Britt Airways was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1964 until it merged with ExpressJet in 1996. It was established as Vercoa Air Service in 1964 and renamed to Britt Airlines when it was purchased by William and Marilyn Britt in 1975 later on Britt Airways.[3] It was based in Terre Haute, Indiana until 1996. It began as a commuter airline. It primarily operated turboprop aircraft but also flew British Aircraft CorporationBAC One-Eleven twinjets as an independent air carrier at one point as well. The airline evolved into a regional air carrier operating code share flights primarily for Continental Airlines.
In 1985, the founder and owner of Britt Airways, Bill Britt, sold the airline to People Express. A new hub at St. Louis was established and select flights from St. Louis began operating under code sharing with People Express (PE) while other flights, including all flights at Chicago, remained operating under the RU code for Britt Airways.
Frank Lorenzo's holding company, Texas Air Corporation, acquired People Express later in 1985.[13] Texas Air Corporation had previously acquired Continental Airlines (CO) and merged Texas International Airlines (predecessor to Texas Air) and CO under the Continental name in 1982. In 2010 Continental merged into United Airlines.
On February 1, 1987 People Express and Continental were merged retaining the Continental Airlines name. All Britt Airways operations began code sharing flights under the Continental Express banner for Continental from its major hubs located at Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH, now George Bush Intercontinental Airport) in Houston, Texas, and at the former People Express hub at Newark International Airport (EWR, now Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey.[14][15] All flights at Britt's original and long-standing operation at the Chicago O'hare hub were also transitioned to flying as Continental Express however the entire Chicago operation was discontinued in early 1989. Britt also had a single route from the former Chicago Meigs Field airport to Springfield, IL which continued until 1991. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in 1989 Britt was the primary Continental Express carrier at Houston Intercontinental operating ATR-42 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia propjet aircraft on feeder services on behalf of Continental.[16] By 1991, the airline was the primary Continental Express carrier at Newark as well operating ATR-42 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia aircraft according to the OAG.[17][18]
Beginning in November, 1987, Continental Airlines established a hub at Cleveland Hopkins Airport (CLE) and Britt began operating as the Continental Express feeder carrier there flying Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II model) propjets. By 1989, Britt was operating all Continental Express flights from Cleveland with Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia propjets.[19]
According to its May 29, 1984 route map, Britt Airways was serving the following destinations as an independent air carrier.[21] Destinations noted in bold were receiving British Aircraft CorporationBAC One-Eleven jet service operated by Britt in early 1985.[22]
Britt operated the following aircraft types at different times over the years. Fleet information is taken from the Britt historical website, www.brittairlines.com
The airline's first fatal accident was on Jan. 30, 1984, when a repositioning flight from Terre Haute, Indiana to Evansville, Indiana crashed shortly after takeoff from Hulman Regional Airport in Terre Haute. Three Britt employees were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board could not determine the cause of the crash but found unauthorized wiring in the plane debris. The plane, N63Z, was destroyed.
