CalJet Airlines (Part 2)
19th in a Series: A Fictional California Airline - Part 2 of 2
[ This is the 2nd of 2 articles about CalJet | See Part 1 ]
CalJet Airlines is an American low-cost regional airline headquartered on the grounds of Oakland International Airport (OAK) in Oakland, California USA, that has been operating since 1950.
History (Continuing from Part 1)
1950-1978: A Summary of the Story So Far
👉 For Details of CalJet’s pre-1979 History, see: CalJet Airlines (Part 1)
As discussed in the Part 1 article of this story, CalJet began operations on 14 April 1950 as CalAir, a small intrastate airline with four Douglas prop airliners servicing 6 cities in California. The company’s footprint within the state grew to 10 cities by 1953, then to 19 cities by 1963.
During the first 5 years of its existence CalAir was effectively forbidden to expand its route network beyond California’s borders, due to onerous regulations imposed by the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), whose slothful bureaucratic tendencies provided no realistic path for an intrastate carrier to transform itself into an interstate or international airline.
However, thanks to clever legal and regulatory ingenuity, the company’s cofounders, George Calabrese and Vincent Calabrese, were able to overcome this problem by taking over an older interstate trunk airline named Chicago Western Airlines, moving it to California and turning it into an interstate version of CalAir, called CalAir Interstate, while the existing carrier became CalAir Intrastate. This allowed CalAir to serve destinations in nearby states, such as Las Vegas-LAS and Seattle-SEA, a couple of more distant major cities like Chicago-ORD and Denver-DEN, and Honolulu-HNL. (See also “CalAir Splits Into Three Companies” in Part 1.)
But the Interstate/Intrastate hat trick only worked for CalAir up to a certain point. Getting the needed CAB approvals was such a glacial process that by 1963, CalAir effectively stopped trying to expand its network beyond California, having been able to successfully add only 8 out of state destinations during those years:
Honolulu-HNL, Hawaii USA
Chicago-ORD, Illinois USA
Las Vegas-LAS, Nevada USA
Acapulco-ACA, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta-PVR, Mexico
Portland-PDX, Oregon USA
Seattle-SEA, Washington USA
Yuma-YUM, Arizona USA
The company continued to prosper within California and along the routes it already had crossing state boundaries, but was otherwise regulatorily hemmed in.
But the US Airline Deregulation Act, signed into law in October 1978, would quickly change the game for CalJet in many ways. (See also “Airline Deregulation Act Becomes Law” in Part 1.)
1979: Post-Deregulation Growth Begins
When it became clear to CalJet Airlines CEO George Calabrese in late September 1978 that the Airline Deregulation Act was about to become law, he and other CalJet executives immediately began researching what new out of state markets the company might enter next.
His staff quickly drew up a list of over 70 new destinations and, together with his son, COO Mark Calabrese (1939-2013), George Calabrese worked to select the first 7 cities they might add to the CalJet route map.
They decided to be conservative at first, choosing only:
Destinations located within states they were already flying to - Hawaii and Nevada, for example; OR
Destinations that were previously served by either of the two defunct interstate airlines whose air operator’s certificates they obtained back in the 1950s: namely Central California Airways and Chicago Western Airlines.
Between the two categories there were plenty of destinations to choose from, especially because both former airlines flew scheduled service to many cities across the central and western US as well as into Mexico and the Caribbean.
By late 1978 the decisions were made, and in early 1979 CalJet swiftly redeployed some of its aircraft - namely several Boeing 707-320s, Boeing 727-200 Advanceds, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s - to began nonstop jet service from Los Angeles-LAX, San Francisco-SFO and/or Oakland-OAK to these first destinations:
Dallas-DFW, Texas - Boeing 727-200 Advanced
Guadalajara-GDL, Mexico - Boeing 707-320B
Houston-IAH, Texas - Boeing 727-200 Advanced
Maui-OGG, Hawaii - Boeing 707-320B
Reno/Tahoe-RNO, Nevada - McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Salt Lake City-SLC, Utah - Boeing 727-200 Advanced
Tucson-TUS, Arizona - McDonnell Douglas DC-9
Reno-RNO was chosen to replace South Lake Tahoe-TVL, which the airline used for many years because TVL was located in California next to the Nevada border. However, RNO was a bigger airport with better support for jet services.
Meanwhile, while Boise-BOI was in the original 7 city list for 1979, it was replaced at the last minute by Guadalajara-GDL. Someone on the executive staff had pointed out Guadalajara was by far one of Los Angeles-LAX’s most popular international destinations, and thus would be a far more lucrative destination to serve than Boise-BOI. This particular decision quickly proved to be a very prescient and lucrative choice, because Guadalajara-GDL has remained CalJet’s most highly trafficked destination in Mexico ever since.
With airline deregulation now well underway, on 1 January 1980 the company also voted to formally reunite CalJet Intrastate Airlines and CalJet International Airlines with its parent company CalJet Airlines, to form a single privately-held entity named CalJet, Inc.
1980-1983: Unbridled Expansion Continues
During the previous 28 years from 1950 through 1978, CalJet had managed to expand its reach to 29 cities - all but 8 of them within California.
During the next 5 year period from 1979 to 1983, the carrier expanded to 34 new destinations - only one of them in California - literally doubling the size of CalJet’s route map.
In 1980 CalJet added New Orleans-MSY, Phoenix-PHX and winter resort destinations like Steamboat Springs-HDN, Sun Valley-SUN and La Paz-LAP in Mexico. Boise-BOI was also added to make up for it missing the original 1978 list, while Grand Canyon-GCN was added on a whim.
