The company was incorporated in Wyoming, December 31, 1941, by Charles W. Hirsig II, as Summit Airways Inc., a fixed base operator located in Laramie.
On March 28, 1946, the CAB certificated Summit to fly between each of Salt Lake City, Billings, MT, and Denver, CO, in each case via points in Wyoming.
[7][8] Management changed at the beginning of March 1948, the new president being Donald A. Duff, a former executive at Continental Air Lines, which at that time was located in Denver.
[16] Monarch had previously announced a merger with Arizona Airways, which had received CAB certification to be a local service carrier, but had not operated as such.
He noted that between them, Challenger and Monarch collected $25 per passenger from the government for every $10 ticket sold, an indication of just how subsidy-dependent were these early local service carriers.
[21] A Challenger Airlines 1 February 1950 timetable shows the following services, served by routes on the triangle Denver, Salt Lake City and Billings, Montana:[22]