Trans World Airlines

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Type: Public Company
Address: 515 North 6th Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63101, U.S.A.
Telephone: (314) 589-3000
Toll Free: 800-221-2000
Fax: (314) 589-3129
Web: http://www.twa.com
Employees: 21,000
Sales: $3.31 billion (1999)
Stock Exchanges: American
Ticker Symbol: TWA
Incorporated: 1928 as Transcontinental Air Transport
NAIC: 481111 Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
SIC: 4512 Air Transportation - Scheduled

In the 1990s, Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA) ranked as the seventh largest U.S. airline company. The firm's history has been influenced by such well-known personalities as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Jack Frye, and Howard Hughes. However, under the late 1980s and early 1990s stewardship of corporate raider Carl Icahn, the company widely known as TWA squandered much of its reputation. It filed for bankruptcy protection twice in the 1990s, losing money ten years in a row even as its rivals logged record profits. Although TWA leads the pack in on~time performance, lingering image problems have prevented it from winning much of the lucrative business travel market.

TWA was established through the merger of several small airline companies in the 1920s. One of those small companies was Maddux Air Lines, which began a luxury passenger service between Los Angeles and San Diego on July 21, 1927. Maddux and a number of other carriers were organized by a group of investors who sought to establish a transcontinental passenger line using a combination of airplane flights and railroads. The group, Transcontinental Air Transport, hired Charles Lindbergh to survey the route. On July 7, 1929, TAT inaugurated the "Lindbergh Line," offering coast-to-coast transportation in about 48 hours. The journey departed New York in the evening and crossed the eastern U.S. by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The next morning passengers flew from Columbus, Ohio, to Waynoka, Oklahoma. From there the Santa Fe Railroad took them overnight to Clovis, New Mexico. From Clovis the passengers flew on to either Los Angeles or San Francisco.

In those early days of commercial aviation, airlines made most of their money hauling mail for postal services. The United States Postmaster at the time, Walter Folger Brown, was responsible for assigning three transcontinental airmail routes. American Airlines won the southern route, Northwest Airlines won the northern route, and TAT was awarded the central route, but only on the condition that the company merge with Western Air Express. In 1930, the two companies joined to form Transcontinental and Western Air Lines, or TWA. That October the new company covered the coast-to-coast route completely with airplanes, in light of the failure of the previous scheme. The trip was reduced to 36 hours and then later to 24.

Bill Boeing manufactured what were generally regarded as the best airplanes of the day; however, he refused to sell them to any air transport company except his own. Excluded from the Boeing market, TWA's general manager, Jack Frye, solicited designs from a number of manufacturers. A small California operation run by Donald Douglas proposed an impressive design which outperformed Frye's basic specifications. TWA accepted Douglas's offer, and the first DC~1 was built. The DC~1, however, became obsolete before it could be mass produced, so it was lengthened and otherwise improved. The new plane, the DC~2, was every bit as practical as the DC~1, but more difficult to fly.

Air travel was a risky business in the 1930s. Breaches in pilot discipline and frequent equipment failures caused a number of TWA airplane crashes. At one point, the airline was losing five percent of its personnel annually to such accidents. The company was further troubled when the Roosevelt Administration decided to cancel all government airmail contracts with private carriers in 1934. Many airlines, including TWA, depended on mail contracts for their profitability. During this crisis TWA was sold to a group led by Lehman Brothers and John Hertz of the Yellow Cab Company. The government decided to restore the airmail contracts a few months later and reopened the bidding. Curiously, companies that had held contracts before were barred from bidding. In order to get around this stipulation, the company responded by merely adding "Incorporated" to its name. It was re~awarded 60 percent of its original airmail system and, over a period of a few years, recovered the rest.

Under the new owners, Jack Frye, a vice-president and former Hollywood stunt pilot, was promoted to president. The new management instituted major improvements in TWA's training and flight efficiency and also upgraded its airport facilities. The airline employed directional "homing" radar and installed runway lights to facilitate night flying. The DC~3 became the company's new workhorse while business improved significantly.

In the 1930s airline companies became especially vulnerable to buyouts. General Motors Corporation acquired Eastern Airlines in 1933 and American Airlines was taken over by the auto magnate E.L. Cord. When General Motors purchased stock in TWA, the airline worried that it would be forcibly merged with some other GM interest. In 1938, when TWA had fully recovered from the airmail fiasco, the Lehman/Hertz group sold the airline to another group of investors. During this time Frye personally convinced millionaire Howard Hughes to invest in TWA. It is very likely that Frye wanted Hughes's interest in the company so that he could help to defend it from any hostile takeover bids, especially from GM.

At the outset, Frye and Hughes respected each other as aviators and businessmen. Frye was a daredevil flier, a man totally enthralled with aviation and its possibilities. Hughes was an equally eccentric young man who was devoted to breaking aviation records. From his father he inherited ownership of the extremely lucrative Hughes Tool Company, the primary supplier of oil well drilling bits. Using this large fortune Hughes purchased 25 percent of TWA's stock. In 1941 he gained a controlling interest in the airline and later increased his share to 78 percent.

One of Hughes's first activities at TWA was to begin development of a new airplane, the L-049 Constellation, in association with Lockheed. While the Constellation was still being developed, Hughes approved Frye's proposal to buy another new airplane, Boeing's 307 Stratoliner, for the interim. The Stratoliner had a pressurized cabin and was able to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet. As a result, it could fly over bad weather rather than be forced to navigate through it.

TWA was one of the first American airline companies to serve during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Even before the U.S. government had officially committed itself to the war effort, TWA was helping the Army Air Corps assist the British. When the U.S. became fully involved in 1941, TWA was assigned two military supply routes: the North Atlantic route to Prestwick, Scotland, and the South Atlantic route from Brazil to Liberia and points east.

The airline had the distinction of flying President Roosevelt and a number of other government personnel to and from various meeting places during the war, most notably, Casablanca. The war gave TWA the opportunity to upgrade and expand its facilities worldwide in anticipation of the allied victory. The U.S. War Department actively supported the airline's activities during the war. It would be fair to say that TWA served the country well and that it also profited handsomely. When TWA's military service was over it had flown 40 million miles for the Army, and was exposed to hundreds of new destinations.

The major overseas carriers after the war were Pan Am, American, and TWA. All these airlines requested licensing for commercial use of much of their wartime network. TWA was granted two transatlantic routes to Europe, one via the "great circle" near the Arctic, and the other via the Azores to the Mediterranean. From there TWA flew on to India, Southeast Asia, and Japan. The company also enjoyed a government subsidy in the immediate postwar years.

Hughes and Frye had grandiose, but divergent, plans for their company, whose name they had changed to Trans World Airlines. The Constellation they helped to develop first flew in 1944, served briefly during the war, and entered wide commercial use in the postwar era. However, it was at this time that the two men began to disagree. Hughes, who was injured in the crash of a test plane during the war, had developed a very difficult personality and was known to hold up major business decisions for weeks while he agonized over minute details. He even disappeared for several days with a Constellation, only to turn up in Bermuda making endless test landings.

TWA soon found that it did not have enough business on its 21,000 miles of postwar international routes to generate a profit. Frye's efforts to rectify the problem collided with the plans of Hughes's financial manager, Noah Dietrich. Dietrich charged that Frye had mismanaged the airline into a financial crisis and dangerous overexpansion. Hughes offered to provide money for TWA from the Hughes Tool Company, but only on the condition that Frye resign. Thus in January 1947 Frye left TWA.

TWA suspended many of its plans for further expansion. The headquarters was moved from Kansas City to New York. Ralph Damon, who had previously been with American Airlines, was brought in to replace Jack Frye. Damon was an old-school engineer and airplane manufacturer known for his careful attention to detail. Damon's numerous successes at the airline, however, were shrouded by Hughes's continued interference and manipulation. Hughes insisted that the company reduce its advertising and promotion at a time when it was probably most needed. Regardless, TWA went off its postwar government subsidy in 1952, and a year later was healthy enough to declare a ten percent stock distribution. Two years later Damon died at work, a victim of pneumonia and exhaustion. Doctors suggested that his poor health was exacerbated by the unrelenting pressure of running an airline for Howard Hughes.

