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#TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: Dutch Antilles Express
Dutch Antilles Express, also known as DAE, dates back to 2003 when the airline consisted of various smaller carriers inside one parent company. The parent company, named Exel Aviation, started operation in 2003 with BonairExel with a single ATR 42 to operate within the Netherland’s Antilles. The airline quickly became profitable, adding an Embraer ERJ-145 […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) In Aviation History: Airwest/Hughes Airwest
In 1968, with the Airline Deregulation Act in its tenth year, small local carriers across the United States were feeling the pressure of larger carriers that were rapidly invading their markets. In an effort to combat the intense pressure from the large carriers, Airwest was born. The carrier was formed from three smaller carriers originating […]
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Wichita’s Terminal Gets a Sizable Facelift
Just a few hundred feet from the current 39 year old terminal sits the future of aviation travel for the city of Wichita. The “air capital” of the world is in dire need for an image facelift as the current terminal hasn’t seen a remodel since 1989 and is showing its age. The current terminal […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: British West Indies Airways
Prior to Caribbean Airlines’s dominance of the Caribbean market in recent years, another Trinidad and Tobago carrier used to own the title of being one of the biggest island fliers. Its name was British West Indian Airways, or BWIA for short. BWIA dates back to 1939, when New Zealander and World War I pilot Lowell […]
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Checking Out the Rebranded Southwest
With the AirTran integration complete, Southwest has turned its attention to the rebranding of its fleet as the wordless “canyon blue” Boeing 737s will fade into the new “billboard” Southwest paint job. While some of the aircraft in Southwest’s fleet have already seen the new livery, most are still in the old red and blue […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: Iceland Express
Iceland Express was a discounted carrier that was based in Keflavik, Iceland with the purpose of giving Icelanders an alternate low-cost carrier besides the nation’s flag carrier Icelandair. Formed by the parent company Northern Travel Holdings in 2002, the airline started flights in February 2003 with flights from Keflavik to London-Stansted and Copenhagen. Iceland Express […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: Western Pacific Airlines
Western Pacific Airlines, also known as WestPac for short, was a small Colorado airlines known for using their planes as billboards. The airline started in Colorado Springs in 1995 with eight Boeing 737-300 planes under the name Commercial Air. Soon after launch, Oklahoma millionaire and owner of Gaylord Hotels founder Edward Gaylord invested in the […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: USA 3000
USA 3000, originally known as Brendan Airways, was a small airline formed in 2001 as a way of flying cheap flights from the northeast to the Caribbean. USA3000 officially launched on December 28, 2001 with their first flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Cancun, Mexico. USA3000 did most of their early work as charters, mostly for […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History: Song Airlines
In the early 2000s, Delta and other legacy carriers had a major headache to deal with: budget carriers. Airlines such as Southwest and jetBlue had started to dominate the Florida and other leisure markets and steal passengers from Delta. After Delta’s failed Delta Express model in the 1990s, the airline decided to try again, and […]
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TBT (Throwback Thursday) in Aviation History (Part Three): America West Airlines
America West was formed in 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona using a fleet of three Boeing 737-200s that were leased. America West operated mostly West Coast flights with their farthest flight being to Kansas City. The airline saw major success in their 1983, quickly adding eight more Boeing 737-200s to 13 destinations before the end of […]