During 1981 the company added Vancouver-YVR - CalJet’s first Canadian destination - along with places like San Antonio-SAT, Kansas City-MCI and Albuquerque-ABQ. Two more resort cities in Mexico, Manzanillo-ZLO and Mazatlán-MZT, also made the list.
In 1982 CalJet began service to St Louis-STL and Colorado Springs-COS, along with a 2nd Canadian city, Calgary-YYC.
Then in 1983 the carrier began using the Douglas DC-9s to connect to resort destinations like Aspen-ASE and Eagle/Vail-EGE in Colorado and Jackson Hole-JAC in Wyoming, as well as adding a Boeing 727-200 Advanced service to San Francisco-SFO «» Kauai-LIH in Hawaii; a new Los Angeles «» Kauai-LIH route was also added in early 1984. CalJet also inaugurated new intrastate routes to Stockton-SCK «» Los Angeles-LAX and Stockton-SCK «» Ontario-ONT.
By the end of 1983, all of this unbridled expansion resulted in CalJet flying to more destinations outside of California (42) than within California (19), making CalJet a major competitor within several markets around the Western United States.
1983: Fleet Changes
As mentioned previously, in the years immediately following the airline deregulation process, CalJet experienced unprecedented growth. The airline had extended its route network ever deeper into the Western United States, Mexico and Canada, while also increasing flight frequencies on its existing routes. This was especially the case on routes between cities in Northern and Southern California, as well as on important routes to cities outside California, such as to Las Vegas-LAS, Mexico, Chicago-ORD and so on.
To satisfy this demand, more planes were needed to update the fleet.
During 1979 George Calabrese placed an order for several new Boeing 757-200 aircraft, with plans to replace the company’s Boeing 707s, and to increase seat availability on its busiest routes. Two years later, in 1981, Mr Calabrese also ordered the company’s first Boeing 737s - the Boeing 737-300 - with an eye towards replacing at least most of the company’s fleet of Douglas DC-9s.
These two orders were intended to begin a transition towards becoming an all-Boeing (and an all-737) fleet over time, although things would not work out precisely that way.
The CalJet Sunset Livery
As part of CalJet’s fleet modernization effort during the early 1980s, Mr Calabrese also commissioned a new livery.
Created by NovaSense Designs, a California design studio, the new livery was designed to invoke the colors of a California sunset as the sun sinks below the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Called the Sunset Livery, it began with a slightly different shade of the traditional CalJet Gold color tone on the top half of the fuselage and on the tail, followed by 3 additional horizontal stripes colored from top to bottom in deep brown, red and purple respectively. In the lower right corner of the tail was a swirling, artistically-drawn lemon-yellow sun with 5 sunrays extending outwards from it. Also on the tail the brand name “CALJET” was prominently displayed in a newer generation sans-serif font. A new brand slogan - “A Golden State of Mind” - was also imprinted on the front of the fuselage just above the first set of passenger windows.
The new design was a significant change from the company’s current tri-color “hockey stick” style livery. NovaSense carefully test-marketed the new livery in pictures and illustrations, surveying over 1000 CalJet customers as they were passing through Los Angeles-LAX and San Francisco-SFO airports, and most customers reportedly liked the new color scheme.
But when the new livery was rolled out as part of the first of the new Boeing 757-200 starting revenue service from Los Angeles-LAX to Honolulu-HNL, the livery was not as well received. While some simply preferred the tri-color design in general, the biggest complaint by far seemed to be the removal of CalJet’s ubiquitous CalJet Grin from the aircraft’s nose. Many customers said the grin made CalJet’s aircraft feel sunnier and happier to them. 🙄
Nonetheless, despite these complaints, the new, not-so-loved Sunset livery remained in service for the next 16 years.
As for the 757 itself, that new aircraft type proved to be an outstanding choice and quickly became a company favorite. In addition to its flagship service to Hawaii, the Boeing 757 quickly found its way onto domestic and international routes alike, seeing scheduled service to places like Chicago-ORD, Acapulco-ACA, Dallas-DAL, and Houston-IAH, among others. It became the standard aircraft type flying between Los Angeles-LAX «» San Francisco-SFO, as well as to Seattle-SEA and Vancouver-YVR.
It was originally expected that the Boeing 757 would have a service life of perhaps 25 years within the CalJet fleet, leaving around 2010 or so. But in reality, the 757 came to be such a reliable and rock-steady aircraft that it wound up staying on as the carrier’s flagship aircraft for much longer - over 40 years, the longest service lifespan of any aircraft type in the company’s history to date.
Meanwhile, on 5 January 1984 CalJet’s last Boeing 707-320B made its final flight from San Francisco-SFO «» Honolulu-HNL and return, then making a quick hop across the Bay back to Oakland-OAK, where it was given a formal retirement ceremony. Having been superseded by the newer Boeing 757-200, CalJet’s final Boeing 707 left the fleet to start its new career with the US Air Force as a converted aerial tanker. It was later transferred to NASA during the late 1990s, where it became an experimental test bed and zero-gravity training aircraft before finally going to the boneyard in 2023.
1984: George Calabrese Dies
George Calabrese, CalJet’s Chairman, CEO and company cofounder, passed away in his sleep while at home in Pleasanton, California at age 69.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mark Calabrese (1939-2013), George’s oldest son, became the company’s 2nd CEO, while his mother Elin Lundgren Calabrese (1916-2010), a Swedish-born former New York fashion model turned socialite, took on a generally nominal role as the company’s Chairman of the Board.
The younger Mr Calabrese graduated in 1961 from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He planned to proceed on to acquire his MBA degree, but immediately after graduation he was selected for the US military draft. Mr Calabrese willingly accepted his draft call and was inducted into the US Army, where he was deployed to Vietnam as an enlisted radioman with the US Special Forces stationed there.