Damon's successor was Carter Burgess, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. Burgess lasted only 11 months, during which time he never even met Hughes. TWA's next president was Charles Thomas. Thomas kept a low profile, followed all of Hughes's orders, and kept the company in good financial condition. When Thomas took over in the mid~1950s, all of the airlines were competing to be the first to have jetliners in their fleets. While the other leading companies were laying their plans and placing orders, TWA's order was delayed by Hughes's indecision over which airplane to buy, the Boeing 707 or the DC~8. Weeks later he finally decided to order 76 airplanes from Boeing and Convair. The jetliners would cost $500 million, much more than TWA could afford. Hughes's plan was to have his successful tool company purchase the planes and lease them to the airline. He wanted to keep TWA's profits low, channel money out of the Tool Company, and thereby avoid paying large penalty taxes.

Unfortunately, a world oil glut hurt the Hughes Tool Company so badly that it was unable to pay for the new airplanes. As a result, TWA was forced to turn to a group of Wall Street investment bankers for financial support. The bankers were aware of Hughes's reputation as a successful tycoon, but also recognized that his interests were probably not the same as those of the airline. As a condition for their financial assistance, they required that Hughes's majority voting interest in TWA be placed in a trust under their control. Negotiations lasted until the bankers' deadline, when Hughes finally conceded.

One of the investment group's first actions was to install Charles Tillinghast as president of TWA. Tillinghast, a lawyer, promptly filed an antitrust suit against Hughes, alleging violations of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Anti-Monopoly Act, and accusing him of monopolizing aircraft purchases for his own benefit and to the detriment of TWA. Hughes responded with a countersuit, charging that they swindled him out of his airline. The litigation continued for many years and cost TWA over $10 million. In the end, the courts returned no clear decision.

Tillinghast reorganized the airline quickly and completely. Management was restructured and pared down. TWA placed orders for newer B~727s and French-built Caravelles. In addition, Tillinghast attempted to change the company's public image. In light of its association with Hughes, TWA was regarded as being overly concerned with speed, glamour, and style, and not enough with dependability, efficiency, and safety. TWA emerged from its troubles with stable and consistent profits through 1966, largely due to the direction of Charles Tillinghast. Ironically, the chief beneficiary of TWA's improvement was Howard Hughes. In 1966 he sold his stock in the airline for $546.5 million, or $86 per share. Three years earlier TWA stock had sold for a paltry $7.50.

Aside from the large profits and the Hughes fiasco, the 1960s were important in another way. It was at this time that Tillinghast made perhaps his most important contribution. Hoping to provide the company with protection against the unpredictable and unstable airline business, he initiated a diversification program aimed at strengthening the airline's capital structure and cash flow.

TWA's diversification began in 1964 with a contract to provide base support services to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Cape Kennedy. In 1967 TWA purchased Hilton International, the operator of all Hilton Hotels outside the United States. Later, TWA acquired the Canteen Corporation, Spartan Food Services, and Century 21, a real estate firm. The company was the first to diversify into non-airline businesses, and its timing was auspicious, as the industry was suffering from the recession of the early 1970s. TWA's B~747s and L-1011s were flying with nearly empty passenger cabins. The original decision to purchase the jetliners was made in response to Pan Am's huge orders, and not based on TWA's needs. As a result, the airline was plagued with overcapacity; it owned too many big, inefficient planes.

To make matters worse, TWA suffered a crippling six-week flight attendants' strike in 1973. By 1975 several payrolls could only be met with the immediate sale of six 747s to the Iranian Air Force. It was an unfortunate financial transaction for TWA (which sold the jetliners for about one-sixth their actual value), but the airline was desperate for cash. TWA was also losing money on its trans-Pacific route, which had been awarded during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency. For the first time in its history, TWA's network stretched around the world, but even this would soon come to an end.

Tillinghast retired amid these numerous crises. He was succeeded in January 1976 by Carl Meyer. Meyer navigated the airline through a series of changes in the airline passenger market. Costs were reduced as international traffic expanded. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 allowed TWA to establish a more efficient dual hub system: St. Louis for domestic traffic and New York for international traffic. Moreover, under Carl Meyer TWA reduced its fleet and its staff. The company purchased more fuel-efficient airplanes while selling the 'gas-guzzlers' as soon as their value had completely depreciated.

On January 1, 1979, TWA created a holding company called the Trans World Corporation, which assumed ownership of the airline and the various subsidiaries. Several years later, facing financial difficulties, Trans World Corporation decided to sell its airline. Thus TWA was acquired by 'corporate raider' Carl Icahn early in 1986. Icahn's style of 'raiding' usually involved buying up enough of a company's stock to threaten the other stockholders with a controlling interest or takeover. This drove the price of the stock up to a point where he could decide to sell, usually at a large profit. In his battle with Texas Air Corporation (parent of Eastern Airlines) for control of TWA, Icahn enlisted the support of the target airline's labor unions with pledges to honor their numerous demands. With their support, Icahn was able to hold out with a bid of $18.17 per share and ultimately took over. Icahn fired the airline's popular president, Richard Pearson, and replaced him with Joseph Corr.

Icahn's apparent commitment to TWA and hands-on approach surprised many observers. He launched a new subsidiary, the Travel Channel, acquired Ozark Airlines, pared expenses to the industry's lowest cost-per-available-seat-per-mile (8.5 cents), and turned 1986's loss into a profit for 1987. That success, however, was fleeting. A number of intractable problems--including an insufficient number of hubs and feeder lines, a rapidly declining market presence, heavy debt load, and price wars--plagued the airline.

By the end of 1988, when Icahn took TWA private, the firm's nearly $4 billion debt load gave it a negative net worth and contributed to the growing dissatisfaction of TWA's labor unions. Both the Air Line Pilots Association and the Independent Federation of Flight Attendants filed suits against Icahn alleging poor management. The financier in turn threatened to liquidate the airline in a long, drawn out bankruptcy if he did not obtain wage concessions from the unions and cooperation from creditors.

From 1985 until January 1992, when TWA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, its share of the domestic market had slipped from seven percent to 5.5 percent and its slice of the international market was halved from 20.9 percent to 10 percent. The company's bankruptcy reorganization plan called for its 28,000 employees to make 15 percent ($660 million) wage and work rule concessions in exchange for an additional 35 percent stake in the company, raising their share of TWA's equity to 45 percent. Creditors forgave $1 billion of the airline's $1.5 billion debt in exchange for the remaining equity. Icahn gave up his entire 90 percent share of the company, left it $200 million in cash, and paid the federal government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation $240 million to prop up TWA's pension plan, which was underfunded by an estimated $1.2 billion. About 2,000 jobs were eliminated, domestic capacity was reduced by 13 percent, and international volume was cut by 38 percent. The company even relocated its headquarters from Mt. Kisco, New York, to the more centrally located St. Louis, Missouri.

Robin H.H. Wilson and Glenn A. Zander were selected to run the company on an interim basis in the fall of 1992. Wilson had been with TWA for most the 1960s and 1970s, and Zander was a 28-year veteran of the company. In February 1993, the joint chief executives traveled around the United States to explain their plan to bring the company out of bankruptcy, which included a major image overhaul, from low-budget to quality-conscious. A new advertising campaign launched TWA's 'Comfort Class' seating, with more leg room than any other leading airline. Although the effort raised customer satisfaction, TWA continued to lose money in 1992 and 1993.

TWA emerged from bankruptcy protection months later than it had hoped, in November 1993, after the peak summer season. Wilson and Zander became executive vice-presidents of operations and finance, respectively, and former Piedmont Airlines chief William R. Howard took the airline's helm. Within just two months, however, Howard and Zander resigned after a dismal winter season, leaving TWA with yet another dilemma. Although board member Donald F. Craib, Jr., had no airline experience (he was formerly chairman and CEO of Allstate), he was selected to succeed Howard. Jeffrey Erickson, formerly of Reno Air, became CEO in the spring of 1994, temporarily ending the string of executives passing through the top job.

