiture from Continental Airlines, Inc., it continued to operate as Continental Express for Continental Airlines from hubs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey and Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio.[2] Its training center is on the grounds of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.[3]
ExpressJet operated its own point-to-point service with its main hub at LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California. This service ended on September 2, 2008.
In April 2008, SkyWest proposed an acquisition of ExpressJet at a price of $3.50/share. ExpressJet Holdings Inc. said its special committee unanimously rejected the proposal. SkyWest rescinded the offer in early June after ExpressJet Holdings and Continental signed a new 7-year Capacity Purchase Agreement. This proposal was ultimately not successful.
In August 2010, SkyWest announced that it had entered into a definitive merger agreement with ExpressJet Holdings, whereby SkyWest's wholly owned subsidiary, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, will purchase ExpressJet for $6.75 per share. Atlantic Southeast Airlines and ExpressJet became the world's largest regional airline on November 12, 2010 once the purchase was final. The self-proclaimed "Super Regional" airline will be based in Atlanta. Atlantic Southeast currently operates as Delta Connection and United Express.[4]
On November 12, 2010 the financial transaction between Atlantic Southeast Airlines and ExpressJet was closed. Thus as a legal entity ExpressJet airlines ceased to exist at that point. Operationally though the transition to a single operating carrier status is expected to take at least several more months. Atlantic Southeast Airlines will continue to operate ExpressJet during that time under the terms of their current operating certificate with the FAA as "ExpressJet Airlines".
In July 2011, the name "SureJet", with the tagline, "Ally, Partner, Friend" was revealed. However, the almost instantaneous universal ridicule and derision resulted in the withdrawal of the SureJet name. [5] [6]
In October 2011, the employees of ExpressJet Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines voted to keep the name ExpressJet Airlines as the combined airlines new name, while Atlantic Southeast's "Acey" callsign would remain.[7] On November 22, 2011, both ExpressJet and Atlantic Southeast Airlines achieved a single operating certificate that will allow them to operate as one carrier. Effective December 31, 2011, all flights began operating under the name "ExpressJet Airlines" making it the largest regional airline in the world with more than 400 aircraft.[8]
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The airline was established in 1986 and started operations in 1987. Its origins were in a group of small commuter airlines acquired by Texas Air Corporation / Continental Airlines. These included Bar Harbor Airlines in Maine, Provincetown-Boston Airlines in New England, Rocky Mountain Airways in Denver, Colorado and Britt Airways in Terre Haute, Indiana. Express Jet operates under the original Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificate issued to Britt, which began operations as Continental Express in April 1987 and was later acquired by Continental Airlines. ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. incorporated in 1996.[9]
ExpressJet was spun off from Continental in 2002. Afterwards the company began plans to move into a corporate headquarters location.[10] ExpressJet has over 8,000 employees. ExpressJet Holdings also owns American Composites LLC, Saltillo Jet Center, and InTech Aerospace Services. Together with other facilities throughout the U.S. they make up ExpressJet Services which provides third-party maintenance, repair and overhaul services for a variety of aircraft types. ExpressJet Holdings also has non-controlling interests in Wings Holdings LLC 49% and Flight Services and Systems Inc 44%.
Before ExpressJet became independent, it was headquartered in Continental Center I in Downtown Houston.[11][12][13]
Following a December 2005 decision by Continental to reduce ExpressJet's Continental Express flying by 69 aircraft, the airline elected to operate the aircraft independently. On December 31, 2006, the airline began its charter operation. It currently operates 6 aircraft for charter services under the Corporate Aviation Division. On February 5, 2007, the airline announced service to 24 cities in the west coast, southwest, and midwest regions of the United States beginning in April 2007.[14]
On April 2, 2007, the airline began point-to-point services under its own name from locations throughout the USA. The airline had a total of 42 aircraft in their branded operation. According to ExpressJet CEO James Ream, LA/Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California (alternate airport to nearby Los Angeles International Airport) would become the airline's "biggest center of operation".[15]
JetBlue Airways announced on March 7, 2007 that ExpressJet would operate four of its Embraer 145 jets on JetBlue routes while JetBlue's Embraer 190 jets are being serviced.[16]
In June 2007, the airline began service at Los Angeles International Airport to western ski markets and Mexico on behalf of Delta Air Lines under the Delta Connection banner using 10 EMB 145XR aircraft.[17] In July 2007, the agreement was increased to 18 aircraft. In July 2008, the airlines announced that their agreement had been terminated and ExpressJet would end all Delta Connection flying by September 1.[18]
In September 2007, the airline agreed to provide feeder service for Frontier Airlines from Denver International Airport while federal certification for Frontier's Lynx Aviation turboprop subsidiary was underway. ExpressJet flew to 5 cities from Frontier's Denver hub using 50-seat ERJ 145 regional jets until Frontier's subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, received DOT approval in December 2007. As of December 7, ExpressJet discontinued providing feeder service for Frontier Airlines.[19]
A few days after announcing the end of its agreement with Delta, ExpressJet announced on July 8, 2008, that it would also end its independent ExpressJet-branded flying on September 2 due to the oil price increases since 2003.[20] This resulted in the furlough of 347 pilots.