He was honorably discharged from military service in 1964 and returned home, joining his father’s airline just as the company entered the Jet Age. Mr Calabrese spent his first year with his father’s airliner working as an aircraft marshaller and baggage handler, before transferring to the head office in 1968, where he worked his way up through the company ranks and ultimately became the company COO in 1978.
Mark Calabrese Takes Over
The first decision Mark Calabrese took as the new company CEO was to reduce the pace of growth in the company’s route network. The airline had roughly doubled in size during the past few years, and he wanted to better solidify those gains. So going forward, Mr Calabrese usually approved only one new destination per year on average.
Growth did continue, albeit at a more measured pace. Many of the newer destinations were a mix of resort destinations, western college towns and the occasional small regional city.
Over the next 12 years these destinations were added:
Ixtapa-ZIH, Mexico - 1984
Montrose/Telluride-MTJ, Colorado USA - 1985
Prescott-PRC, Arizona USA - 1986
San Luis Obispo-SBP, California USA - 1987
Yakima-YKM, Washington USA - 1987
Kona-KOA, Hawaii USA - 1988
Modesto-MOD, California USA - 1989
Bellingham-BLI, Washington USA - 1989
Loreto-LTO, Mexico - 1990
Redmond/Bend-RDM, Oregon USA - 1991
Bozeman-BZN, Montana USA - 1992
Kalispell-FCA, Montana USA - 1993
Missoula-MSO, Montana USA - 1994
Pullman/Moscow, Washington/Idaho-PUW - 1995
Billings-BIL, Montana - 1996
By 1996, the CalJet route network reached its greatest ever extent, as illustrated by this map:
After 1996, the company’s list of destinations remained mostly static and unchanged, while its routes and flight schedules were regularly tweaked and adjusted to meet ongoing demand.
Introducing the Fokker 100
In 1985, Mark Calabrese had begun looking at ways to service smaller cities in the CalJet route network in a more profitable manner.
Although his father, the late George Calabrese, had once laid out plans to migrate the company towards becoming an all-Boeing carrier, the junior Mr Calabrese believed the airline still needed a smaller, regional jet in its fleet. Boeing did not make such aircraft, so he proceeded to look into other possibilities.
At the time, most airlines relied on turboprop aircraft like the de Havilland Dash-8 to answer their regional airline needs. Mr Calabrese didn’t like propeller based airliners, quipping that he wasn’t running an airline named CalProp. So the company surveyed jet-based solutions from several manufacturers, especially the McDonnell Douglas’s MD-87 and the British Aerospace BAe 146.
In 1986, while visiting Europe to investigate the BAe 146 as well as the BAC One-Eleven, Mr Calabrese took a visit to London/Stansted-STN. While there he happened upon a Fokker F28 Fellowship twinjet, which he had known about previously but somehow had forgotten to consider. He decided to extend his trip and go meet with the Dutch-based Fokker aircraft company in Amsterdam. While there Mr Calabrese discovered that while the F28 was still in production even after 19 years, Fokker was also busy working on a new generation airliner: the Fokker 100, also known as the F100.
The F100 boasted several improvements over the F28, including a newer cockpit and better engines, as well as improved passenger seating: 97-109 for the F100, versus only 65-85 for the older F28. The only downside for the Fokker 100 was that it would not enter the marketplace until 1987 or 1988. The good news was that Fokker was completing the first prototype and about to begin the testing and certification process.
Mr Calabrese returned to Oakland to consider options. In June 1986 he decided to go with the Fokker 100s, and placed orders to receive them starting in 1988.
1985-1998
Following is a summary of some of the other noteworthy events during CalJet’s late 20th century history.
In 1985, CalJet took delivery of the first of its 737s: The Boeing 737-300, which would begin to replace the carrier’s aging Boeing 727-200s.
In 1986, Mark Calabrese set up CalJet to become a publicly traded company, joining the New York Stock Exchange on 14 April 1986. The company was assigned the stock ticker symbol CALJ.
In early 1989, CalJet took delivery of the first Dutch-built Fokker 100s, and began using them to replace the company’s Douglas DC-9s and to expand air service into thinner regional markets. The first F100 entered service in March 1989 flying the new Oakland-OAK «» Bellingham-BLI route, followed by the new Los Angeles-LAX «» Modesto-MOD sector.
Deliveries of both the Boeing 737-300s and Fokker 100s continued apace such that by the summer of 1992, the last of the company’s renowned Boeing 727-200s had left the fleet.
Later in 1992, CalJet placed orders for a newer, shorter variant of the Fokker 100: the 72-seat Fokker 70, also known as the F70. The Fokker 70s began delivering in January 1995, with the first one beginning service on 17 February 1995 flying the new Oakland-OAK «» Bozeman-BZN route.
By early 1996 the last of CalJet’s Douglas DC-9s were retired and sold off.
Late 1990s: More Fleet Modernization
During the mid to late 1990s, CalJet decided to significantly modernize its fleet. Historically the company had always preferred to keep its fleet limited to 3-4 specific aircraft types, and they always sought to keep the fleet fairly young. As a rule, it was uncommon for CalJet to ever fly an aircraft type for much more than 20 years, and to date it had never owned any individual aircraft that was more than 25 years of age.
At the end of 1996, the company was flying these 4 aircraft types:
Although the Boeing 737-300 and the Boeing 757-200 were both doing fairly well, by 1996 Fokker Aircraft was in the process of going into bankruptcy. While the Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 both worked out well for CalJet, it became apparent that the company would not be rescued and production of the F70 and F100 would end soon. Mr Calabrese also wanted to consider a greater selection of aircraft to fit in somewhere between the 126-seat Boeing 737-300 and the 200-seat Boeing 757-200.