As new owners, TWA's employees made heroic efforts to sustain their company, improving service and timeliness and donating their own pay to fund advertising and capital expenses. Yet they watched the value of their shares decline by over one-third in the first six months of 1994. That June, two of the airline's three largest unions agreed to another $200 million in concessions to help the company survive yet another harsh winter. The company also started post-bankruptcy negotiations with creditors, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., offering a swap of about 15 percent in equity for about $800 million of debt. Late in 1994, when the plan was unveiled, Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., of Aviation Week & Space Technology, who had long followed the saga, related analysts' general skepticism that the offer would be accepted.

Although revenues rose eight percent to $3.4 billion, TWA posted a $436 million loss for 1994. The company filed for its second Chapter 11 in June 1995 to shed $500 million of its $1.7 billion in debt. This time around, creditors had approved its deal before filing, putting it on track to emerge from its second restructuring in August 1995.

With unprofitable routes already slashed and employee loyalty taxed to the fullest, managers gambled on a new strategy in 1996. They installed a new yield management system (software determining how many seats are sold at what prices) in a plan to emphasize the lucrative business side of the market.

Soon the carrier began to show signs of a turnaround, with some union representatives balking at the generous stock options granted Erickson. TWA began hiring again, planning to increase employment by nearly ten percent in 1996. It announced plans to finally acquire some new planes, 15 leased MD-83s, on July 16.

The next day, Flight 800 to Paris exploded shortly after taking off from New York City, killing all 230 people on board. An extended investigation to determine the cause of the explosion followed. Senior executives were criticized in the press by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for their slow response to the news. However, Erickson had been in London lobbying for a new route and could not charter a return flight until the next morning. Further, two of his top aides had recently resigned.

Ultimately, Erickson resigned after TWA announced a $14 million loss for the third quarter--traditionally the airline's strongest season. Erickson had been struggling with both the board of directors and the pilots' union. The carrier posted a loss of $259 million on $3.6 billion in revenues in 1996.

The board chose Gerald L. Gitner as Erickson's replacement, making the position permanent in February 1997. The selection reportedly infuriated the Machinists' union, although it was later revealed that the union's two representatives on the TWA board had voted in favor of Gitner. Gitner had worked at Texas Air and Pan Am, both of which folded; the Machinists at Eastern Airlines had gone on strike after it was acquired by Texas Air, led by Frank Lorenzo.

The steam that had driven TWA's turnaround, the loyalty of its relatively underpaid workers, was giving out. TWA was the only major U.S. airline to lose money in 1997. By focusing on on-time performance, the carrier tried to capture a bigger percentage of the lucrative business travel market--no other major airline controlled less. To improve reliability, TWA retired its old Lockheed L-1011s in favor of smaller Boeing 757s. International service was also greatly scaled back. In 1997, TWA was second among majors for on-time performance. Pilot William Compton was promoted to president in December 1997 and oversaw the airline's efforts to keep planes moving on time.

However, the strategy failed as planes flew with many unfilled seats that would have otherwise gone to vacation traffic. While other major airlines were posting banner years, TWA again lost money ($121 million) for the tenth straight year in 1998. The company at the end of the year was embroiled in contract disputes and calls for new leadership from unions and shareholders alike. It had recently ordered 125 new jets. Compton was designated TWA's new CEO, effective May 1999, while Gitner remained chairman. The Machinists' union derided the shift as a 'manipulative shuffle.'

In July 1999, Compton called Boeing's new 717-200 a symbol of where the airline was headed. With AirTran, TWA was the launch customer for the plane, a medium range jet designed by McDonnell Douglas (also known the MD-5) before that manufacturer was acquired by Boeing. TWA ordered 50 of the 717-200s and invested $15 million in a state-of-the-art flight simulator to train pilots in their use.

TWA contracted with Indianapolis-based Chautauqua Airlines to provide feeder services on small, 50-seat regional jets. A new labor agreement made the partnership possible. On regional routes, TWA had previously been using only turboprop aircraft, which were generally less favored by passengers. At least 15 of Chatauqua's Embraer 145 regional jets were to be in service by the end of 2001 in markets around the country.

TWA ranked first in a 1999 J.D. Power and Associates survey of business travelers. It continued to lead the other major airlines in on-time performance. Intriguingly, it also ranked second in the number of passenger complaints to the federal government. Lingering image problems prevented the carrier from charging top rates. TWA had a limited network and faced competition on nearly all of its routes. Once strong in New York, the airline had retained only one hub, the crowded, outdated St. Louis-Lambert International Airport. Since most passengers did not want to travel to the middle of the country every time they flew, TWA was working out agreements so its passengers could earn frequent flier miles on other airlines such as America West.

Principal Subsidiaries

Ambassador Fuel Corporation; Royal Ambassador Insurance Company; Getaway Management Services, Inc.; International Aviation Security, Inc.; International Airport Services; International Aviation Security Gesellschaft; International Aviation Security Italia S.r.l.; International Aviation Security Ltd.; International Aviation Security (UK); International Aviation Security N.V.; Mega Advertising, Inc.; Northwest 112th Street Corp.; Ozark Group, Inc.; TWA Getaway Vacations, Inc.; The Getaway Group (UK), Inc.; The TWA Ambassadors Club, Inc.; Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc.; Trans World Computer Services, Inc.; Trans World Express, Inc.; Trans World Pars, Inc.; TWA Aviation, Inc.; TWA de Mexico S.A. de C.V.; TWA Employee Services, Inc.; TWA Group, Inc.; TWA Nippon, Inc.; TWA Standards & Controls, Inc.; TWA-NY/NJ Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-LAX Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-San Francisco Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-Logan Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-D.C. Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-Omnibus Gate Company, Inc.; TWA-Hangar 12 Holding Company, Inc.; LAX Holding Company, Inc.; TWA Stock Holding Company, Inc.; ConFin Inc.; Constellation Finance LLC; Worldspan, L.P. (26.31%).

Principal Competitors

AMR Corporation; Southwest Airlines Co.; UAL Corporation; Delta Air Lines Inc.

Further Reading

Alexander, Keith L., 'TWA Changing `From Inside Out',' USA Today, July 17, 1995, p. 8B.

Biederman, Paul, The U.S. Airline Industry: End of an Era, New York: Praeger, 1982.

Carey, Christopher, 'Agreement with Indianapolis Carrier Gives TWA Regional Presence; Deal with Chautauqua Airlines Is for 10 Years,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 1999, p. C1.

------, 'Debt Is Gone, But Icahn's Not Forgotten; Financier Still Has the Right to Buy Cheap Airline Tickets,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1998, p. E1.

------, 'Machinists Did an About-Face in TWA Attack: Acting Officers Had Union's OK,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 9, 1997, p. 1E.

------, 'TWA Demonstrates New $15 Million Flight Simulator,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 17, 1999, p. C1.

------, 'TWA Execs' Pay Blasted by Attendant; Airline Cites Steady Financial Improvement,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 22, 1996, p. 1C.

------, 'TWA Gave Lucrative Deals in CEO Switch,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 1997, p. 1B.

------, 'TWA Tries to Sell Its Best Customers on Its Success,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 13, 1998, p. C10.

Chandler, Susan, 'TWA Is Carrying Some Heavy Baggage,' Business Week, April 7, 1997, p. 40.

------, 'How TWA Faced the Nightmare,' Business Week, August 5, 1996, p. 30.

Donlan, Thomas G., 'Super Pilot or Predator? Zeroing In on What Carl Icahn Has Wrought at TWA,' Barron's, September 26, 1988, pp. 8-9.

Driscoll, Lisa, 'Carl Has 9 Lives, But He's Getting Up to 8 1/2,' Business Week, February 24, 1992, pp. 56-57.

Field, David, 'Financial Turbulence: TWA Loses Millions Despite Robust Year,' USA Today, February 9, 1999, p. 1B.

