note
TWA descended from Western Air Express. WAE was founded by Harris Hanshue on July 13, 1925 and was awarded the contract US mail route from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. First flights was operated in April 1926. A month later WAE started US first commercial scheduled passenger operations on the same route. In 1930 airline merged with Transcontinental Air Transport which a year earlier merged with Maddux Air Lines of Los Angeles. Soon thereafter airline adopted name Transcontinental and Western Air - the original source of the TWA acronym. In 1939 Howard Hughes became majority stake holder in the airline. In May 1950 Howard Hughes kept the acronym but changed the name to Trans World Airlines.
It was the nation's first airline to offer coast-to-coast service, a combination of air and rail, starting July 7, 1929. It also flew the nation's first international all jet-powered fleet in 1961 after it flew its last piston flight from Rome - New York using Lockheed Super Constellation. In April 1967 last Constellation was retired on domestic network and TWA became world's first all-jet airline. TWA was also the first to use the Boeing 747 on a domestic route, and was the first to offer nonsmoking sections on all its aircraft.
1960s were the most glamorous years for the airline. Company managed to oust Howard Hughes as its chairman and purchase Hilton Hotels through its holdings company. At this point, airline operated world wide and as far east as Hong Kong. In 1962 airline opened Terminal 5 at New York's JFK airport which was designed by Eero Saarinen and has became national heritage site. Terminal was recently renovated by jetBlue which is its current tenant.
In 1969 TWA inaugurated its first around the world route.
In late 1970s and throughout 1980s TWA focused on its trans Atlantic network, abandoning its trans Pacific and dedicated Cargo operations. TWA neglected its domestic network and faced competition from other carriers entering US - Europe market after the deregulation of 1978. In 1985 company was sold to Carl Icahn who in turn sold some of company's most valuable assets and airline had to file for bankruptcy protection for the first time in 1992. Airline tried to revitalize its business and in 1998 introduced new corporate identity, focused on domestic network and ordered new jets.
TWA did not make a profit in last decade of its existence. In a 'prepackaged' arrangement, It filed for bankruptcy for the third time on January 10, 2001; American Airlines acquired most of its assets on April 9,2001. TWA became AMR subsidiary, TWA Airlines LLC. The last TWA branded flight was on December 2 from Honolulu to St. Louis. TWA Airlines continued to operate under American Airlines branding until the last flight on August 30, 2004.
founded - demised (age)
June 2 1925 - December 2 2001 (76)
headquarters
, St Louis
web
base airports
related operators
current /stored fleet (0)