After surveying the marketplace again, CalJet settled on several new aircraft types to help carry it into the 21st century. They chose several Boeing 737 NG (new generation) aircraft: Namely the Boeing 737-700 to replace its 737-300s, and the larger capacity Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-900ER to fill the midrange area between the 737-300 and 757. CalJet had mostly good experiences with the 737-300, and decided to go with the 737 series as its ongoing workhorse aircraft along the carrier’s higher capacity routes.
Meanwhile, with regard to regional airliners, Mr Calabrese did not like any of the newer generation regional jets because many were cramped and forced tall people such as him to awkwardly lean forward while walking down the aisles. CalJet ended up choosing the similar capacity Boeing 717-200 as the successor type to replace the Fokker jets.
As these new aircraft began to enter the fleet in 1999, CalJet’s fleet would comprise 8 different types of aircraft - the most diverse fleet in company history. The good news was that its 737 cockpit crews could - with a bit of training - interchangeably operate any of the four 737 types, while the Fokker pilots could still fly either the F70s or F100s as needed. Only the Boeing 757 and Boeing 717 flight crews would be locked into a single aircraft type. So plans were made to retrain Fokker pilots to fly the new 717s as much as possible as the Fokker airliners were phased out.
1999: The Sunny Day Livery
During the same period, Mr Calabrese decided it was time to roll out a new livery. He had never cared much for the Sunset livery as it was, and was ready for CalJet to embrace a new look going into the new century.
He retained Terrell & Associates, the New York-based design consultancy that had originally crafted the company’s brand identity as CalJet back in the early 1960s. After studying the existing design, Terrell decided to drop the tri-color fuselage stripes entirely, but retain most of its other elements: the CalJet brand name and font, the “Golden State of Mind” brand slogan, the CalJet Gold color and the CalJet Sun.
To replace the tri-color stripes, Terrell & Associates recolored the entire fuselage and tail in CalJet Gold. They relocated the Sun symbol from the tail of the aircraft to the near-front of the fuselage, where it was displayed in its entirety just behind the front door of the aircraft. They also moved the “Golden State of Mind” brand slogan and placed it after the CalJet Sun while reducing its font size somewhat.
On the tail, Terrell added two broad stripes - one orange-brown, the other a very dark shade of red - to run diagonally down the side of the tail as if to underscore the CalJet brand name next to it. The twin stripes then continued diagonally down the back end of the fuselage just behind the rear door.
As a finishing touch, Terrell - which originally created the CalJet Grin graphic - restored that much-loved design element to its rightful place, on the nose of the aircraft just below the cockpit windows.
Mr Calabrese was extremely pleased with the new CalJet Sunny Day livery design. He quickly greenlighted its adoption throughout the fleet, with each existing aircraft to receive its “makeover” at their next maintenance check.
The first CalJet aircraft to wear the new Sunny Day livery was the company’s first new Boeing 737 NG - a Boeing 737-800 - which debuted in revenue service on 8 January 1999 flying the Oakland-OAK «» Los Angeles-LAX route. Marketing surveys and media comments showed reception of the new Sunny Day livery to be overwhelmingly positive, and that design has remained unchanged ever since.
2000-2008: Consolidation
For CalJet, the early 2000s were mostly a period of fleet renewal and network consolidation. As the carrier brought in more new Boeing 717s and 737s, out went the older Fokkers and the 737-300s, along with a handful of the company’s oldest Boeing 757s.
By the mid 2000s CalJet had become a well established and mature airline. It was especially strong in California, where it was the dominant carrier at its Oakland-OAK main base and a major presence at every major airport in the state. CalJet also had a strong focus city level posture at Las Vegas-LAS and Reno-RNO in neighboring Nevada as well.
Not that there weren’t any problems. The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 had a negative impact on all of commercial aviation during the early 2000s, and the Dotcom Crash of 2000-2001 hindered business in the Bay Area as well. CalJet was forced to suspend some of its lighter routes during that period, but in time, the company restored them as demand picked up again by the mid 2000s.
However, when the Great Recession took hold in the United States during the summer of 2008, CalJet was hit especially hard and at times seemed like it might collapse altogether.
2008-2011: Contraction and Change
During 2007 and 2008 the price of jet fuel - an important factor in any airline’s operating costs - surged over 80%, reaching historic highs by July 2008. This resulted in passenger traffic dropping off very significantly, and suddenly CalJet’s passenger load factors on many routes, particularly on its longer distance routes, sank below their breakeven levels.
With fuel costs suddenly burning a hole in its corporate pockets, CalJet suddenly found itself with much less cash available to support ongoing operations. At first, Mr Calabrese responded by tapping into the company’s savings and taking out loans strategically to stabilize the company’s position.
But by September 2008 it was clear that such measures were not enough. It was time to start cutting routes and possibly sell off some aircraft assets.
Mr Calabrese began by simply cutting thinner and less profitable routes and exiting over a dozen cities altogether - mostly less profitable destinations in California, Oregon, Montana, and Mexico. These initial cuts also helped the carrier to more quickly expedite the planned phaseout of its Fokker F70 and F100 aircraft.
Bozeman-BZN, Montana USA
Guaymas-GYM, Mexico
Ixtapa-ZIH, Mexico
Kalispell-FCA, Montana USA
Loreto-LTO, Mexico
Medford-MFR, Oregon USA
Missoula-MSO, Montana USA
Modesto-MOD, California USA
Pullman/Moscow, Washington/Idaho-PUW USA
Redmond/Bend-RDM, Oregon USA
Riverside-RAL, California USA
Stockton-SCK, California USA
Tri-Cities-PSC, Washington USA
Yuma-YUM, Arizona USA
This round of cuts did not particularly help, however, so during 2009 the company terminated air service further by cutting an array of longer range routes. CalJet dropped all of its service to Hawaii - ending over 50 years of service to the Aloha State. It also ended service to midwestern destinations like Kansas City-MCI and St Louis-STL, as well as several smaller cities in Washington state, leaving only Seattle-SEA untouched.
