Allegheny Airlines

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Allegheny Airlines was a regional airline based in the eastern United States that operated from 1953 to 1979. It started as All American Aviation Company in 1939 to deliver mail, became All American Airways in 1949, and was renamed Allegheny Airlines on January 1, 1953.

Its routes mainly served Pennsylvania and nearby states, with expansion to cities like Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, New York LaGuardia, Norfolk, Toronto, and beyond. After merging with Lake Central in 1968 and Mohawk Airlines in 1972, its network grew to Chicago, St. Louis, Montreal, Minneapolis, and other cities, with later service to Houston, Florida, and Phoenix.

Allegheny introduced jet service in the mid-1960s and added a range of jets over the years, including DC-9s, 727s, and BAC One-Elevens from the Mohawk merger. It also created the Allegheny Commuter network, a group of affiliated regional airlines, beginning with Henson Airlines in 1967.

With deregulation, the airline changed its name to USAir on October 28, 1979, to shed its regional image. The Allegheny name continued for the Allegheny Commuter network until 1989, when it became USAir Express. The parent company later became US Airways, which eventually merged with American Airlines in 2013.

Headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, with Pittsburgh International Airport as a major hub, Allegheny’s legacy continues in the airline lineage that now sits with American Airlines.