The airline was founded as Turner Airlines in 1948; it was based at Weir Cook Airport (now Indianapolis International Airport) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lake Central's network in the 1950s extended from Chicago to Pittsburgh; in August 1953 it scheduled flights to 21 airports and in May 1968 to 39.
Like other local service airlines regulated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board, Lake Central was subsidized; in 1962 its revenue of $10.8 million included $4.2 million of "pub. serv. rev.".[1]
In February 1955 Lake Central Airlines became the first employee-owned scheduled airline in the history of the air transport industry.[2] 162 employees (65% of the total) bought 97.5% of the outstanding stock, 25% outright and the rest financed over 24 months.
Effective July 1, 1968, the airline was acquired by and merged into Allegheny Airlines. Allegheny later closed the Indianapolis base and sold the Nord 262s, which had proven unreliable.[3] Lake Central had planned on acquiring new Boeing 737-200s but the order was cancelled.
Shortly before the merger into Allegheny Airlines, Lake Central was serving the following cities with an all-turboprop fleet consisting Convair 580 and Nord 262 aircraft according to its April 28, 1968 timetable:[6]
^Furlong, Patrick J. (1994). "Lake Central Airlines". In Bodenhamer, David J.; Barrows, Robert G. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 891–892. ISBN0-253-31222-1.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2013-09-16.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