Bellingham-BLI, Washington USA
Eugene-EUG, Oregon USA
Grand Canyon-GCN, Arizona USA
Honolulu-HNL, Hawaii USA
Kansas City-MCI, Missouri USA
Kauai-LIH, Hawaii USA
Kona-KOA, Hawaii USA
Manzanillo-ZLO, Mexico
Maui-OGG, Hawaii USA
Prescott-PRC, Arizona USA
Spokane-GEG, Washington USA
St Louis-STL, Missouri USA
Yakima-YKM, Washington USA
By the end of 2009 the company sent away the last of its Fokker 70s and Fokker 100s, most of which were sold off to airlines in Australia, making the company an all-Boeing airline once again. By early 2010 the last of the Boeing 737-300s had been sent packing as well. This helped to raise some much needed cash.
During 2010, CalJet saw still more service cuts. The carrier ended all service to several winter vacation spots in Colorado, and exited Montana and Wyoming entirely.
Aspen-ASE, Colorado USA
Billings-BIL, Montana USA
Calgary-YYC, AB Canada
Colorado Springs-COS, Colorado USA
Eagle/Vail-EGE, Colorado USA
Jackson Hole-JAC, Wyoming USA
Montrose/Telluride-MTJ, Colorado USA
New Orleans-MSY, Louisiana USA
San Antonio-SAT, Texas USA
San Luis Obispo-SBP, California USA
Steamboat Springs-HDN, Colorado USA
Sun Valley-SUN, Idaho USA
2010: Chairman Elin Lundgren Calabrese Dies
In late 2010 Elin Lundgren Calabrese - Chairman of the Board for CalJet, prominent Bay Area socialite and widow of one of the company cofounders, George Calabrese - passed away at the age of 94.
Elin was replaced by her granddaughter, Patricia Calabrese Cahill (b 1960), the oldest daughter of CalJet CEO Mark Calabrese.
Ms Cahill worked briefly as a flight attendant for CalJet during the early 1980s before changing careers, first working as a corporate attorney before becoming a bestselling author in 1999. She reluctantly accepted the mostly honorary position, insisting on being referred to in person as either the Chairperson of the Board or simply Chair of the Board. In following years Ms Cahill would come to use her position as a way to guide CalJet towards becoming more labor-friendly towards its workers.
2011: Departure From The Midwestern USA; Going Private
In early 2011, CalJet executed a leaseback deal - an arrangement where one sells off certain assets and leases them back for a specified term, thereby continuing to use the asset but not owning it.
In this particular instance, the company sold off its entire fleet to JetStream Aircraft Leasing (later JetStream Aerospace), who then leased most of the same aircraft back to CalJet. The leaseback brought in some much needed cash and allowed the company to pay back several outstanding loans. CalJet has since leased nearly all of its aircraft, thus making it easier to acquire and remove them as conditions required.
At the same time, the company decided to get out of the public stock markets. With the help of Calabrese Holdings - a New York-based parent company that owned the NY real estate firm Calabrese Bros. & Co., among other Calabrese family-owned assets - CalJet made a public tender offer to buy all of the company's shares. On 8 September 2011 CalJet was deregistered as a publicly traded company and officially went private again.
Despite gaining a better cash position, however, still more service terminations were required during 2011 to help reduce costs. This time the cuts included virtually any eastbound route extending more than 600 miles.
As a result, several big cities around the central US were dropped, including Dallas-DFW, Houston-IAH and Denver-DEN. Service was also terminated to Acapulco-ACA, ending a 53 year presence there, and to Vancouver-YVR, the last city CalJet flew to Canada. CalJet also - reluctantly - withdrew its air service to Chicago-ORD after 56 years.
Acapulco-ACA, Mexico
Albuquerque-ABQ, New Mexico USA
Chicago-ORD, Illinois USA
Dallas-DFW, Texas USA
Denver-DEN, Colorado USA
El Paso-ELP, Texas USA
Eureka/Arcata-ACV, California USA
Houston-IAH, Texas USA
Vancouver-YVR, BC Canada
When everything was said and done, CalJet had dropped service to almost 50 cities, including every single destination east of Salt Lake City-SLC. But for the first time in several years, the company was back on good financial ground and in the process of repositioning itself as a West Coast-oriented airline.
Mark Calabrese Dies; Replaced By Robert Lanois
On 15 August 2013, Mark Calabrese passed away while at work due to sudden heart failure. He was 74 years of age.
Mr Calabrese had 4 children, all of whom had entered other professions, so there were no Calabrese family members to move into the CEO position. The company board met in California and selected CalJet’s chief operating officer (COO), Robert Lanois (b 1960), to take over as CEO of the company.
Mr Lanois, a Montreal-born French Canadian who grew up in California and had a business degree from UCLA, was first hired by CalJet in 1983 to work as a baggage handler. In 1990 he took training to become an airline transport pilot (ATP) and began flying Boeing 757-200 airliners for the carrier. By 2005 he had joined the chief operating officer’s executive staff, and in 2010 he was appointed as COO.
Mr Lanois was widely credited with saving CalJet from bankruptcy, although thousands of workers had to be laid off as part of his efforts. The Chairperson of the Board, Patricia Calabrese Cahill, would serve as something of a foil against Mr Lanois, occasionally blocking some of his actions when Ms Cahill felt they were unfair to workers.