------, 'TWA Waits for Changes to Pay: Its Flights Are on Time, Its Planes Are Newer, But Fliers Aren't Buying It Yet,' USA Today, May 9, 2000, p. 5B.

Flannery, William, 'TWA Calls Boeing's 717 a Symbol of Airline's Future,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 2, 1999, p. C10.

Flint, Perry, 'Return the Company to Profitability,' Air Transport World, January 1994, p. 88.

Foster, Vintage, 'Detroit Business Turnaround Specialist Puts Himself Out of Work,' Detroit Free Press, November 10, 1996.

Heaster, Randolph, 'Future of TWA at Issue; Resignation of CEO After Troubled Third Quarter Raises Speculation by Analysts,' Kansas City Star, October 26, 1996, p. B1.

------, 'TWA Angers Machinists' Union with Gitner's Selection As CEO; Labor Officials Claim Downsizing in New York Part of Larger Cuts,' Kansas City Star, February 18, 1997, p. D12.

------, 'TWA Machinists Union Faults Airline on Naming of CEO,' Kansas City Star, March 23, 1999, p. D11.

Icahn, Carl C., 'It's Your Captain Speaking: TWA's Corporate Pilot States His Case,' Barron's, October 31, 1988, pp. 35-38.

Kelly, Kevin, 'Can a 'Labor of Love' End TWA's Tailspin?,' Business Week, April 19, 1993, pp. 80-82.

Laing, Jonathan R., 'What's the Next Chapter?,' Barron's, January 3, 1994, pp. 17-19.

Leonhardt, David, 'Does TWA Need a New Captain?,' Business Week, December 28, 1998, p. 58.

------, '`You're Cleared for Takeoff, Boss',' Business Week, May 11, 1998, p. 74.

Petzinger, Thomas, Jr., Hard Landing, New York: Times Business, 1995.

Rosato, Donna, 'Once Again, TWA Faces Trauma and Uncertainty,' USA Today, July 19, 1996, p. 4B.

Serling, Robert J., Howard Hughes' Airline: An Informal History of TWA, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983.

Song, Kyung M., 'Pilot Faces Challenging Trip at TWA's Helm: New CEO Compton Must Try to End Losses and Achieve Labor Peace,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 21, 1999, p. E1.

------, 'TWA Welcomes New CEO, Reviews New Boeing Jets,' St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 26, 1999.

'TWA: The End of the Raid,' Economist, September 12, 1992, pp. 89-90.

'TWA: Phoenix Arises,' Economist, February 27, 1993, pp. 70-72.

Underwood, Elaine, 'Up, Up and Away,' Brandweek, September 20, 1993.

Velocci, Anthony L., Jr., 'TWA Employees Near Goal of Ending Icahn's Reign, Leaving Chapter 11,' Aviation Week & Space Technology, August 10, 1992, pp. 30-31.

------, 'TWA Plea to Creditors: Take More Equity,' Aviation Week & Space Technology, October 17, 1994, p. 35.

------, 'TWA Taps 'Outsider' to Head Ailing Carrier,' Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 10, 1994, p. 30.

— John Buckvold; Updated by April Dougal Gasbarre and Frederick C. Ingram

"TWA" redirects here. For Time Weighted Average, see Permissible exposure limit. For the pygmy people, see Twa.

For the Jordanian cargo airline, see Transworld Aviation.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

Trans World Airlines

IATA TW ICAO TWA Callsign TWA
Founded	1925 (as Western Air Express)
Ceased operations	December 2001
Hubs	Lambert-St. Louis International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport[1][2]
Focus cities	Los Angeles International Airport Charles De Gaulle Airport Kansas City International Airport
Frequent flyer program	Aviators
Member lounge	Ambassadors Club
Alliance	-
Fleet size	190
Destinations	132
Company slogan	We want to be your airline
Parent company	Transworld Corporation
Headquarters	Kansas City, Missouri
Key people	Dick Robbins (1930-1934) Jack Frye and Paul E. Richter (1931-1947) Howard Hughes (1939-1965) Ralph Damon (1949-1956) Carter Burgess (1956-1957) Charles Thomas (1958-1960) Charles Tillinghast (1961-1976) L.E. Smart (since 1976) C.E. Meyer Jr. (1976-1985) Carl Icahn (1985-1993) William R. Howard (1993-1994) Jeffrey H. Erickson (1994-1997) Gerald L. Gitner (1997-1999) William Compton (1999-2001)
Website	twa.com

Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major United States-based airline with hubs in St. Louis, New York (JFK), with focus cities in Kansas City, Missouri; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Los Angeles, California. The airline operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. Prior to the buyout, TWA was one of the largest domestic U.S. airlines operating flights to most major U.S. cities. It also had a substantial feeder operation from smaller mid-west cities. Beyond the U.S., TWA had a highly developed European and Middle East network, served mainly from its hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Along with Pan American World Airways, it was considered to be a secondary unofficial flag carrier for the United States, and it was the unofficial flag carrier of the U.S. in the 1990s, following Pan Am's collapse.^[3][4][5]

Contents 1 History 1.1 1930s 1.1.1 Founding - TWA 1.1.2 DC-3 1.1.3 Lehman Brothers/Hertz Ownership - T&WA, Inc. 1.1.4 Howard Hughes 1.2 1940s 1.2.1 World War II 1.2.2 Post-War - The Trans World Airline 1.2.3 Falling Out Between Hughes and Frye 1.3 1950s - Trans World Airlines 1.4 1960s 1.4.1 Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. 1.4.2 Revolutionary airport design 1.4.2.1 John F. Kennedy International Airport 1.4.2.2 Kansas City International Airport 1.4.3 All-jet fleet 1.5 1970s 1.6 1980s 1.7 1990s 1.7.1 1992 bankruptcy 1.7.2 1995 bankruptcy 1.7.3 TWA Flight 800 1.7.4 Short turn-around 1.8 2000s 1.8.1 Merger with American Airlines 2 Destinations 3 Terrorist target 4 Fleet 4.1 Fleet in 2000 4.2 Retired fleet 4.3 1970 5 Crew bases 6 Ambassadors Club 6.1 Clubs in North America open on December 1 6.2 Clubs in North America closed prior to dissolution 6.3 Clubs in Europe closed prior to dissolution 7 References 8 External links

History

1930s

Founding - TWA

TWA's corporate history dates from the July 16, 1930, forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) and Western Air Express to form Transcontinental & Western Air (T&WA). The companies merged at the urging of Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown, who was looking for bigger airlines to give airmail contracts.

Both airlines brought high profile aviation pioneers who would give the airline the panache of being called the "The Airline Run by Flyers." The airlines would become known for several years as being on the cutting edge of aviation. Transcontinental, the bigger of the two, had the marquee expertise of Charles Lindbergh and was already offering a 48-hour combination of plane and train trip across the United States. Western, which was slightly older having been founded in 1925, had the expertise of Jack Frye.

On October 25, 1930, the airline offered one of the first all plane scheduled service from coast to coast—the Lindbergh Route. The route took 36 hours and initially called for overnights in Kansas City. In summer 1931, TWA relocated its headquarters from New York to Kansas City, Missouri.

DC-3

In 1931, the airline nearly went out of business after TWA Flight 599 crashed on March 31 near Bazaar, Kansas, killing all eight on board the plane, including University of Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne. The crash revealed problems with the airline's aging fleet of Fokker Trimotors.

Experimental TWA test aircraft.

The dominant manufacturer of the day was Bill Boeing but, because of a prior contract with United Air Lines, he could not sell his planes to competing lines. Frye and other members of TWA approached several other manufacturers, including Donald Douglas with specifications for a sturdier, larger plane. On September 20, 1932, the contract was signed with Douglas and the DC-1 was delivered to TWA in December 1933. The result was the one and only DC-1. The new aircraft was ultimately to evolve into the DC-3. Throughout 1934, Tomlinson and Richter tested the DC-1, and Tomlinson's extensive testing in 1934 and 1935 led to higher-altitude "over-weather flying" and cabin pressurization.

