History of advertising. Part 5. American Airlines (1943-1954) (133 photos)

21 December 2012

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The company dates back to April 15, 1926, when a Robertson Aircraft Corporation DH-4 biplane piloted by pilot Charles Lindbergh delivered a package of mail from Chicago to St. Louis. American Airways was formed by the merger (through acquisition and reorganization) of 82 small airlines. At first, the name "American Airways" was used as a collective name for a number of independent carriers: Southern Air Transport in Texas, Southern Air Fast Express (SAFE) in the western states, Universal Aviation in the central western states, Thompson Aeronautical Services and Colonial Air Transport in the northeastern states.
In 1929, The Aviation Corporation began acquiring aviation companies.[5] On January 25, 1930, American Airways was organized as a single company based in New York and operated from Boston, New York and Chicago to Dallas, and from Dallas to Los Angeles. The fleet consisted of wooden, fabric-covered Fokker Trimotors and metal Ford Trimotors. In 1934, the company began air travel using Curtiss Condor biplanes equipped with sleepers.

In 1934, E.L. Cord acquired American Airways and renamed it American Airlines. “E.L. Cord invited Texan businessman Cyrus Rowlett Smith to the position of company manager. Smith worked closely with Donald Douglas, who created the DC-3 aircraft, which American Airlines began flying in 1936. With this brand of aircraft, the company began to create its own brand, using maritime terminology: the aircraft began to be called “flagships”, and the program for honorary passengers, organized in 1936, was called the “Admirals Club”.

On February 16, 1937, the company carried its millionth passenger. American Airlines was the first company to support New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's construction of the New York City airport and, as a result, became the owner of a lounge for airline passengers at the new airport. LaGuardia airport. Initially, membership was by invitation only, but after several decades the company switched to paid memberships, creating a model that other airlines use.

During World War II, half of the fleet was used for military purposes. After its end, American Airlines established an international subsidiary, American Overseas Airlines (AOA), to serve European countries, but in 1950, AOA was sold to rival Pan American World Airways. At the same time, American Airlines created another subsidiary, Líneas Aéreas Americanas de Mexico S.A. to service flights to Mexico, and also built a number of airports there.

American Airlines was among the first airlines to begin operating jet aircraft, and the first transcontinental flight took place on January 25, 1959 on a Boeing 707. Until 1962, the company invested $440 million in the development of jet aircraft, and together with IBM installed an electronic ordering system Saber tickets and built an improved terminal at New York's Idlewild Airport, which became the company's largest air base.