Peoria Station

In the prior installment, we reviewed and analyzed events of 1948. Now we shift to 1949. Let’s start with air service changes. AMERICAN AIRLINES On February 1, a 40-seat Convair 240, christened Flagship Peoria the same day, replaced a 21-seat DC-3 on the remaining northbound and southbound flights which stopped at Peoria. It appears, however, that those flights which American Airlines dropped on November 1, 1948 never returning in the spring as promised. CHICAGO & SOUTHERN AIR LINES The Civil Aeronautics Board conducted hearings April 20 on this carrier’s bid to eliminate Peoria from its Chicago-New Orleans route. Officials testified that the service was unnecessary, and that the Peoria stop was unprofitable. In mid-September, the CAB examiner recommended allowing the airline to end service. A decision to allow the change was made on October 27, an service to Peoria ended effective December 26. EASTERN AIR LINES The Peoria Journal noted March 10 that service to ...

The last installment of this series covered airport improvements which were made following the restoration of scheduled passenger flights and establishment of an Air National Guard base. Now it is time to cover growth in local passenger flights during 1946-1947 . TWA – INTERNATIONAL CARRIER Most of you remember TWA, or Trans World Airlines. The carrier, created by a merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express in 1930, began using the “Trans World Airline” moniker on January 1, 1946. The carrier officially renamed itself “Trans World Airlines” in 1950. Before going on, we need to discuss regulation of the airline industry. The Civil Aeronautics Authority Act of 1938 created the Civil Aeronautics Authority, which absorbed non-military responsibilities of the Bureau of Air Commerce, created in 1926 as the Aeronautic Branch of the US Dept. Commerce. The CAA became the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1940. CAB was given the authority to regulate air fare...