Resetting Fare Classes
With Mr Lanois now in charge, CalJet began to reposition itself as a strictly West Coast airline, with a plan to focus on lower airfares while distinguishing itself with excellent amenities.
The carrier eliminated its First Class seating and divided every aircraft’s seating evenly between two distinct fare classes:
SuperSaver Economy, a basic economy fare class offering the lowest possible airfare while requiring passengers to buy nearly everything a la carte except for bottled water and a single free carry-on item; and
Premium Economy, an all-inclusive fare class that charged a higher fare but offered up to two checked bags for free, free seat selection, complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, free in-flight entertainment (IFE) with TVs at every seat and satellite radio, among other perks.
Premium Economy seats were also more comfortable (34 inch seat pitch) than SuperSaver seats (32 inch pitch), but SuperSaver seats were still more comfortable compared to the 28-30 inch standard pitch used by competitors.
The new SuperSaver class appealed to younger customers and budget minded travelers, while Premium Economy suited older customers and travelers with deeper pockets. This new regime resulted in SuperSaver seats frequently selling out quickly, sometimes resulting in late-arriving customers being “punished” by having to pay more to get into a Premium Economy seat. Despite this glitch, the arrangement proved very successful, and has remained in place ever since.
2015: Labor-Management Struggles
In 2015, CalJet was hit with multiple labor strikes - first by its flight attendants, then by its pilots, then again by the ground crews and machinists.
A work stoppage by all four groups brought the carrier to a complete standstill during the summer of 2015, and Mr Lanois and the union bosses found themselves at a stalemate. At this juncture, Board Chairwoman Patricia Calabrese Cahill interceded, persuading union leaders to suspend the strikes in exchange for sitting down with her, Mr Lanois and other executives to hammer out new and better labor contracts.
For 3 weeks these meetings were what some observers described as labor-management grudge matches. But with Ms Cahill wielding a large gavel and stubbornly demanding civility and order at all turns while also buying several rounds of pizza along the way, the meetings gradually became more congenial, and soon the group ironed out new contracts. In addition to management providing decent pay raises in exchange for a few key concessions from the unions, the company added 3 new voting board positions to be filled by employees - one senior-ranked pilot, one leading flight attendant, and one ground or maintenance staff supervisor, each to be chosen by their respective peers.
The company also began to issue shares of nonvoting CalJet stock to its employees with at least 3 years of service with the company.
Since 2015, CalJet’s employees have been found to be among the happiest workers in the airline industry, and the company has regularly been featured on various “best places to work” and “most admired company” lists.
2017: Migration Plans To Boeing 737 MAX
Between 2011 and 2017, CalJet had 5 aircraft types in its fleet.
Three of them were variants of the Boeing 737 NG (New Generation) series of aircraft: The Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, and Boeing 737-900ER. The 737s shared fleet commonality, meaning all of its 737s could be operated by the same flight crews interchangeably, shared mostly the same common parts and could be maintained by largely the same maintenance crews. Fleet commonality thus brings savings on operating and training costs.
The company’s other two aircraft types - the Boeing 717-200 and the almost venerable Boeing 757-200 - were not fleet-common aircraft and required distinct sets of flight crews and maintenance crews that could not switch to other aircraft without additional cross-training.
Another problem was Boeing had stopped producing the Boeing 757 in October 2004 and never replaced the type. Instead, Boeing steered customers towards the Boeing 737-900ER as a replacement. But the 757 was a superior aircraft compared to the 737-900ER in most respects, including two very important ways: The 757 could fly further and carry more passengers.
Having long believed that achieving 100% fleet commonality would be the best arrangement, the Boeing 757 - an aircraft Mr Lanois very much enjoyed flying back when he was himself a pilot - also had the lowest operating costs per seat of all aircraft in the fleet. So the 757 remained a key part of the CalJet fleet, especially on routes connecting between its biggest markets: Los Angeles/San Diego, San Francisco/Oakland, and Seattle. Flights to those cities were commonly flown either by the 757s or the 737-900ERs.
Still, the 757s weren’t getting any younger - their average age was reaching 24 years, and some were as old as 34 years. They would not last forever. The lack of a 757 replacement was frustrating enough to Mr Lanois that he briefly considered the possibility of adopting another 757 competitor/replacement, the Airbus A321LR. But in the end he decided the overall goal of reducing operating cost was more the paramount concern.
So when Boeing began to market their new Boeing 737 MAX series of aircraft as a way to supersede the Boeing 737 NG generation of airliners, Mr Lanois decided it was time to start the process of finally migrating CalJet to a truly all-737 MAX fleet.
At the 2017 Paris Air Show, Mr Lanois went ahead with the 737 MAX and inked a deal with JetStream Aerospace to lease several dozen of them, starting with the Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Boeing 737 MAX 9. He also placed additional orders to acquire the shortened version Boeing 737 MAX 7, and the newly announced stretch version Boeing 737 MAX 10, once they completed their respective certifications and became eligible to enter revenue service.
While Mr Lanois’ plans seemed reasonable enough at the time, several things would soon disrupt his efforts.
2019-2020: Boeing 737 MAX Groundings and Covid 19 Complications
In September 2018, everything seemed to be going great as CalJet duly received the first of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft - on time, on schedule and on budget.
But shortly after the company’s MAX jets began arriving, things got more complicated.
First, two Boeing 737 MAX 8 airliners inexplicably crashed within a few months of each other, each of them killing everyone aboard.
The first accident occurred in late October 2018, the second in March 2019. Both accidents shared similar characteristics pointing to a flight control failure, resulting in the worldwide grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. As a result, CalJet’s 737 MAX fleet was parked in a remote section of San Bernardino-SBD airport, where they remained untouched until late 2020.
