 thumb|a big sky beech 1900d big sky airlines was an american regional airline that operated from 1978 to 2008. headquartered in billings, montana, united states."welcome to big sky airlines." big sky airlines. january 8, 2005. retrieved on may 25, 2009. big sky was wholly owned by big sky transportation company, a wholly owned subsidiary of mair holdings. big sky operated scheduled commuter passenger services to 10 cities and maintained a hub at billings logan international airport in billings, montana, from which the airline flew more of its non-stop routes than it did from any other airport. the airline was a crucial air link within the state of montana, served as the primary (and in some cases, only) commercial air carrier to several small airports in the state. the airline also began and ended service to a number of other locations over the years, often operating as a contract carrier under the federal government's essential air service (eas) program. ==history== the airline was established in 1978 and started operations on september 15, 1978, initially operating to a number of small cities in eastern and central montana formerly served by the original frontier airlines. this remained the core of the company's business throughout its history, although the airline also expanded into a number of other geographic areas over the years. most of the later expansions proved to be short-lived, however. big sky started to take over exec express ii d/b/a lone star airlines/aspen mountain air's eas routes in october 1998, following their bankruptcy. transfer of services was completed in december 1998. in late 2002, big sky airlines offered service between idaho falls, idaho and denver, colorado but canceled it three months afterward, declaring it unprofitable.big sky airlines cuts idaho falls service, montana associated technology roundtables, january 4, 2003 in early 2005, big sky announced a few changes to its service, planning the termination of service to north dakota, and replacing its metro fle
Airlines_disestablished_in_2008 Airlines_established_in_1978 Billings,_Montana Defunct_companies_based_in_Montana Defunct_regional_airlines_of_the_United_States Regional_Airline_Association_members