Capitol Air

Capitol Air was a United States supplemental air carrier regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated most US commercial air transport. From 1979, Capitol was a scheduled passenger airline. From 1964, supplemental air carriers were just charter carriers but until 1964 Capitol did a small amount of scheduled flying. The airline was founded as Capitol Airways in 1946. In the mid-1950s Capitol primarily flew for the military and was a founding carrier of the US Air Force Logair domestic freight system. In 1954–1955 Capitol operated a Tennessee intrastate airline called Volunteer Airlines. By 1960 Capitol developed commercial charter programs to Europe and for a time was the second-largest supplemental by revenue. It introduced its first jet in 1963 and became Capitol International Airways in 1967. Except for a brief period in the 1960s, Capitol's financial performance was mediocre, though the mere fact it survived the regulated era made it noteworthy (most such carriers did not). 1979 US airline deregulation coincided with the death of Capitol's founder/dominant owner, following which the airline became an unsuccessful scheduled carrier under three successive new owners before its 1984 demise. The airline adopted its final name in 1982.

A lasting impact of Capitol was from its 1974 refusal to cooperate with US govt attempts to reduce transatlantic competition to benefit financially-distressed Pan Am, then the dominant US international carrier. As a result, the CAB imposed minimum transatlantic charter fares, causing a backlash that included the first 1974–1975 hearings by Senator Ted Kennedy, kicking off a process that ultimately resulted in 1979 US airline deregulation.

In 1984, entrepreneur John Catsimatidis became a significant minority shareholder of Capitol Air shortly before its demise. In 1992, Catsimatidis started a new charter airline named Capitol Air Express with a similar livery to the final livery of Capitol Air. 1990s photos of Boeing 727s in this livery relate to this later Capitol Air Express.