Mr Lanois briefly considered the possibility of migrating the entire CalJet fleet over to the Airbus A320neo series of aircraft, and Airbus was more than willing to work with him to do so. But after calculating the costs of making such a switch, he decided not to do so.
Meanwhile, in March 2020 the Covid 19 Pandemic arrived and tremendously disrupted air travel that year, largely flatlining CalJet’s revenues. The company reluctantly chose to accept a Payroll Support Program loan from the US government, which helped keep the company’s finances more stable. The industry began to recover slowly, especially once the government allowed air travel provided passengers wore masks to protect against the disease.
Largely due to the influence of company Chair Patricia Calabrese Cahill, CalJet never laid off a single employee during the pandemic. Instead the company offered various employee incentives to take extended time-off, accept a voluntary separation, or take an early retirement. This, along with the government loans, seemed to bridge the gap until the airline industry recovered from the Covid traffic slump.
By April 2022 the masking requirements on airliners were lifted. CalJet did not truly recover from the pandemic, however, until 2023 when the “revenge travel” trend brought passenger traffic numbers back to pre-Covid levels.
Recent Events
During early 2022, departure frequencies among the following destinations were adjusted so departures occur every hour on the hour from 6 AM to 6 PM, and every 90 minutes during off peak times:
Los Angeles-LAX
Oakland-OAK
Sacramento-SMF
San Diego-SAN
San Francisco-SFO
Santa Ana-SNA
Similarly, departures between the following airports and to/from the above airports were set to occur every 90 minutes throughout the day:
Burbank-BUR
Long Beach-LGB
Ontario-ONT
San Jose-SJC
Santa Rosa-STS
Departures were also increased to several non-California destinations, such as Las Vegas-LAS, Phoenix-PHX, Portland-PDX, Reno-RNO, and Seattle-SEA. CalJet also became a preferred carrier for customers departing to Guadalajara-GDL, Los Cabos-SJD, and Puerto Vallarta-PVR from California airports, so flight frequencies were increased on those routes as well.
In April 2022, CalJet reopened nonstop air service to Denver-DEN and Vancouver-YVR after an absence of 11 years, starting with flights from Los Angeles-LAX and Oakland-OAK. Service has since been expanded to where CalJet now serves Denver-DEN from 9 major California airports - including new service from Palm Springs-PSP - while Vancouver-YVR sees daily service from Los Angeles-LAX, San Francisco-SFO and San Diego-SAN.
After several years of delays and setbacks, in late 2023 CalJet finally retired the last of its Boeing 717-200s, while during the first half of 2024, the Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-900ER left the fleet.
And most recently, on 11 July 2024, the last CalJet Boeing 757-200 to fly in revenue service made its final revenue flight from Seattle-SEA «» San Francisco-SFO. CalJet’s CEO, Mr Robert Lanois, served as copilot on the final flight, alongside retiring Captain Oscar Obregon, who once served as captain on Mr Lanois’ first ever revenue flight from San Francisco-SFO to Honolulu-HNL back in 1990.
With these fleet changes, CalJet finally arrived at its goal of flying only Boeing 737 aircraft, while also becoming a 3 type fleet again for the first time since 1982.
The Future
CalJet continues to wait for delivery of its Boeing 737 MAX 7s to replace the company’s aging 737-700s, and to add the new Boeing 737 MAX 10s. Due to ongoing certification delays, nobody really knows when deliveries will begin for either type, as the FAA has refused to set a timeline to complete the process. Hopefully these new aircraft will begin arriving sometime in 2025.
In the meantime, while CalJet has continued to focus entirely on its US West Coast base, it is believed that once the company receives some of the 737 MAX 10s some form of nonstop service to Hawaii will be restarted. There is also speculation that service to Chicago-ORD and Dallas-DFW would reopen as well.
Mr Lanois, now age 64, remains firmly in charge of CalJet, and he has said that he has no immediate plans to retire. Having said that, he has also been preparing at least 2 senior executives to potentially succeed him. They are:
Lisa Basmajian (b 1974), currently the company CFO, who has been a CalJet employee since 1998; and
Eric Barajas (b 1976), currently the company COO, who was first hired by CalJet in 2006.
On a final note: During the summer of 2024, Justin Calabrese (b 2002), a great-grandson of CalJet cofounder George Calabrese and grandson of the late CEO Mark Calabrese - as well as a nephew of Chairperson Patricia Calabrese Cahill - has become the newest Calabrese family member to go to work for CalJet. A recent graduate of Stanford University, Justin currently works as a staff employee for Mr Barajas.
Destinations
Current Destinations
CalJet currently provides scheduled air service to the following destinations.
[ System Map Link ]
Bakersfield-BFL, California USA
Boise-BOI, Idaho USA
Burbank-BUR, California USA - Focus City
Denver-DEN, Colorado USA
Fresno/Yosemite-FAT, California USA
Guadalajara-GDL, Mexico
Las Vegas-LAS, Nevada USA - Focus City
Long Beach-LGB, California USA
Los Angeles-LAX, California USA - Base
Los Cabos-SJD, Mexico
Mazatlán-MZT, Mexico
Monterey-MRY, California USA
Oakland-OAK, California USA - HQ and Main Base
Ontario-ONT, California USA
Palm Springs-PSP, California USA
Phoenix-PHX, Arizona USA
Portland-PDX, Oregon USA
Puerto Vallarta-PVR, Mexico
Reno/Tahoe-RNO, Nevada USA
Sacramento-SMF, California USA
Salt Lake City-SLC, Utah USA
San Diego-SAN, California USA - Focus City
San Francisco-SFO, California USA - Base
San Jose-SJC, California USA - Focus City
Santa Ana-SNA, California USA - Focus City
Santa Barbara-SBA, California USA
Santa Rosa-STS, California USA
Seattle-SEA, Washington USA
Tucson-TUS, Arizona USA
Vancouver-YVR, BC Canada
Former Destinations
CalJet previously provided scheduled air service to the following destinations.
