Republic Airlines Stripes

Red and white striped background with a white horizontal stripe with blue text and a blue illustration of a flying goose

Republic Airlines was created in 1979 after a merger between North Central Airlines and Southern Airways. Based in Minneapolis, Republic became the country's largest airline by number of airports served after their buyout of Hughes Airwest in 1980. Between the merger and the acquisition, Republic took on enough debt that it could not sustain its routes. Services at the airline quickly deteriorated before operations ceased entirely in 1986.  The logo of a mallard duck is a remnant of North Central Airlines and was adopted as Republic’s first logo.