HISTORY OF AIRLINE SERVICE AT COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
Passenger airline service at Columbus, GA began on August 1, 1944 when Eastern Air Lines added the city as a stop between Atlanta and Montgomery, Alabama. These short flights were segments of a multi-stop New York to New Orleans route flown once daily in each direction. Above: A 1950s postcard showing an Eastern Douglas DC-3 at the terminal in Columbus. Below: A highlighted excerpt from Eastern's 1944 Annual Report announcing the new service.
Nearly three years later, on July 1, 1947, Delta added Columbus as a stop along a new alternate route between Atlanta and Fort Worth. This article appeared in the July 2, 1947 Atlanta Constitution.
Columbus gained a third airline on June 25, 1949 when Southern Airways started multi-stop service between Atlanta and Jacksonville. The airline would also add an Atlanta - Charleston route via Columbus later in the year. The trio of Southern, Delta and Eastern dominated airline service at Columbus through the late 1970s. Timetable from the Craig Morris collection via timetableimages.com.
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This aerial photo circa 1949 shows the airport with essentially the same basic X shape layout that still exists today with the passenger terminal located north of the intersection of runways 5/23 and 12/30. Photo from the Digital Library of Georgia.
Mid-South Airways briefly operated commuter service to Columbus in 1960 with a daily round trip to Augusta, GA via Macon and Americus. Timetable courtesy of Don Henchel.
A 1960s postcard view of Columbus Muscogee County Airport.
A detail of a 1961 Airline Map of the United States courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection shows Columbus as a stop along numerous "milk runs" between larger cities. Trunk airlines Eastern and Delta are shown in red and local service airline Southern is in green.
Jet service to Columbus began in 1968. A shiny new Delta Air Lines Douglas DC-9 is pictured on the ramp in this July 16, 1968 photo.
With their new fast jets, Southern Airways boldly inaugurated DC-9 service between Columbus, Washington, DC and New York City in 1968, bypassing connections with major airlines in Atlanta. This September 3, 1968 timetable shows two daily non-stops to Washington Dulles, continuing on to New York LaGuardia. Image courtesy of Bjorn Larsson at timetableimages.com.
A Delta DC-9-14 in the sideways widget paint scheme at Columbus in 1968.
A December 8, 1968 aerial view of CSG shows construction of the extension of runway 5/23.
A close up of the terminal from the same December 8, 1968 photo shows a pair of Convair 340/440s on the ramp. An educated guess is that the plane at left is an Eastern 440 and the plane at right with the darkly painted engines is a Delta 440.
A Southern Airways ad from early 1970 announcing five daily non-stops between Columbus and the New York area.
An Eastern Air Lines DC-9 landing at Columbus Metropolitan Airport on November 2, 1970.
The October 15, 1971 Official Airline Guide shows 27 daily or near-daily arrivals at Columbus with all but 5 being flown with DC-9s.
A Southern Airways DC-9 taxis to the terminal on January 7, 1972
Southern Airways Martin 404 at Columbus sometime in 1973. Photo courtesy of Alan.
Southern Martin 404 N587S at CSG in 1973. Photo courtesy of Alan.
Photo of Roy P. Saffold, the first passenger to fly out of Columbus when Eastern initiated service on August 1, 1944. He was 15 at the time. This was taken on the 30th anniversary of that flight.
A wonderful view of a Delta DC-9-32 at Columbus Metropolitan in 1975. Photo from the collection of Alan.
It was often standing room only during the midday rush in the 1970s as the old terminal was regularly packed with soldiers from nearby Ft. Benning as seen in this September 23, 1976 photo.
Delta Air Lines city timetable effective April 24, 1977 shows a total of nine daily departures from Columbus: five to Atlanta, one to Baton Rouge, one to Monroe, LA with continuing service to Dallas/Ft. Worth, and two to Montgomery. All flights were operated with Douglas DC-9-32s.
Following the passage of airline deregulation in 1978, major airlines began to cut short haul service to small and medium size cities in favor of more profitable routes. Southern Airways left Columbus in April 1979, nearly 30 years since their first DC-3 made its inaugural flight. Eastern's May 1, 1979 timetable shows service to Columbus reduced to only a single flight a day. By July they had dropped CSG completely.
Realizing that is was only a matter of time before Columbus and other cities across the south could soon be facing drastic reductions or complete elimination of air service, three Southern Airways executives formed Atlantic Southeast Airlines. On June 27, 1979, ASA's very first revenue flight, a Twin Otter from Columbus to Atlanta, took to the sky.
Realizing that is was only a matter of time before Columbus and other cities across the south could soon be facing drastic reductions or complete elimination of air service, three Southern Airways executives formed Atlantic Southeast Airlines. On June 27, 1979, ASA's very first revenue flight, a Twin Otter from Columbus to Atlanta, took to the sky.
ASA's Twin Otter being loaded for the airline's first flight to Atlanta.
ASA's service was an immediate success. Their September 15, 1979 timetable shows six daily or near-daily round trips between Columbus and Atlanta.
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Air South began flying between Columbus and Atlanta on September 1, 1979 using ex-Southern Airways Martin 404s, but service soon ended when the airline went out of business in January 1980.
The ticket counters and waiting room at CSG on August 3, 1981.