Acapulco-ACA, Mexico
Albuquerque-ABQ, New Mexico USA
Aspen-ASE, Colorado USA
Bellingham-BLI, Washington USA
Billings-BIL, Montana USA
Bozeman-BZN, Montana USA
Calgary-YYC, AB Canada
Chicago-ORD, Illinois USA
Colorado Springs-COS, Colorado USA
Dallas-DFW, Texas USA
Eagle/Vail-EGE, Colorado USA
El Paso-ELP, Texas USA
Eugene-EUG, Oregon USA
Eureka/Arcata-ACV, California USA
Grand Canyon-GCN, Arizona USA
Guaymas-GYM, Mexico
Honolulu-HNL, Hawaii USA
Houston-IAH, Texas USA
Ixtapa-ZIH, Mexico
Jackson Hole-JAC, Wyoming USA
Kalispell-FCA, Montana USA
Kansas City-MCI, Missouri USA
Kauai-LIH, Hawaii USA
Kona-KOA, Hawaii USA
La Paz-LAP, Mexico
Lake Tahoe-TVL, California USA
Loreto-LTO, Mexico
Manzanillo-ZLO, Mexico
Maui-OGG, Hawaii USA
Medford-MFR, Oregon USA
Missoula-MSO, Montana USA
Modesto-MOD, California USA
Montrose/Telluride-MTJ, Colorado USA
New Orleans-MSY, Louisiana USA
Prescott-PRC, Arizona USA
Pullman/Moscow, Washington/Idaho-PUW USA
Redmond/Bend-RDM, Oregon USA
Riverside-RAL, California USA
Sacramento-SAC, California USA
San Antonio-SAT, Texas USA
San Luis Obispo-SBP, California USA
Spokane-GEG, Washington USA
St Louis-STL, Missouri USA
Steamboat Springs-HDN, Colorado USA
Stockton-SCK, California USA
Sun Valley-SUN, Idaho USA
Tri-Cities-PSC, Washington USA
Yakima-YKM, Washington USA
Yuma-YUM, Arizona USA
Fleet
Current Fleet
The CalJet Airlines fleet currently features the following aircraft.
Boeing 737-700 - 1999-Present
Boeing 737 MAX 8 - 2018-Present
Boeing 737 MAX 9 - 2018-Present
Former Fleet
CalJet historically operated the following aircraft. (List is sorted by year each aircraft type entered the fleet.)
† = JStream original aircraft
Douglas DC-3 - 1950-1970 †
Douglas DC-4 - 1950-1960
Douglas DC-6 - 1952-1969 †
Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation - 1955-1967 †
Boeing 727-100 - 1964-1972
Boeing 707-320B - 1965-1984
Boeing 727-200/-200 Advanced - 1968-1992
Douglas DC-9 - 1973-1992
Boeing 757-200 - 1983-2024
Boeing 737-300 - 1985-2010
Fokker 100 - 1989-2009
Fokker 70 - 1994-2009
Boeing 717-200 - 1999-2023
Boeing 737-800 - 1999-2024
Boeing 737-900ER - 2001-2024
Future Fleet
CalJet Airlines has placed firm orders to acquire the following aircraft in the near future.
Boeing 737 MAX 7 - Delivery Date TBD
Boeing 737 MAX 10 - Delivery Date TBD
=Nota Bene=
As noted in Part 1, I had so much content to include in this story that I was forced to split this article into two sections due to its length.
In future articles about fictional airlines with long histories, I will try to perhaps summarize things better than I did in this story. Sorry that it’s so crazy long, folks.Three of the aircraft types listed in the article were original aircraft templates designed in-house, including the Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6 and the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation. I drew up the DC-6 template expressly to accommodate this article.
The other aircraft templates featured in this article were originally drawn up by Norebbo, with the liveries created and adapted to them by me under license.
The font I used to create the CalJet brand name is Alegreya Sans SC, which is available to use for free from Google Fonts. (You didn’t know Google offers free fonts? Why yes, they do.)
CalJet is sorta kinda based on Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), as it existed from 1949 to 1988 before PSA was merged into USAir/US Airways (which in turn was later merged into American Airlines). PSA was headquartered in San Diego, but I placed CalJet’s head offices in Oakland instead, because Oakland was more of a center of post-WWII activity for US Army and Air Force veterans like the two fictional Calabrese brothers featured in the article. San Diego was (and still is), of course, a center of activity for US Navy and US Marine veterans.
Unlike the real life PSA - which BTW was a pretty good airline in its day, at least when I first experienced them during the early 1970s - in this article CalJet remains solvent and viable to the current day, despite running into problems in the late 2000s and early 2010s when the company is forced to contract, scuttle extraneous aircraft, get into a leaseback program, etc. Companies with histories spanning many decades like CalJet are going to have their ups and downs, after all.
All characters visually represented in the article are purely fictional and were randomly generated. Having said that, I’ll admit the 1st generation Calabrese brothers were somewhat inspired by PSA’s founder, Kenny Friedkin, but given more dramatic WWII service histories.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
Aria aircraft templates displayed in this article are fictional aircraft, whose original templates were drawn by the Author.
The Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6, and Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation aircraft templates are all original, in-house made content created by the Author.
All other aircraft templates shown in this article are licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.