DOT revokes authority of five dormant US carriers

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has revoked the certificate authority of five dormant carriers – Island Air, Trans States Airlines, Island Airlines, Compass Airlines, and PenAir – citing among other reasons, the voluntary surrendering of their respective licences as well as dormancy.

Island Air (Hawaii) (WP, Honolulu): suspended all operations on November 11, 2017, unable to reach an agreement with lessor Elix Aviation Capital over overdue payments for the lease of its three DHC-8-Q400s. The carrier was already in Chapter 11 restructuring but subsequently converted to Chapter 7 liquidation.

Trans States Airlines (AX, St. Louis Lambert Int’l): shut down in April 2020 after United Airlines decided to move all the E145s Trans States operated on its behalf, to ExpressJet Airlines. Trans States Airlines did not have any other customers.

Island Airlines (IS, Nantucket): a carrier, not related to Island Air (Hawaii), which suspended Cessna (single turboprop) C208 and Cessna (twin turboprop) C404 operations in New England in December 2015. The carrier voluntarily surrendered its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and Operational Specifications in January 2016.

Compass Airlines (United States of America) (CP, Minneapolis/St. Paul): the sister of Trans States Airlines, and also owned by Trans States Holdings, suspended operations shortly after Trans States, on April 5, 2020, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline operated E175s on behalf of mainline carriers. Start-up Breeze Airways attempted to buy Compass’ certificate to accelerate its own launch but ultimately scrapped these plans. On May 19, 2021, Compass Airlines told the DOT that it would no longer pursue the reinstatement of its authority.

PenAir (NLA, Anchorage Ted Stevens): suspended operations in April 2020 as its parent, RavnAir Group, filed for Chapter 11 restructuring. During the subsequent liquidation of the holding, California’s FLOAT acquired the certificates of PenAir and its sister carrier Corvus Airlines. It subsequently restarted operations as Ravn Alaska in November 2020 but only using Corvus Airlines’ permit. As such, PenAir’s certificate remains inactive and will not be utilised by its new owner.