Empire and its purchaser, Piedmont.
Piedmont bought Empire just after Empire had announced plans to relocate its HQ from UCA to SYR. Piedmont, on the other hand, wished to keep its HQ in NC, and no sane person could blame them one iota. A nasty (and entirely uncalled for) lawsuit ensued, orchestrated by the then Syracuse mayor, who would shortly change his occupaation to that of a maker of fine license plates for an extortion and tax evasion scheme. Said mayor's term thankfully expired shortly before his indictment, and his successor quickly dropped the lawsuit.
Empire provided Central New York with excellent service, and, no thanks to the former Syracuse mayor, Piedmont was building a dandy hub in Syracuse when U bought Piedmont. The day that happened was indeed a sad day for Central NY air travelers, many of whom remember Piedmont very fondly to this day. A very nice 15 gate South concourse, built to Piedmont standards, remains to this day in Syracuse. Unfortunately, it is severely underutilized.