Pacific Air Lines

This article is about the defunct United States airline. For the Vietnamese airline, see Pacific Airlines.
"Southwest Airways" redirects here. For the carrier based in Dallas, Texas, see Southwest Airlines.
Southwest Airways (1941–1958)
Pacific Air Lines (1958–1968)
IATA ICAO Call sign
PC PCA PACIFIC
Founded1941
Commenced operationsDecember 2, 1946
(renamed Pacific Air Lines, March 6, 1958)
Ceased operations1968 (merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West)
HubsSan Francisco International Airport
Fleet size40
HeadquartersSan Francisco International Airport[1]
Key peopleJohn Howard Connelly
Leland Hayward

Pacific Air Lines was a local service carrier on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid-1940s under the name Southwest Airways. The company linked small cities in California with larger cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Flights later operated to Portland, Oregon, and eventually reached Las Vegas and Reno in Nevada.

Founded largely with money from investors from the Hollywood motion picture industry, the airline was noted for innovative safety practices and cost-saving procedures.[2] The name Pacific Air Lines passed into history in 1968 in a merger with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines, forming Air West, which then became Hughes Airwest following the acquisition of Air West by Howard Hughes.

  1. ^ "Pacific Air Lines". Flight International: 523. April 2, 1964. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-20. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  2. ^ Small-Town Big-Timer. TIME, October 18, 1948. Retrieved May 18, 2021 - article about the earliest years of Southwest Airways (alt. link)