History of Colgan Air In 1965, Charles J. Colgan Sr. and sixteen stockholders organized Colgan Airways Corporation that became the fixed based operator at Manassas Airport. In 1970 the company began scheduled airline operations between Manassas and Washington's Dulles and Poughkeepsie, NY under contract with IBM that had been located in Manassas, VA. By 1986 the company was operating nine aircraft to twelve cities from Washington National and Washington's Dulles International Airports. In 1986 the company was sold to Presidential Airlines at Dulles International Airport. In 1991, after Presidential had gone out of business, Charles J. Colgan, Sr. and his son Mike Colgan organized Colgan Air, Inc. and went back into business with one airplane. July 1, 1997, Colgan Air became a Continental Connection through a marketing alliance-code share agreement with Continental Airlines. December 11, 1999, Colgan Air started operating under a code-share and service agreement as a US Airways Express Carrier. March, 2005, reintroduced as Continental Connection. October 4, 2005, Colgan Air started operating under a code-share and service agreement as United Express. January 17, 2007, Colgan Air was acquired by the Pinnacle Airlines Corp., the parent company of Pinnacle Airlines, Inc. a regional airline doing business as Northwest Airlink. This strategic acquisition offers extraordinary opportunities for diversification and expansion into multiple platforms The acquisition of Colgan Air provided access three more of the eight major carriers in the United States. Combined, Pinnacle Airlines Corp., provided service as a Continental Connection, United Express, Northwest Airlink and US Airways Express. 2008, Served more than 2.5 million passengers.