Tennessee Airways

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Tennessee Airways, Inc. was a Knoxville, Tennessee-based regional passenger airline established in 1978. Flying under IATA code ZN, ICAO code TEN, and the memorable callsign “Tennessee,” it set out to connect communities across the Southeast during the wild, deregulated age of commuter aviation.

The carrier operated from the Knoxville/McGhee Tyson airport area, with service extending through Tennessee and beyond. Its network reached larger eastern and Midwestern markets as well as regional destinations, using compact commuter aircraft including Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirantes and Piper T1020s. In 1981, president and major shareholder Stuart Adcock was notably hands-on: airline boss, pilot, and apparently not above cleaning an airplane after the passengers left.

Tennessee Airways published timetables from its July 1978 startup through at least February 1986. The airline temporarily suspended service in the late 1980s and ultimately ceased operations in 1990. No grand merger, no sleek corporate afterlife—just a regional airline fading from the departure board, leaving its short, scrappy flight plan behind.

Our Tennessee Airways collection celebrates Knoxville’s vanished commuter carrier: the little airline with a state-sized name, a practical fleet, and the kind of executive who could plausibly finish a board meeting and then grab the ashtray rag.