Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

China's Only ATRs: Connecting Mountainous Xinjiang

31/3/2015

China Southern Airlines has operated turboprops for most of its history. It inherited Antonov AN-24s, Xian Y-7s and a few Shorts 360s from CAAC and purchased a small fleet of Saab 340s in 1992. The Saabs didn't last long and were transferred to the fledgling Shandong Airlines in 1996. Its unclear when operations with the AN-24s and Y-7s ended, however it is likely that by the early 2000s none were still in service. The break in turboprop operations was however relatively short as CZ inherited five ATR-72s when it took over China Xinjiang Airlines in March 2003.

Soviet Airbuses in China: Xinjiang's IL-86s

31/3/2015

The early 1980s the authorities in China decided to kick their reforms of Chinese aviation into high gear and breakup the monopolistic operations of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. To this end not only were the CAAC's airline operations split up but new airlines were also able to be setup for the first time. These initially consisted of joint ventures with special economic zones and regional governments. The second of these new airlines was formed in 1985 when the CAAC undertook a 50:50 partnership with the remote Xinjiang region to form China Xinjiang Airlines from the former CAAC Xinjiang Regional Authority.

Postwar Skymasters Pt2: US Trunk DC-4s

26/3/2015

As discussed in part 1 the DC-4 (or more accurately the C-54 and R5D) was the mainstay of the postwar fleets alongside the staggeringly successful DC-3. Though the big four (American, Eastern, Trans World and United) had far and away the largest share of the US scheduled market the other trunk airlines also had important roles and as would be expected all operated the trusty Skymaster too. In addition Pan Am was also in need of stopgap lift as the war ended and the C-54 would fill that role well as well as becoming the backbone of the Berlin Airlift in 1951.

Postwar Skymasters Pt1: DC-4s at the Big Four

26/3/2015

The Douglas DC-4 originated from the unrelated first DC-4 (which was renamed the DC-4E) that had proved too complicated and lacking in performance prior to World War Two. The advent of the war interrupted the new DC-4s use as a commercial airliner and after the first prototype was constructed nearly 1,170 came off the production lines for the military in a large number of variants. The basic types were named the C-54 Skymaster (for the USAAF) and the R5D (for the US Navy).

Dark Continent Four Holers - African 707 Pt2: Sub-Sahara

25/3/2015

During the late 1970s and early 1980s Boeing 707-320s were retired in large numbers by the US majors and most went on to have second careers in the third world - often in beautiful liveries. Sadly African nations and their airline's seemed to succumb to rampant corruption (and the effects of wars) as the 80s went on and few of the Sub-saharan airline's remain with us today. Aeroclassics has made a good array of lovely 707s but there are plenty more still to be made. Following part1's look at North Africa in thi spart we go south of the Sahara.

Dark Continent Four Holers - African 707s Pt1: North Africa

23/3/2015

During my childhood in the 80s, on the rare occasion I could get my dad to drive me up to Heathrow (Gatwick was my local and my dad was not a spotter) I was always thrilled by the variety of airlines on show.

Africa was an especially exciting location for interesting airlines. With Britain's colonial ties and business centre most English speaking African nations could be seen at Heathrow. Some of the more affluent airline's could afford new equipment so for example Ghana Airways, Air Zaire and Nigeria flew DC-10s, SAA 747s and Egyptair A300s, but well into the 90s most African flag carriers based their fleet around what they could afford. Near universally these were second-hand Boeing 707s.

TACA: El Centromericano One-Elevens

23/3/2015

Transportes Aereos de Centroamericano was founded rather bizarrely in 1931 by a New Zealand pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force - Lowell Yerex, in Honduras. Yerex dreamed of creating a network of TACA's throughout Latin America but though initially successful political machinations with Pan Am and others as well as various dictatorships saw all the airlines except the one in El Salvador disappear. In 1940 Yerex sold control of the company only to be forced out in 1945. TACA acquired a local San Salvador based airline in 1947 and it was this which would go on to form the future airline TACA International.

