Pinnacle Airlines Corporation was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, headquartered in Memphis,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, and was the

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

Pinnacle Airlines Endeavor Air is a regional airline in the United States headquartered at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, and staffs, operates, and maintains aircr ...

Colgan Air Colgan Air was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1965 until 2012, when it became a subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The initial headquarters of Colgan Air was in Manassas, Virginia, Manassas, Virginia until 2010, and ...

, and

Mesaba Airlines Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (operating as Mesaba Airlines) was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1944 until it merged with Pinnacle Airlines in 2012 to form Endeavor Air. It was based in Eagan, Minnesota From 2010 to 2012, the ...

. The company contracted its airlines to fly in the

aircraft livery An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising color, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators (airlines, governments, air forces and occasionally private and corporate owners) apply to their aircraft. As aircraf ...

of other airlines such as

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

and

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

. The company filed for bankruptcy protection under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in 2012 and emerged from Chapter 11 in 2013 as a wholly owned subsidiary of

. The company's only surviving airline, Pinnacle, became

Endeavor Air Endeavor Air is a regional airline in the United States headquartered at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, and staffs, operates, and maintains airc ...

History

In the late 1990s,

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

owned a subsidiary, Express Airlines I, Inc., that it wanted to break off as a separate entity. Pinnacle Airlines Corporation was created in January 2002 to hold the airline, which would be renamed Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. The changes took place on May 8, 2002. In November 2003, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation became a publicly traded company, using the

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded Share (finance), shares of a particular stock or Security (finance), security on a particular stock exchange. Ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols ...

PNCL on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. In 2007, Pinnacle acquired

, which continued to operate independently of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. The acquisition of Colgan Air was a $20 million strategic move in order to gain access to Colgan’s partners,

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

and

. On July 1, 2010, Delta Air Lines sold

to Pinnacle in a $62 million transaction. Mesaba's fleet consisted of 41 CRJ-900s, 18 CRJ-200s, and several Saab 340 aircraft. After acquisition, Pinnacle merged all three subsidiary airlines into one. All pilots flying for Mesaba and Colgan eventually became pilots for Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. On 1 April 2012, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation and subsidiaries filed for

bankruptcy protection Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

under

of the United States Bankruptcy Code. The airline subsidiaries discontinued all operations of Saab 340 and Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft by the end of November 2012. On May 1, 2013, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation emerged from chapter 11 reorganization as a wholly owned subsidiary of

. The company's main airline, Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., was renamed to

on August 1, 2013 and the holding company ceased to exist. On September 27, 2018, former Pinnacle Airlines CEO Philip Trenary was shot dead in Memphis.

Headquarters

Pinnacle Airlines Corp. had their headquarters in Memphis,

, near the airport, inking a 13-year lease to become the anchor tenant in the 29-story office tower. In 2010 Pinnacle Airlines Corp. considered moving its headquarters to

Downtown Memphis Downtown Memphis is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee, and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south, and Interstate 240 (Tennessee), Interstate 240 to the east, where ...

and to

Olive Branch, Mississippi Olive Branch is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, sixth most populous city in Mississippi, US, located in DeSoto County, Mississippi, DeSoto County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 39,711. Olive Branch ...

Greater Memphis The Memphis–Clarksdale–Forrest City Combined Statistical Area, TN–MS–AR (CSA) is the commercial and cultural hub of the Mid-South or Ark-Miss-Tenn. The census-defined combined statistical area covers eleven counties in three states, Tenne ...

. Pinnacle selected

One Commerce Square One Commerce Square is a 30-story skyscraper in Downtown Memphis which is locally referred to as the "iBank Tower". The building was formerly known as the NBC Building and the SunTrust Building, and is the fourth tallest building in Memphis, Ten ...

in Downtown Memphis. The Center City Commission, the City of Memphis, and Shelby County gave out $10 million in incentives, including free parking, to convince Pinnacle to move to Downtown Memphis.Risher, Wayne.
Pinnacle's decision to move Downtown lifts hopes for other development
" ''

The Commercial Appeal ''The Commercial Appeal'' (also known as the ''Memphis Commercial Appeal'') is a daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by the Gannett Company; its former owner, the E. W. Scripps Company, also ...

''. October 8, 2010. Retrieved on October 8, 2010.

References

External links

Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
(Archive) {{Airline holding companies of the United States Airline holding companies of the United States Companies based in Memphis, Tennessee Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 Airlines based in Tennessee