Independence Air

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Independence Air was the brief, bright low-fare alter ego of Atlantic Coast Airlines, a Northern Virginia regional carrier founded in 1989. On November 19, 2003, Atlantic Coast announced its reinvention after its United Express relationship unraveled. The new airline formally began flying on June 16, 2004, from Washington Dulles International Airport.

Based in Dulles, Virginia, Independence Air went big quickly: regional jets in fresh blue-and-white colors, later joined by Airbus A319s, and a route map stretching well beyond its Washington-area home. It offered aggressively cheap fares and brought a sudden burst of competition to Dulles. Ambition was not in short supply; cash, unfortunately, was.

The corporate parent, Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings, became FLYi, Inc. on August 4, 2004, while the airline operation completed its transition from the old United Express and Delta Connection world. Independence Air entered Chapter 11 with FLYi and related subsidiaries on November 7, 2005. Its last scheduled flights landed on January 5, 2006.

Our Independence Air collection celebrates the underdog airline that tried to turn Dulles into a low-fare launchpad—fast jets, bold fares, and a wonderfully early-2000s belief that the sky was the limit. For a moment, it was. Then the departure board flipped.