On February 18, 1934, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, Frye, and a TWA team including "Tommy" Tomlinson, Larry Fritz, and Paul E. Richter, Si Morehouse, Harlan Hull, John Collings, and Andy Andrews flew a prototype of the DC-1 from Burbank, California, to Newark, New Jersey, in a record-breaking 13 hours and 4 minutes.

Lehman Brothers/Hertz Ownership - T&WA, Inc.

In 1934, following charges of favoritism in the contracts, the Air Mail scandal erupted, leading to the Air Mail Act of 1934 which dissolved the forced Transcontinental and Western merger and ordered the United States Army Air Service to deliver the mail. The T&WA name, however, would stick with Transcontinental as TWA. With the company facing financial hardship, Lehman Brothers and John D. Hertz took over ownership of the company.^[6]

The Army fliers experienced a series of crashes, and it was decided to privatize the delivery with the provision that no former companies could bid on the contracts. T&WA added the suffix "Inc." to its name, thus qualifying it as a different company and got 60 percent of its old contracts back starting again in May 1934.^[6]

A TWA Douglas DC-3 is prepared for takeoff from Columbus, Ohio, in 1940.

On May 18, 1934, the DC-2 production version of the DC-1 and forerunner of the DC-3 entered commercial service on TWA's Columbus-Pittsburgh-Newark route. On December 27, 1934, Jack Frye became President, Paul E. Richter, Vice Pres., Walt Hamilton, V.P. Maintenance with managers Lawrence G. "Larry" Fritz, and Tommy Tomlinson, the leader in "High Altitude Research" for Over Weather Flying. The new owners installed directional "homing" radar and runway lights at its facilities.

In 1935, Tomlinson and Northrop Gamma (turbo-supercharged) began High Altitude research, and the last of 14 TWA Northrop Alphas were phased out. On November 16, 1936, Paul E. Richter headed the airline's Boeing 307 talks. On January 29, 1937, TWA contracted with Boeing for five Boeing 307 "Stratoliners", the first commercial plane with a pressurized cabin. The first TWA Stratoliner was delivered on May 6, 1940.

In 1938, Paul E. Richter was elected Executive Vice President, Lawrence G. "Larry" Fritz became Vice Pres. of Operations, and Tomlinson Vice Pres. of Engineering. TWA subsequently received the San Francisco to Chicago route.

Howard Hughes

In 1938, Lehman and Hertz began selling their interest and General Motors began buying stock. Frye then approached another flying enthusiast, Howard Hughes, to buy stock. According to John Keats's biography of Hughes, he grumbled, "$15 million! That's a small fortune!" before he agreed and initially bought 25 percent of the airline.

On June 22, 1939, Hughes Tool Co. ordered 40 Lockheed Constellations. On July 8, 1940, TWA inaugurated Boeing 307 Stratoliner service.

1940s

World War II

Hughes gained a controlling interest in 1941 and eventually controlled 78 percent of TWA. The airline prospered during World War II, transporting President Franklin Roosevelt overseas—particularly to the Casablanca Conference -- and racking up 40 million miles in flights for the Army, as well as supplying the North Atlantic route to Prestwick, Scotland, and the South Atlantic route from Brazil to Liberia and points east.

Hughes pushed for the construction of the Lockheed Constellation, which would become synonymous with the TWA style of elegance and cutting-edge technology. On April 17, 1944, Hughes and Frye flew the Constellation (C-69 USAAF #43-10310) from Burbank, California, to Washington, D.C., in an unofficial record 6 hours 58 minutes.

Post-War - The Trans World Airline

L-749 Constellation "Star of Virginia" at London Heathrow in 1954 with under-fuselage "Speedpack" freight container

After breaking Pan American World Airways' legal designation as the United States' sole international carrier, TWA began trans-Atlantic service in 1946 using the new elegant Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") aircraft, and changing its name to The Trans World Airline.

The airline assisted in the setting-up of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, and the newly established German national airline Lufthansa. Airlines from around the world sent their pilots to TWA for training.

Falling Out Between Hughes and Frye

Frye and Hughes had a falling out in 1946. Hughes' financial advisor Noah Dietrich said that Frye was ruining the company with overexpansion. TWA's stock market price plunged from $53 a share to $10 as the airline suffered a pilot's strike and a temporary grounding of its Constellation fleet. Hughes dictated to management a 50% cut across the board as a solution to the financial problems. In December 1946, Hughes loaded the TWA Board of Directors with men from the Hughes Tool Co. Frye resigned in February 1947, followed three months later by Richter. Thus ended the era of "The Airline Run by Flyers".

TWA had established routes from Europe to Asia during the late 1940s and 1950s, flying its aircraft as far east as Hong Kong. Throughout the next two decades, TWA suffered constant short-term and short-sighted management, with the exception of the able and highly regarded Ralph Damon.^{[citation needed]} TWA survived partly due to the airline's legal maneuvering of the 40s that eliminated a possible competitive threat from American Overseas Airlines, affiliated with American Airlines, relegating them to non-scheduled charter service only and eventually forcing them out of all European-U.S. service by 1950. As a result, TWA and Pan Am were the only U.S. airlines that served Europe until the 1970s.

1950s - Trans World Airlines

The TWA Corporate Headquarters' Building in Kansas City, Missouri

In 1950, the airline officially changed its name to Trans World Airlines. Between 1954 and 1958 it moved its executive offices from its landmark downtown Kansas City building to New York City. However, the servicing of the fleet continued to be handled in Kansas City, Kansas. Initially, servicing was at a former B-25 Mitchell bomber factory at Fairfax Airport. When the Great Flood of 1951 destroyed the facility, the city of Kansas City, Missouri built TWA a 5,000-acre (20 km²) airport on farmland 15 miles (24 km) north of downtown at what became Kansas City International Airport. At its peak, the airline was one of Kansas City's biggest employers with more than 20,000 employees.

In the 1950s the TWA Moonliner was the tallest structure at Disneyland and depicted atomic-powered travel to come in 1986.

TWA's maintenance hangar at Philadelphia airport, built in 1956, from an undated photo from Historic American Engineering Record.

TWA suffered from its late entry to the jet age and in 1956 Hughes placed an order for 63 Convair 880s at a cost of $400 million. The transaction ultimately resulted in Hughes losing control of the airline because outside creditors financing the deal did not want Hughes controlling development and operation of aircraft.

In 1958 TWA became the first major airline to hire a black flight attendant, hiring Dorothy Franklin of Astoria, Queens, New York after she filed a lawsuit alleging "that she had been discriminated against 'because of poor complexion ... unattractive teeth' and legs that were 'not shapely.'" New York governor W. Averell Harriman praised her hiring, saying the action "would raise American prestige abroad."^[7]

1960s

On July 19, 1961, TWA was the first airline to introduce regular in-flight movies aboard its aircraft when it offered the feature film By Love Possessed, starring Lana Turner and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. in the first-class section of a Boeing 707 during a scheduled flight from New York City to Los Angeles.

Charles C. Tillinghast Jr.

Hughes formally relinquished power in 1961 in the battle over the purchase of the Convair 880 jetliners. In the deal, Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. became chairman and oversaw the airline until 1976. The battle over Hughes' control continued until a court order in 1966 forced Hughes to sell his stock at a profit of $546 million (which he used to purchase the regional carrier Air West and rename the airline Hughes Airwest).

Under new corporate management, the Trans World Corporation (TWA's holding company) expanded to purchase the overseas operations of Hilton Hotels.

Revolutionary airport design

TWA was one of the first airlines in the world to embrace the spoke-hub distribution paradigm and also was one of the first airlines to use the Boeing 747. It planned to use the 747 along with the anticipated supersonic transport to whisk people between the West/Midwest (via Kansas City) and New York City (via John F. Kennedy International Airport) to European and other world destinations. As part of this strategy, TWA's hub airports were to be designed so that gates would be close to the street. However, the TWA-style airport design proved impractical and costly when Cuban hijackings in the late 1960s, followed by more sinister and deadly Mideast hijackings, required central security checkpoints.

