Western Airlines had a long and storied history spanning six decades. Like many early airlines, the carrier was founded with a mail contract and tasked with transporting mail for the government. In the early days of aviation, the U.S. Postal Service helped to provide the founding of numerous airlines. The time and speed saved by air travel made airmail the preferred method of communication in the United States. Western was founded in 1925 as Western Air Express by Harris Hanshue…
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro finally gave his approval for the purchase of Embraer's Commercial Aviation division by The Boeing Company in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. The announcement was made after the closing of stock markets in both Brazil and the United States on Monday. Although it does not…
Icelandic ultra-low-cost carrier WOW air has returned four aircraft to lessors with two Airbus A330s and two Airbus A320 family aircraft departing Reykjavik earlier yesterday for storage, beginning the process of returning to their lessors. The move comes as a letter to bondholders from the airline's CEO and Founder Skuli Mogensen…
Singapore Airlines announced Thursday that its budget arm, Scoot, will take over several SilkAir routes ahead of SilkAir’s planned merger with mainline Singapore Airlines. Scoot will also be expanding its fleet with this merger, taking over 14 of SilkAir’s Boeing 737-800s. The Singaporean flag carrier has been undertaking a three-year…
Mohawk Airlines was founded in 1945 as Robinson Aviation. Its founder, C.S. Robinson, was an aerial photographer and conducted the airline's first flight on April 6. The airline was based in Ithaca, New York and started operations with the Fairchild F-24. As the second World War ended, the airline supplemented its…
In a statement released on April 16, Alaska announced that the integration with Virgin America is set to reach a new milestone on April 25, as customer facing platforms will be unified behind the Alaska brand. Earlier this month, it was announced that the final Virgin America flight will take…
Late last month, it was reported that Alaska Airlines and Virgin America would begin to fly under a single operating certificate (SOC) as early as January 2018. The two carriers will begin to operate under a single operating certificate on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. After 14 years of operation, Virgin…
After purchasing Virgin America for $2.6 billion in 2016, Alaska Airlines will switch all Virgin America flights to Alaska operations on April 25, 2018. Alaska was cleared by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice in December of 2016 to continue with the acquisition of Virgin America,…
The Virgin America and Alaska Airlines acquisition is well underway, and it is beginning to resonate around the combined airline's system. Perhaps one of the most noticeable changes occurred Saturday night at New York's LaGuardia airport where crews could be seen converting Virgin America branding into Alaska signage. [caption id="attachment_15202" align="aligncenter"…
US Airways officially ends service on October 17th, completing the carrier’s 76-year-old history. The Brand's Rich History The brand's legacy dates back to 1939 (hence the last flight's number) when the airline, previously named Allegheny Airlines was based in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and operated mostly in the Northeast. Allegheny…
