 In 1968, after Northeast Airlines began its merger with Delta Air Lines, the new organization applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board to discontinue service on the Boston to Rockland route.The Northeast-Delta's executives began searching for a company to sponsor as a replacement carrier.Stenger's operation, which already had an air-taxi certificate from the FAA under Part 135 of the Federal Air Regulations, applied for the route as a scheduled air-taxi carrier and subsequently qualified as a Part 135 commuter airline.