Pro Air was a United States airline founded by Kevin Stamper in July 1997 to serve the centrally located Detroit City Airport in Detroit, Michigan. Its headquarters were in the Lower Queen Anne area of Seattle, Washington.

Pro Air charged extremely low fares and experienced high passenger load factors on most of its flights; however, many of its flights were delayed with mechanical and crew problems.

When Pro Air 737's underwent "C" maintenance checks, Spirit Airlines, Pan Am Clipper Connection, and Casino Express operated their flights for them via charters. A Pan Am Boeing 727 collapsed the fence at the end of runway 33 in at Detroit City Airport (DET) due to having to significantly increase engine thrust because of the short runway takeoff length of 5000 ft.

Pro Air required its initial employees to go "door-to-door" in the metropolitan Detroit area and pass out flyers promoting the airline. The airline's first flight crew base was located in Indianapolis. Most employees moved to the Detroit area when the Detroit City Airport hub operation commenced in 1998.

Pro Air was in direct competition with Northwest Airlines on many of their routes. They originally started with a single fare for everyone, but about 18 months afterwards they went to tiered fares with advance purchase requirements. They also had originally served full meals in coach (in addition to first class) but scrapped the program after realizing that the cost of the meal accounted for, on average, 10% of the fare that the customer paid. They were known for their signature "hot meal" service (even on the 35 minute DET-MDW route) in First Class along with premium alcoholic beverage service, and were the only airline to charge a mere $2 for beer and wine in Economy class (mixed drinks were $3).

Pro Air pioneered one of the lowest fares on the DET-LGA-DET route at $59 each way (which has since been topped by Spirit Airlines $0.01 fares). "Founder's Fares" were offered for those passengers who already flew them as a "thank you" promotion. Detroit-area vehicle manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler also had programs in place for their employees and their families who flew on Pro Air with discounted fares of $30 each way being available. After slightly more than three years of operations, Pro Air was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on September 18, 2000 for numerous regulatory violations and its aircraft were then quickly repossessed by the lessor.

...
Wikipedia