John F. Kennedy International Airport

Main article: TWA Flight Center

The Trans World Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

In 1962, TWA opened Trans World Flight Center, now known as Terminal 5 (or simply T5), at New York City's JFK Airport and designed by Eero Saarinen. The terminal was expanded in 1969 to accommodate Jumbo Jets, went dormant in 2001, and underwent renovation and expansion beginning in 2005. A new terminal with a crescent-shaped entry hall and now serving Jetblue Airways opened in 2008 — partially encircling the historic landmark designed by Saarinen.

Kansas City International Airport

Kansas City approved a $150 million bond issue for the TWA hub there. TWA vetoed plans for a Dulles International Airport-style hub-and-spoke gate structure. Following union strife, the airport ultimately cost $250 million when it opened in 1972, with U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew officiating. TWA's gates, which were conceived of being within 100 feet (30 m) of the street, were likewise to become obsolete because of security. When Kansas City refused to rebuild its terminals (even as Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport rebuilt its similarly designed terminals), TWA began looking elsewhere. Missouri politicians moved to keep it in the state. In 1982, TWA began a decade-long move to Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri.

All-jet fleet

The recognizable TWA logotype

On April 7, 1967, TWA became one of the world's first all-jet airlines with the retirement of their last Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and L-1649 Starliner aircraft. That morning throughout the TWA system, aircraft ground service personnel placed a booklet on every passenger seat titled "Props Are For Boats." By 1969, TWA had eclipsed Pan American World Airways' one-time Atlantic dominance. And in the Transpacific Route Case of 1969, TWA was given authority to extend its route network across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii, Japan, and Taiwan.

TWA operated Boeing single-aisle jets in the 1960s.

In 1969, TWA opened the Breech Academy on a 25-acre (100,000 m²) campus in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, to train its flight attendants, ticket agents, and travel agents, as well as to provide flight simulators for its pilots. It became the definitive training facility, and other airlines sent their staff to it.

The airline continued to aggressively expand European operations throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. In 1987, TWA could boast of a trans-Atlantic system that stretched from Los Angeles to Bombay, including virtually every major European population center, with gateways from the United States in 10 major cities.

1970s

In 1975, Trans World Airlines was headquartered in Turtle Bay area of Midtown Manhattan, New York City.^[8][9] It is the site of the United Nations Headquarters and the Chrysler Building.

1980s

Facing the pressures of deregulation, the airline began to consolidate its route system around a domestic hub in Saint Louis (aided by its purchase of Ozark Air Lines in 1986) and an international gateway in New York. It was able to remain profitable during this time because of its good pre-deregulation route positioning and the relatively low costs of adapting its operations. In 1985, Carl Icahn bought the airline operations from the Trans World Corporation and appointed himself as chairman of the newly independent airline. Icahn focused upon minimizing the company's surplus liquidity and upon reducing wages and benefits for employees. He later shifted his attention to the sale of the profitable route authorities and gates to other airlines and to the establishment of an unprofitable hub in Atlanta. Also in 1985, TWA closed their hub at Pittsburgh International Airport after nearly 20 years of a hub status.

In 1987 Icahn moved the company's main offices from Manhattan,^[10] New York City to office buildings he owned in Mount Kisco.^[11]

TWA operated the L-1011 TriStar wide-body jetliner.

TWA's zenith occurred in the summer of 1988, when, for the first and only time, the airline would carry more than 50 percent of all the trans-Atlantic passengers. Every day, Boeing 747, Lockheed L-1011, and Boeing 767 aircraft would depart to more than 30 cities in Europe, fed by a small but effective domestic operation focused on moving U.S. passengers to New York or other gateway cities for widebody service across the Atlantic, while a similar inter-European operation would shuttle non-U.S. passengers to TWA's European gateways (London and Paris) for travel to the United States. Icahn's pressing needs for additional wealth forced him to sell the airline's Heathrow operations to American Airlines at about the same time that Pan American World Airways sold its Heathrow operation to United Airlines.

1990s

1992 bankruptcy

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Tillinghast ignored the trans-Pacific market and the dedicated air cargo market. He was accused of saying, "There's no money in the Pacific and there's no money in cargo. We're gonna' shrink this airline 'til it's profitable." These two oversights are said to have been the undoing of TWA.

Airline deregulation hit TWA hard in the 1980s. TWA had badly neglected domestic U.S. expansion at a time when the newly deregulated domestic market was growing at an exponential rate. TWA's holding company, Trans World Corporation, spun off the airline, which then became starved for capital. The airline briefly considered selling itself to corporate raider Frank Lorenzo in the 1980s, but ended up selling to corporate raider Carl Icahn in 1985. Under Icahn's direction, many of its most profitable assets were sold to competitors, much to the detriment of TWA. Icahn was eventually ousted in 1993, though not before the airline was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1992. Icahn emerged unscathed. TWA moved its headquarters from Mt. Kisco to the former headquarters building of McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis soon after Icahn left.

1995 bankruptcy

When Carl Icahn left in 1993, he arranged to have TWA give Karabu Corp., an entity he controlled, the rights to buy TWA tickets at 45 percent off published fares through September 2003. This was named "The Karabu Deal."^[12] The ticket program agreement, which began on June 14, 1995, excluded tickets for travel which originated or terminated in St. Louis, Missouri. Tickets were subject to TWA's normal seat assignment and boarding pass rules and regulations, were non-assignable to any other carrier, and were non-endorsable. No commissions were paid to Karabu by TWA for tickets sold under the ticket program agreement.

At its heyday TWA operated a fleet of 747-100 aircraft.

By agreement dated August 14, 1995, Lowestfare.com LLC, a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Karabu, was joined as a party to the ticket program agreement. Pursuant to the ticket program agreement, Lowestfare.com could purchase an unlimited number of system tickets. System tickets are tickets for all applicable classes of service which were purchased by Karabu from TWA at a 45 percent discount from TWA's published fare. In addition to system tickets, Lowestfare.com could also purchase domestic consolidator tickets, which are tickets issued at bulk fare rates and were limited to specified origin/destination city markets and did not permit the holder to modify or refund a purchased ticket. Karabu's purchase of domestic consolidator tickets was subject to a cap of $70 million per year based on the full retail price of the tickets.

Hence, on most TWA flights, Karabu could buy and then sell a sizable portion of the available seats, leaving TWA to pay for its operating cost with the revenue accrued through the sale of any remaining ticket sales. In other words, TWA was flying passengers who were not paying them, but someone else. This deal left the company powerless. If TWA wanted to increase revenue on busy routes by putting a large plane into service, Karabu could only claim more seats. It is estimated TWA was losing around $150 million a year in revenue with this deal.

In trying to ameliorate the Karabu deal, TWA went in and out of bankruptcy in 1995.

TWA Flight 800

Main article: TWA Flight 800

On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean near Long Island, killing all 230 persons on board. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the most likely cause of the disaster was a center fuel tank explosion sparked by exposed wiring. In their subsequent coverage, the media focused heavily on the fact that TWA's airline fleet was among the oldest in service.

