New York-based Empire Airlines and the Fokker F-28 Jet
After Allegheny dropped routes in the Northeast with deregulation, Empire Airlines jumped at the opportunity to pick up those cities.
Empire Airlines was established in 1975 in Utica, NY, as Oneida County Aviation by Paul Quackenbush, a former Navy diver who used his hazard pay to take flying lessons. When he left the Navy, he flew for several years as a pilot for Air America in Southeast Asia before he returned to his home area and started the company, flying charters and offering flying lessons.
With the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, the dominant carrier of the area, Allegheny, began dropping routes and cities in New York state to focus on larger cities. Seeing a business opportunity, Quackenbush led Empire to expand its operations using nearby Syracuse-Hancock International Airport as a hub with more capable aircraft, the first new types being the Swearingen Metro turboprops.
Empire became a publicly-traded company in 1980 and the proceeds from the stock sale funded the purchase of its first two Fokker F28 jets which entered service in August of that year. The new jets not only connected western New York and upstate New York with New York City but also Washington DC, Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, Providence and Hartford among others as well as Ottawa and Montreal.
In 1983 Empire added 4 F28s to its fleet of 10 with the bankruptcy of Altair Airlines. By this point, Empire was one of the leaders of the regional airline industry and that got it the attention of Piedmont Airlines who had a large hub operation in Baltimore. Empire was acquired by Piedmont in 1985 and Piedmont itself was acquired by US Air in 1986.