CP CPZ Destinations 50 Founded 2006 | CPZ COMPASS Fleet size 62 | |
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Parent organizations Hubs Los Angeles International Airport, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, Seattle–Tacoma International Airport Profiles | ||
Compass Airlines, LLC, is a regional airline headquartered in Delta Air Lines Building C at Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport in Fort Snelling, Hennepin County, Minnesota; prior to December 16, 2009, it was headquartered in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, east of the Chantilly CDP. The airline launched inaugural service with a single Bombardier CRJ200LR aircraft under the Northwest Airlink (now Delta Connection) brand between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Washington, D.C. on May 2, 2007. On August 21, 2007, it began flying two Embraer 175 76-passenger aircraft, and expanded to 36 aircraft by December 2008.
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In July 2010, the airline was purchased from Delta Air Lines and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans States Holdings.
History
Compass Airlines was formed as a result of a contract dispute between Northwest Airlines and its pilots' union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). The Northwest Airlines pilot group was asked to give relief on a section of their collective bargaining agreement governing "scope", which protects pilot jobs by ensuring that an airline's customers are flown by the employees of that airline. The pilots eventually agreed to a concession on the scope of their contract allowing a limited number of 76-seat aircraft to be flown by outsourced pilots working for a subcontractor regional airline. In exchange for their concession the Northwest Airlines pilots demanded in return that the pilots of these new aircraft would eventually "flow-up" into mainline pilot jobs at Northwest Airlines, and that Northwest Airlines pilots would retain the ability to "flow-down" into the newly subcontracted pilot jobs in the event that Northwest Airlines were to furlough the mainline pilots.
In order to adapt to the agreement, and fulfill a need to serve the regional markets with smaller, more efficient aircraft and a dramatically reduced wage labor force, Northwest bought the operating certificate of bankrupt Independence Air on March 10th, 2006 for $2 million. During the concept phase, the subsidiary was known as "NewCo". Compass' operations are limited to 76-seat aircraft or less, due to the language in the pilot contract at the mainline carrier.
On September 28, 2006, Compass Airlines officially received approval from the United States Department of Transportation to begin operations. On April 5, 2007, Compass Airlines received FAA certification to begin commercial passenger operations with a CRJ-200
On May 2, 2007, the airline had their first revenue flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Minneapolis−Saint Paul International Airport, which maintained the operating certificate. Compass implemented Embraer operations on August 21, 2007.
On July 1, 2010, Delta Air Lines announced that it sold Compass Airlines to Trans States Holdings for US$20.5 million. Despite the change in ownership, Compass still shares many things with their former parents, including the pre-merger Northwest online crew scheduling software RADAR, headquarters in a Delta-owned building, and a logo that is a modified version of the final Northwest Airlines logo.
On March 27, 2015, the airline began flying one of twenty brand new Embraer E-175, operating for American Airlines under the American Eagle (airline brand), with the initial flight being from Los Angeles International Airport to Houston Intercontinental Airport.
Compass has its maintenance bases in Detroit, Los Angeles, Louisville, Minneapolis/St. Paul, San Francisco, and Seattle/Tacoma.
Crew Bases
Fleet
As of October 2015, the Compass Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Labor relations
Both the Pilot and Flight Attendant groups are unionized, with the Pilots being represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, and the Flight Attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants
The flight attendants negotiated and approved a five-year contract with the company on May 1, 2013, following a failed vote on a tentative agreement in late 2011. The new contract gave employees pay increases, a larger 401(k) match, a signing bonus, and other working condition improvements.
On August 25, 2010, Compass Airlines fired a flight attendant after she appeared on a local television program admitting publicly that she qualified for food stamps, even though she was a full-time employee of the airline.