Short turn-around

One City Centre in Downtown St. Louis, which at one time served as the headquarters of TWA

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By 1998, TWA had reorganized as a primarily domestic carrier, with routes centered on hubs at St. Louis and New York. Partly in response to TWA Flight 800 and the age of its fleet, TWA announced a major fleet renewal, ordering 125 new aircraft. TWA paid for naming rights for the new Trans World Dome, home of the St. Louis Rams, in its corporate hometown.^{[citation needed]} In 1999 it was headquartered in One City Centre in Downtown St. Louis.^[13][14]

TWA's fleet renewal program included adding newer and smaller, more fuel-efficient longer-range aircraft such as the Boeing 757 and 767 and short-range aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and Boeing 717. Aircraft such as the Boeing 727 and 747, along with the Lockheed L-1011 and older DC-9s, some from Ozark and the 1960s, were retired. TWA also became one of the early customers for the Airbus A318 through ILFC. TWA, had it continued operating through 2003, would have been the first U.S. carrier to fly the type.^{[citation needed]}

A code-share agreement with America West Airlines was started, with long-term plans for a merger considered. However, the 1995 Karabu ticketing deal with Icahn proved to be an obstacle.^{[citation needed]}

The routes that TWA flew were also changed. Several international destinations were dropped or changed, and the focus of the airline became domestic and a small number of international routes through its St. Louis hub and smaller New York (JFK) and San Juan, Puerto Rico hubs. Domestically, the carrier improved services with redesigned aircraft and new services, including "Pay in Coach, Fly in First," where passengers could be upgraded to first class from coach when flying through St. Louis. Internationally, services were cut. European destinations eventually were limited to London, and Paris; and in the Middle East, to Cairo, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv.^{[citation needed]}

2000s

TWA stated that it planned to make Los Angeles a focus city around October 2000, with a partnership with American Eagle Airlines as part of Trans World Connection.^[15]

Merger with American Airlines

Financial problems began to resurface shortly afterward, and TWA's airline assets were acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. As part of the deal, TWA declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the third time) the day after it agreed to the purchase. The terms of the deal included a $500 million payment. However, since American assumed TWA's liabilities, the deal was estimated to have cost American $2 billion.^[16] American did not claim the naming rights for the Rams' home, which eventually became the Edward Jones Dome, named after the financial services company with the same name.

TWA booking ended on November 30, 2001. ^[17]

Trans World Airlines flew its last flight on December 1, 2001 with an MD-80 Aircraft (N948TW). The ceremonial last flight was Flight 220 from Kansas City, Missouri, to St. Louis, with CEO Captain William Compton at the controls. The final flight before TWA officially became part of American Airlines was completed between St. Louis and Las Vegas, Nevada, also on December 1, 2001. At 10:00 p.m. CST on that date, employees began removing all TWA signs and placards from airports around the country, replacing them with American Airlines signs. At midnight, all TWA flights officially became listed as American Airlines flights. Some aircraft carried hybrid American/TWA livery during the transition, with American's tricolor stripe on the fuselage and TWA titles on the tail and forward fuselage. Signage still bears the TWA logo in portions of Concourse D at Lambert St. Louis International Airport. On some MD-80 aircraft, the cabinets retain TWA logos.

American Airlines acquired some Ambassadors Clubs, and other Ambassadors Clubs closed on December 2, 2001 ^[18]

One lighted TWA sign still exists (as of 2009) on the east side of Saarinen's New York JFK terminal. According to Dave Barger, CEO of JetBlue Airways, JetBlue intends to retain the lit TWA sign on the Saarinen terminal after the renovation of Terminal 5.

TWA's St. Louis hub decreased after the merger due to its proximity to American's larger hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As a result, American initially replaced TWA's St. Louis mainline hub with regional jet service (going from over 800 operations a day to just over 200) and downsized TWA's maintenance base in Kansas City. In September 2009, American Airlines announced its intent to shut down the STL hub it inherited from TWA, and in October 2009, American Airlines announced its intent to close the Kansas City maintenance base by September, 2010.

Destinations

See TWA destinations for mainline destinations. For commuter destinations, see Trans World Express and Trans World Connection.

TWA had codeshare agreements with the following airlines

• America West Airlines
• American Airlines
• Kuwait Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian

Terrorist target

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See also: List of accidents and incidents involving airliners by airline

From 1969 to 1986, five TWA airliners were terrorist targets for Palestinian guerrilla groups, mainly because the airline had a strong European presence, represented the United States of America, and flew to Israel.

• In 1969, TWA Flight 840 from Rome to Athens was hijacked and forcibly diverted to Damascus. Nobody was injured, but the aircraft's nose was blown up (although replaced and the plane returned to service).
• In 1970, TWA Flight 741 was hijacked after taking off from Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to New York. It was taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan with two other hijacked aircraft. All three aircraft were empty of passengers and crew before being destroyed. A fourth aircraft that landed in Cairo, Egypt, suffered a similar fate.
• In 1974, TWA Flight 841 from Tel Aviv to New York City crashed shortly after takeoff from Athens enroute to Rome after a bomb believed to have been in the cargo hold exploded, killing all 88 onboard.
• In 1976, TWA Flight 355 was hijacked by five Croatian separatists as it flew from New York-LaGuardia to Chicago. They ordered the pilot to fly to Montreal, where the plane was refueled, and then made additional refueling stops in Gander and Keflavik; at some of these stops, the hijackers unloaded propaganda pamphlets that they demanded to be dropped over Montreal, Chicago, New York, London and Paris. At the plane's final stop at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, the hijackers surrendered after direct talks with U.S. ambassador Kenneth Rush, and their explosives were revealed to be fakes.^[19][20]
• In 1985, TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome was hijacked first to Beirut, then to Algiers, back to Beirut, back to Algiers, and finally back to Beirut — with some of its fuel being paid for by the Shell credit card of flight attendant Uli Derickson.
• In 1986, TWA Flight 840 was attacked with an on-board bomb causing four Americans (including a nine-month-old infant) to be ejected to their deaths. Five others on the aircraft were injured as the cabin experienced a rapid decompression. The remaining 110 passengers survived the incident as pilot Richard "Pete" Petersen made an emergency landing.

Fleet

Fleet in 2000

TWA Trans World Airlines Fleet

Type	Total	Routes	Notes
Airbus A318-100	(50 Orders)	Domestic	Order cancelled by American Airlines immediately after takeover
Boeing 757-200	27	Long-haul domestic; international	17 Currently operated by Delta Air Lines. Others in service with Ethiopian Airlines, Blue Panorama Airlines and Uzbekistan Airways.
Boeing 767-200/-300	23	Long-haul international routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-81	8	Short- to Medium-haul domestic routes; Caribbean
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	35	Short- to Medium-haul domestic routes; Caribbean
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	64	Short- to Medium-haul domestic routes; Caribbean	Newest ones remain in service with American Airlines
Boeing 717	29 (50 Ordered)	Short- to Medium-haul domestic routes	Majority were later sold to AirTran Airways while others went to other carriers.
Douglas DC-9		Short-haul domestic routes

Retired fleet

TWA Trans World Airlines retired Fleet

Type	Years	Routes	Notes
Douglas DC-1	1933-1934
Douglas DC-2	1934-1942
Douglas DC-3	1937-1957
Boeing 707	1960-1984
Boeing 727-100
Boeing 727-200	1968-2000
Boeing 747-100	1970-1998
Boeing 747-200	1977-2001
Boeing 747-SP	1979-1986
Convair 880	1960-1974
Lockheed L-1011	1972-1997
Lockheed Constellation	1945-1967

TWA at one time also held orders for the BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde, Sud Aviation Caravelle, Boeing 2707, and the Airbus A330 (which were taken by Cathay Pacific). The A330 order was eventually converted to A318 orders.

