Simmons Airlines
 |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Founded | 1978 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | 1978 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | May 15, 1998 successor: American Eagle Airlines |
||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Parent company | AMR Corporation | ||||||
| Headquarters | Marquette, Michigan (later Chicago, Illinois) | ||||||
Simmons Airlines was a United States airline. It was the predecessor to American Eagle Airlines. Its headquarters were originally near Marquette, Michigan, at the Marquette County Airport in Negaunee, and were eventually moved to the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois.
Simmons Airlines, Inc. began operations in 1978 between Marquette and Lansing using a Piper Navajo. Operations expanded in the 1980s to link multiple points in Michigan to Chicago and Detroit, and its fleet expanded with Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, Shorts 360s, and YS-11s. It began operating as a Republic Express branded carrier on April 28, 1985 (later Northwest Airlink) serving markets from Detroit, and as an American Eagle branded carrier on October 1, 1985 serving markets from Chicago.
Simmons was acquired by AMR Corp. on August 1, 1987 and ended Northwest Airlink flights soon after. On May 28, 1993, it acquired certain assets of the holdings of Metro Airlines. Metro Airlines and its holdings Metro Airlines Leasing d/b/a Metroflight, operated American Eagle flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and had recently acquired Chaparral Airlines just prior the asset acquisition by AMR Simmons.
...
Wikipedia