The Tops Supermarket news got us thinking about other local corporate rip-offs, pull-outs and victims and that got us to regional airlines.

Robert E. Peach, a World War II Navy bomber pilot who won two Distinguished Flying Crosses, started with Robinson Airlines (out of Ithaca Municipal Airport and later the Oneida County Airport) when they had only three planes in 1945.

Robinson Airlines became Mohawk Airlines [old plane photos] and Peach was the driving force behind Mohawk’s expansion, he served as president and later the board chair.

Mohawk was purchased by Washington DC based Allegheny Airlines in 1970 and Peach shot himself in Clinton NY the following year.

In 1975 Allegheny pulled its Adirondack regional operations out and “refocused” on the Alleghenies (e.g. Pittsburgh).

Allegheny became a part of US Airways Group in the 1980s.

In 1978 Paul Quackenbush founded Empire Airlines, which filled the Allegheny void and grew to over 24 departures a day in 1987 when they were purchased by Piedmont Airlines which also became a part of US Airways Group which relocated the regional reservations and maintenance facilities.

Can anyone report on the status of regional airlines today?