1970

Trans World Airlines fleet in 1970 ^[21]

Aircraft	Total	Orders	Notes
BAC/Sud Concorde	0	0	Six on option
Boeing SST	0	0	12 on option
Boeing 707-120	58	0
Boeing 707-320	53	0
Boeing 727	67	0
Boeing 747	3	12
Convair CV-880	25	0
Douglas DC-9-15	19	0
Lockheed Tristar	0	22
Total	225	34

Crew bases

TWA had crew bases in Boston, New York, Washington DC, St Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Frankfurt. Seasonal crew bases were located in Rome and at one time, Cairo. Starting in 1996, TWA had a "West Coast Regional Domicile", in which pilots covered originating flights out of major west coast U.S. airports from San Diego, CA north to San Francisco, CA.^[22]

Ambassadors Club

TWA operated Ambassadors Club locations in various airports. American Airlines acquired some clubs, and other clubs closed on December 2, 2001. ^[18] Before the closure of the clubs, TWA maintained clubs at the following airports:

Clubs in North America open on December 1

^[18][23]

•  United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport) (Converted into Admirals Club ^[18])
    • San Francisco (San Francisco International Airport)
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston (Logan International Airport)
  • Missouri
    • Kansas City (Kansas City International Airport) (Converted into Admirals Club ^[18])
    • St. Louis (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport) (Converted into Admirals Club ^[18])
  • New York
    • New York City (LaGuardia Airport)
  • Virginia
    • Washington, DC area (Washington Dulles International Airport)

Clubs in North America closed prior to dissolution

^[24]

•  United States
  • Arizona
    • Phoenix (Sky Harbor International Airport)
  • California
    • San Diego (San Diego International Airport)
  • New Mexico
    • Albuquerque (Albuquerque International Sunport)
  • New Jersey
    • Newark (Newark Liberty International Airport)
  • New York
    • New York City (John F. Kennedy International Airport)
  • Ohio
    • Columbus (Port Columbus International Airport)
  • Texas
    • Dallas/Fort Worth (Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport)
  • Virginia
    • Washington, DC area (Washington Reagan National Airport)
  • Washington
    • Seattle (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport)

•  Puerto Rico
  • San Juan (Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport)

Clubs in Europe closed prior to dissolution

^[25]

•  United Kingdom
  • London (London Gatwick Airport)
•  France
  • Paris (Charles de Gaulle International Airport)

References

1. ^ Atlanta hub closing article retrieved 9-30-08
2. ^ Atlanta hub opening article retrieved 9-30-08
3. ^ The airline business By Rigas Doganis
4. ^ TWA's flight ends as it merges into American
5. ^ Ailing T.W.A. Still a Symbol, and So Perhaps a Target, Abroad
6. ^ ^{a b} International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 35. St. James Press, 2001 - via Fundinguniverse.com
7. ^ INS. "First negro hostess hired by TWA," The Bridgeport Post, Bridgeport, Connecticut, February 10, 1958, page 26.
8. ^ World Airline Directory. Flight International. March 20, 1975. "508.
9. ^ "Map." Turtle Bay Association. Retrieved on January 25, 2009.
10. ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 128." Retrieved on June 17, 2009.
11. ^ "Mount Kisco Awaits Arrival of T.W.A.". The New York Times. 1987-07-19. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DF173AF93AA25754C0A961948260. Retrieved 2009-01-05. 
12. ^ [1]
13. ^ "Contact TWA." Trans World Airlines. May 1, 1999. Retrieved on May 18, 2009.
14. ^ Brown, Lisa R. "Lewis Rice eyes move to One City Centre." St. Louis Business Journal. Friday July 10, 2009. Retrieved on August 18, 2009.
15. ^ "LOS ANGELES IS TWA'S 2000 FOCUS CITY." Trans World Airlines. August 15, 2000. Retrieved on July 25, 2009.
16. ^ "American-TWA merger could hurt isles". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. 2001-01-08. http://starbulletin.com/2001/01/08/business/story1.html. Retrieved 2009-02-09. 
17. ^ Home Page," Trans World Airlines
18. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "TWA Ambassadors Club," Trans World Airlines
19. ^ Bombs for Croatia (Part I)
20. ^ Bombs for Croatia (Part II)
21. ^ Flight International 26 March 1970
22. ^ 1996 Working Agreement between Trans World Airlines and (sic) Pilots Represented by the Air Line Pilot's Association in their service: Section 6, pages 16-18.
23. ^ "View Domestic Locations," Trans World Airlines
24. ^ "TWA North America Destinations," Trans World Airlines
25. ^ "TWA Transatlantic Destinations Europe and the Middle East," Trans World Airlines

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trans World Airlines

New York City portal

Companies portal

• TWA official website at the Internet Archive
• TWAlive
• The karabu deal contract
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v • d • e Airlines of the United States Airline carriers AirTran Airways • Alaska Airlines • Allegiant Air • American Airlines • Continental Airlines • Delta Air Lines • Frontier Airlines • Hawaiian Airlines • JetBlue Airways • Midwest Airlines • Northwest Airlines • Southwest Airlines • Spirit Airlines • Sun Country Airlines • United Airlines • US Airways • USA3000 Airlines • Virgin America Regionals Air Wisconsin • American Eagle Airlines • Atlantic Southeast Airlines • Cape Air • Chautauqua Airlines • Colgan Air • Comair • CommutAir • Compass Airlines • Era Aviation • Executive Airlines • ExpressJet Airlines • Freedom Airlines • Go! Mokulele • GoJet Airlines • Great Lakes Airlines • Gulfstream International Airlines • Horizon Air • Island Air • Kenmore Air • Lynx Aviation • Mesa Airlines • Mesaba Airlines • Nantucket Airlines • Pacific Wings • PenAir • Piedmont Airlines • Pinnacle Airlines • PSA Airlines • Republic Airlines • SeaPort Airlines • Shuttle America • SkyWest Airlines • Trans States Airlines Commuter 40-Mile Air • Air Choice One • Alaska Seaplane Service • Alsek Air Service • Arctic Circle Air • Bering Air • Everts Air • Frontier Flying Service • Hageland Aviation Services • Isla Nena Air • Island Air Service • Servant Air • Taquan Air • Vieques Air Link • Warbelow's Air Ventures • Wings of Alaska • Wright Air Service Cargo ABX Air • Air Transport International • AirNet Express • AirNow • Aloha Air Cargo • Amerijet International • Ameriflight • Ameristar Air Cargo • Arrow Air • Asia Pacific Airlines • Astar Air Cargo • Atlas Air • Capital Cargo International Airlines • Centurion Air Cargo • Empire Airlines • Evergreen International Airlines • Express.Net Airlines • FedEx Express • Focus Air Cargo • Freight Runners • Kalitta Air • Northern Air Cargo • Polar Air Cargo • Southern Air • Tepper Aviation • Tradewinds Airlines • UPS Airlines • Wiggins Airways Charter Delta AirElite • Empire Airways • Flexjet • Gryphon Airlines • L-3 Flight International Aviation • Miami Air International • National Airlines • NetJets • North American Airlines • Omni Air International • Pace Airlines • Ryan International Airlines • Sky King • Swift Air • USA Jet Airlines • Vision Airlines • World Airways • Xtra Airways Defunct AirCal • Air Florida • Air Midwest • Allegheny Airlines • Aloha Airlines • America West Airlines • ATA Airlines • Braniff • Capital Airlines • Cargo 360 • Champion Air • Eastern Air Lines • Gemini Air Cargo • Independence Air • Kitty Hawk Aircargo • Midway Airlines (1976–1991) • Midway Airlines (1993–2003) • New York Air • Northeast Airlines • Ozark Airlines • Pacific Southwest Airlines • Pan American World Airways • Primaris Airlines • Ransome Airlines • Reno Air • Republic Airlines • Skybus • Texas International • Trans World Airlines • Trans World Express • Transocean Airlines • ValuJet Airlines • Western Airlines • Western Pacific Airlines • more defunct airlines Defunct brands Continental Lite • Delta Express • Metrojet • Shuttle by United • Skyway Airlines • Song • Ted List of airline holding companies

v • d • e Pre-1978 Legacy, "Regionals" and "Intrastate Carriers" Legacy carriers American Airlines  · Delta Air Lines  · Northwest Airlines  · United Airlines "Regionals" and "Intrastates" often confused as Legacys Alaska Airlines  · Chautauqua Airlines  · Hawaiian Airlines  · Southwest Airlines "Legacy Regional Carriers" Chautauqua Airlines Reorganized Legacys Continental Airlines "Start-ups" and subsidiaries after 1978, "rebranded" as traditional Legacys, Intrastates or Regionals Frontier Airlines  · National Airlines  · Piedmont Airlines  · Republic Airlines  · US Airways Defunct Legacys Braniff International Airways  · Eastern Air Lines  · National Airlines  · Pan American World Airways  · Trans World Airlines  · Western Airlines Rebranded Legacy and trade names "resurrected" now defunct Braniff (1983-1990)  · Braniff (1991-1992)  · National Airlines (1983-1985)  · National Airlines (1999-2002)  · Pan American Airways (1996-1998)  · Pan American Airways (1998-2004)

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