Atlanta Express Airlines tried to take advantage of the departure of Eastern and Southern and began flying to Columbus in early 1982 but found it impossible to compete against Delta's jets and ASA's high frequencies and low overhead.
The mid 1980s saw the rise of code-share affiliations between major airlines and commuters. ASA became a Delta Connection carrier in 1984 and augmented Delta's schedules at Columbus. Eastern Air Lines countered by creating Eastern Metro Express, which offered commuter flights to many of the same cities the airline had dropped since deregulation, including Columbus. This Eastern Metro Express route map is from December 15, 1985.
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By the late 1980s, plans were underway for the construction of a modern new passenger terminal to replace the aging building that had served the airport for decades. Although expanded over the years, the earliest sections of this terminal were built in the 1940s. The tail of a Delta DC-9 can be seen in this January 21, 1988 photo.
A Delta DC-9 at the old terminal on January 25, 1988.
The tail of an ASA Shorts 360 frames the old terminal in this February 27, 1988 view.
The new two-story terminal opened in 1991 and featured a jetway for Delta flights and parking for six commuter planes. A Delta 737, American Eagle Saab 340 and Northwest Airlink Saab 340 are seen in this circa 1993 photo. The old terminal can be seen at far left.
A rainy day in March 1993 finds a Delta 737 and USAir Express Dash 8 on the ramp. The old terminal is behind the 737. Delta was operating 3 flights a day at CSG with a combination of 737s and MD-80s, USAir Express was flying the Dash 8s twice a day to USAir's Charlotte hub via Montgomery, AL.
The Official Airline Guide effective November 15, 1994 shows the following routes to and from Columbus. Basically, there were four major airlines trying to funnel traffic into their respective southeast hubs: Northwest Airlink (Saab 340) nonstop to Memphis and and direct to Memphis via Montgomery, American Eagle (Saab 340 and Jetstream 31) to Nashville, Delta (737 and MD-80) and Delta Connection/ASA (Embraer Brasilia) to Atlanta and USAir Express (Dash 8 and Jetstream 31) to Charlotte and Montgomery. Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper copyright Karl L. Swartz.
Five airlines proved to be too many at CSG. The pie had been divided too many ways and resulted in too many empty seats. American Eagle was the first to retreat, ending six years of service in October 1995, citing low traffic volume.
More significantly, 5 decades of major airline service to Columbus ended in December 1995 when Delta discontinued mainline flights to the city, replacing them with Delta Connection affiliate Atlantic Southeast Airlines commuter aircraft. ASA had just received their first jets, the 88-passenger BAe 146, but the planes were initially plagued with problems and delays and cancellations were frequent. Traffic dropped considerably following the changeover.
Here's a postcard view of an ASA BAe-146-200.
More significantly, 5 decades of major airline service to Columbus ended in December 1995 when Delta discontinued mainline flights to the city, replacing them with Delta Connection affiliate Atlantic Southeast Airlines commuter aircraft. ASA had just received their first jets, the 88-passenger BAe 146, but the planes were initially plagued with problems and delays and cancellations were frequent. Traffic dropped considerably following the changeover.
Here's a postcard view of an ASA BAe-146-200.
Gulfstream International briefly served Columbus in late 1995 and early 1996 with flights to Atlanta and Birmingham using Beech 99s.
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ASA's BAe 146 service was short-lived and the airline soon returned to all turboprop flights at Columbus. The April 2000 OAG shows ASA flying 7 flights a day from Atlanta with ATR-72s and Embraer Brasilias. Northwest Airlink was operating 3 flights a day from Memphis and 2 from Dothan, all with Saab 340s. US Airways Express offered 4 flights a day from Charlotte using Jetstream 31s.
During the 2000s, traffic continued to dwindle at CSG. Northwest Airlink left in 2001 and US Airways pulled out in 2003 leaving Delta Connection as the sole remaining service. American returned in 2010 with two daily regional jet non-stops to their Dallas-Ft. Worth hub but left in 2013, once again blaming low traffic figures. Since that time, Delta Connection has provided the only scheduled flights at Columbus, with non-stops into Delta's ATL hub. Soaring fuel costs, air traffic congestion, delays and long security wait times since 9/11 have made the short flight to ATL increasingly impractical. The Columbus Airport website suggests arriving 90 minutes before your flight, the same amount of time it takes to drive to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Columbus has recently offered financial incentives to bring a second airline to the airport, so far with no success. In the meantime, Delta Connection continues to provide daily jet service to Atlanta. Delta's March 2, 2018 schedule shows 4 CRJ flights a day between CSG and ATL, operated by Endeavor Air.
CRJ-900ER N691CA is pictured at CSG. Despite its narrow fuselage and relatively small size, it actually seats more than the DC-9-14s flown by Eastern and Delta in the 1960s and 70s. Photo from the Columbus Airport website.
Columbus has recently offered financial incentives to bring a second airline to the airport, so far with no success. In the meantime, Delta Connection continues to provide daily jet service to Atlanta. Delta's March 2, 2018 schedule shows 4 CRJ flights a day between CSG and ATL, operated by Endeavor Air.
CRJ-900ER N691CA is pictured at CSG. Despite its narrow fuselage and relatively small size, it actually seats more than the DC-9-14s flown by Eastern and Delta in the 1960s and 70s. Photo from the Columbus Airport website.
