Command Airways was a United States

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

based at the

Dutchess County Airport Hudson Valley Regional Airport , formerly known as Dutchess County Airport, is a county-owned public-use airport located on State Route 376 in the Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York, United States, four miles (6 km) south of the ...

Wappinger, New York Wappinger, officially the Town of Wappinger, is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The town is located in the Hudson River Valley region, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. The ...

, just outside

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, which was operational from 1966 to 1988.

History

The airline was founded by Kingsley G. Morse (1931–1993), who was the airline's sole CEO during its entire existence. The company was established as Mid-Hudson Airlines in 1951. At its peak in 1988, Command Airways had 538 employees and 15 aircraft serving 13 airports. In 1984 it began transitioning into operating in affiliation with American Airlines, much like AmericanConnection did. By maintaining independent management and separate ownership, it continued to do business in its own

colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

as Command Airways, although its fleet was primarily dedicated for American Airlines operations. This permitted Command to gain marketing presence associated only usually with much larger airline carriers. Command was one of the first regional airlines to carry the American Eagle brand when it became a part of the

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

system which included repainting their entire fleet under the American Eagle banner. This rebranding process of regional airlines commenced circa 1985 and accelerated when American Airlines

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

began purchasing a number of smaller regional carriers after the bankruptcy (December 1987) of one of its affiliate partners named AVAir, which was operating similarly to Command Airways.

AMR Corporation AMR Corporation was an airline holding company based in Fort Worth, Texas, which was the parent company of American Airlines, American Eagle Airlines, AmericanConnection and Executive Airlines. AMR filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protect ...

the parent company of American Airlines, purchased Command Airways in 1988 and renamed it AMR Eagle/Command Airways. This and other AMR affiliate and subsidiary airlines and

Flagship Airlines Flagship Airlines was a regional airline headquartered on the grounds of Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee. History Flagship Airlines traced its origins to Air Virginia, a commuter and regional feeder air carrier, which lat ...

flew under the American Eagle banner before all parties began being referred to more simply as American Eagle in 1991. AMR Eagle/Command Airways was operated separately until all AMR subsidiary regional carriers excluding

Executive Airlines Executive Airlines, Inc. was a Puerto Rican regional airline headquartered at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the main airport for the United States territory, near the capitol of San Juan. The airline was a ...

were merged into AMR Simmons Airlines, in late 1998. The new company formed from Simmons Airlines was called

American Eagle Airlines Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airline ...

(utilizing the former Simmons Airlines two letter

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

Code "MQ"). During its existence, Command Airways operated the

Beech 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

Short 330 The Short 330 (also SD3-30) is a small turboprop transport aircraft produced by Short Brothers. It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive and had low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976. The 330 was based on ...

Short 360 The Short 360 (also SD3-60; also Shorts 360)Mondey, David. ''Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft''. New York: Crescent Books, 1981. , p. 228. is a commuter aircraft that was built by UK manufacturer Short Brothers during ...

-300 and

ATR-42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and ...

turboprop

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

s. Command was the first U.S. airline to operate both the Short 33

starting in 1976 and the ATR-42 beginning in 1986. Its hub was at the Dutchess County Airport near Poughkeepsie, which CEO Kingsley Morse strongly supported in the 1970s, in preference to Stewart International Airport, Stewart Airport west of Newburgh."Dutchess Airport Boosted in Barnstorming"
''Evening News'', Aug. 30, 1975 Dutchess County Airport no longer has scheduled commercial airline service.

Destinations

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(

)* Hub ** Albany (

Albany International Airport Albany International Airport is six miles (9 km) northwest of Albany, in Albany County, New York, United States. It is owned by the Albany County Airport Authority. ALB covers of land. It is an air port of entry in the town of Colon ...

) **

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

(

Broome County Airport Greater Binghamton Airport is a county-owned American airport eight miles north of Binghamton, in Broome County, New York. It is in East Maine, New York and serves the Southern Tier of New York. The airport was named Broome County Airport thr ...

) **

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

( Tompkins County Airport) **

(

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

) **

(

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...

) ** White Plains (

Westchester County Airport Westchester County Airport is a county-owned airport in Westchester County, New York, three miles (6 km) northeast of downtown White Plains, with territory in the towns of North Castle and Harrison, New York, and village of Rye Brook, New ...

) *

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(

Logan International Airport General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...

) **

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

( Pittsfield Municipal Airport)* *

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

( Lebanon Municipal Airport) *

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

(

Burlington International Airport Burlington International Airport is a joint-use civil-military airport serving Burlington, Vermont, the state of Vermont's largest municipality. It is owned by the City of Burlington and located in the neighboring city of South Burlington, thr ...

) *

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

** Manassas (

Manassas Regional Airport Manassas Regional Airport (Harry P. Davis Field) is five miles southwest of the center of Manassas. Manassas Regional Airport is the largest regional airport in Virginia, and it is located from Washington, D.C. History An airport for Manassas ...

)* * ''Those articles marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer served by commercial airline service.''

References

* {{US-airline-stub Defunct airlines of the United States Defunct companies based in New York (state) Dutchess County, New York Airlines established in 1966 Airlines disestablished in 1988 1966 establishments in New York (state)

History

Destinations

See also

References