An incident occurred where passengers were forced to stay on a parked plane at Rochester, Minnesota, on August 21, 2009, for six hours with no food and overflowing toilets. The airline crew tried over thirty times to call the contract carrier, Delta Connection, (which services the Rochester airport) to let the passengers off. The agents for the regional Mesaba Airlines refused. The Department of Transportation announced its findings in September 2009, citing the main cause of the incident as the Mesaba Airlines station's refusal to park the aircraft.[21] However, Continental Airlines and ExpressJet were also fined for the part they played in the incident.
ExpressJet began a temporary contract with United Airlines to fly as a United Express carrier beginning in June 2009. The contract was for approximately 10 aircraft that operated out of United's O'Hare and Washington (Dulles) hub. The aircraft were flown in ExpressJet livery. The contract ended on September 2, 2009.
In late 2010 ExpressJet signed a multiple year contract with United Airlines for 22 ERJ-145 aircraft. The aircraft are flown, for the first time, in full United Express colors. Additionally, 10 more ERJ-145s; in ExpressJet colors, will operate for United during the peak Summer travel season in 2010. The first flights under this new contract started December 1, 2009 and all 22 aircraft will be in United Express service by Spring 2010.
In May 2010, ExpressJet began operating Branson AirExpress, non-stop air service between Branson, Missouri and Houston, Texas; Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Shreveport, Louisiana and Terre Haute, Indiana; Chicago Midway and Indianapolis.[22][23] ExpressJet last flight operating under Branson Air Express was on Oct 30 2010.
ExpressJet Airlines, as an independent carrier, flew to 20 destinations throughout the United States until the airline suspended independent flying on September 2, 2008.
As of December 2011, the ExpressJet Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:[24]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers | Operated For | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | Y | Total | ||||
| Bombardier CRJ200ER | 112 | 0 | 50 | 50 | 98 aircraft operated for Delta Connection 14 aircraft operated for United Express |
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| Bombardier CRJ700ER | 46 | 9 | 56 | 65 | All aircraft operated for Delta Connection | |
| Bombardier CRJ900ER | 10 | 12 | 64 | 76 | All aircraft operated for Delta Connection | |
| Embraer ERJ-145 | 244 | 0 | 50 | 50 | 228 aircraft operated as United Express 16 aircraft operated in the charter division |
Original ExpressJet aircraft operated prior to ASA merger |
| Total | 412 | |||||
ExpressJet has also operated the following aircraft:[25] Embraer ERJ-135 (30) all in Continental Express livery.
Prior to the merger with Atlantic Southeast Airlines, ExpressJet operated solely the 244 Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft in its fleet.
Currently ExpressJet is based in the A-Tech Center in Atlanta, Georgia,[26][27] The facility also houses the headquarters of Atlantic Southeast Airlines.[28]
ExpressJet previously had its headquarters in the North Belt Office Center IV, a building in the Greens Crossing office park, a 484-acre (1.96 km2) mixed-use office park; the office park is in the Greenspoint area of Houston.[9][29][30]
ExpressJet was one of three tenants that leased space in the two-building, 107,200-square-foot (9,960 m2) North Belt Office Center complex, which includes buildings III and IV. FORT Properties manages both buildings. ExpressJet uses the location due to the proximity to George Bush Intercontinental Airport and to Continental Center I, the Continental Airlines headquarters in Downtown Houston.[9] ExpressJet had relocated its headquarters to its current location by 2006.[31] FORT had acquired the buildings in 2007, which were built in 2003.[32]
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Atlantic Southeast & Expressjet Introduce New Name for Merged Airline. http://www.flyasa.com/2011/07/13/atlantic-southeast-expressjet-introduce-merged-airline/.|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". New Name Aborted. http://www.flyasa.com/2011/07/18/atlantic-southeast-expressjet-put-ground-stop-surejet/.
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