Eastern's Interim Turbojet Boeing 720-025s

21/3/2015

At the beginning of the jet age Eastern found itself badly off the pace, having bought large numbers of late model piston props and bridging equipment Electras. It had a relatively small number of DC-8s, partly as the big jet wasn't really suited to its multi-stop network. What Eastern needed was a smaller jet that it could get hold of quickly. Fortunately Boeing had just the right design on the drawing board to tide it over until the 727 hit the market.

Obscure Russians 2: Transeuropean Airlines

18/3/2015

Transeuropean Airlines (Трансевропейские авиалинии) was a charter airline based in Russia. It operated charter flights between Moscow Sheremetyevo and popular holiday destinations, mostly Barcelona and Antalya. The airline was formed in 1996 and by early 1999 the fleet comprised 4 Ilyushin IL-86s and 1 Tupolev TU-154M (RA-85799). The airline had rather grandiosly ordered a pair of IL-96s although they were never delivered. Impressively however the airline did take delivery of a Tupolev TU-204-100 (RA-64018) in May 1999 and had a second on order.

Delta DC-8's: Royal Jet Service

18/3/2015

The race to be the first US airline with Jets was won by those who purchased Boeing 707s, however in the south both Eastern and Delta were not 707 customers and the race was still on for first jet service in Atlanta. Eastern in the 1950s still dwarfed Delta and was set to get its DC-8s much sooner than its competitor, that is until Eastern's Eddie Rickenbaker decided to shoot himself in the foot. Rickenbacker was notoriously spendthrift and upon learning that Douglas's first DC-8s would be underpowered compared to later build aircraft he promptly switched Eastern's early orders to later DC-8-21s. Delta then cheekily stepped in and tookup the early deivery slots leaving Eastern in its jet trails.

Obscure Russians 1: Eurasia Airlines

17/3/2015

There was a brief period in the early 2000s when both Phoenix and Aeroclassics released a range of Russian aircraft representing airlines that by 2015 have long faded into obscurity and in their day weren't well known even in Russia. One of these is Eurasia Airlines (UH/EUS) which was a Moscow based carrier that began service in 1997.

Go Easy, Go ATA Pt2: Midway or Bust

15/3/2015

American Trans Air gradually cast off its dependence on charter operations and throughout the 90s focused on expanding its scheduled operations with a particular focus on Chicago Midway Airport. This would lead to a brief but beautiful flowering of the airline as a major network carrier with a fleet of new 737s and 757s however a combination of strong competition and the economic downturn following September 11 doomed TZ to bankruptcy from which it was never fully able to recover.

Go Easy, Go ATA Pt1: Trans Air Tristars

14/3/2015

American Trans Air (ATA, later ATA Airlines) was one of the biggest operators of second-hand Lockheed Tristars. It operated twenty three of the type in full service, at one time or another, including five L1011-500 short-body aircraft. For many years the Tristars were regular visitors to my hometown airport, London Gatwick, as well as other European destinations. ATA itself undertook a series of transformations through its 35 year history which enabled it to survive in the wild world of the deregulated US market until it finally succumbed in 2008.

China Southern's 787s: A Rocky Road To The Dream

14/3/2015

The Boeing 787-8 rather missed the boat in China due to its huge development delays, however China Southern proudly welcomed its first aircraft in 2013 wearing a unique scheme. The CZ 787 fleet can nowadays be seen across the globe from Europe to the USA and Australasia supporting their fleet of 777s and A330s. With the 787-9 picking up orders with Air China and Hainan Airlines it is likely that in the future further 787s will grace the China Southern fleet.

Desert Sun: Fokker 70s in America West Colours

12/3/2015

In the early-1990s Mesa Airlines was the largest independently owned regional airline in the USA. It already operated multiple separate divisions (Air Midwest, America West Express, CalPac, FloridaGulf Airlines, Skyway Airlines etc). Mesa had started code-sharing with America West (AWA) at Phoenix in late 1992 bringing its Essential Air Services routes under the AWA Express banner and replacing AWA's unusual mainline DHC-8 flights. As America West prepared to leave bankruptcy protection in 1993 Mesa was one of the four partners in AmWest Partners which controlled over 75% of the airline's stock. As part of the deal to leave bankruptcy it was agreed that Mesa would setup a new airline division to operate F70s and two were ordered in December 1993. They would be the first F70s in the USA and the new airline would be named Desert Sun Airlines...