Trans World Airlines

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Template:Infobox Airline Image:TWA 1940.jpg Trans World Airlines Template:Airline codes, commonly known as TWA, was an American airline which was acquired by American Airlines in April 2001. For many years it was headquartered at the Kansas City Downtown Airport, as well as midtown Manhattan in New York City. At the time of the merger, it was headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the airport nearby, Lambert-Saint Louis International Airport, as its major hub.

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Early history

The airline was founded on July 13, 1925, as Western Air Express. In 1930 it merged with Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) to become Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA).

Howard Hughes purchased T&WA in 1939, and the airline expanded dramatically under the leadership of Hughes and CEO Jack Frye. After breaking Pan American World Airways legal designation as the United States' sole international carrier, TWA began transatlantic service in 1946 using new Lockheed Constellation aircraft. Until the early 1970s, TWA and Pan Am were the only U.S. airlines serving Europe.

In 1950, the airline changed its name to Trans World Airlines. It established routes from Europe to Asia during the 1950s and 1960s, flying its aircraft as far east as Hong Kong. In the Transpacific Route Case of 1969, TWA was given authority to extend its route network across the Pacific Ocean as well. TWA was also a major helper in the foundation of Saudi Arabian Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines.

Hughes' growing eccentricities caused TWA to sue for his removal as chairman in 1961. Under new corporate management, the TWA Corporation expanded to purchase the overseas operations of Hilton Hotels. By 1969, TWA's transatlantic operation was larger than Pan Am's.

TWA's landmark Terminal 5 at New York City's JFK Airport, designed by Eero Saarinen, is one of the world's most famous buildings: a lyrical expression of the unified sculptural forms that could be created in reinforced concrete, before the age of computer aided design.

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Financial difficulties

Airline deregulation hit TWA hard. TWA's holding company, Trans World Corporation, spun off the airline. 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 his 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.

On July 17, 1996 TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic near Long Island, killing all aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the most likely cause of the disaster was a center fuel tank explosion sparked by exposed wiring. The cause is debated, but the media focused heavily on the fact that TWA's airline fleet was among the oldest in service. Boeing, the manufacturer of the 747 series, has since modified the fuel tanks to prevent the buildup of dangerous fumes, adding increased wire insulation as well as introducing nitrogen as a topper in place of flammable air.

By 1998, TWA reorganized as a primarily domestic carrier, with routes centered around 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.

However, financial problems began to resurface shortly afterward, and TWA's airline assets were acquired by American Airlines in April of 2001 after declaring bankruptcy for a third time. Trans World Airlines flew its last flight on December 1, 2001. The ceremonial last flight was Flight 220 from Kansas City, Missouri to St. Louis, Missouri with CEO Captain William Compton at the controls. However, the final flight before TWA officially became part of American Airlines was completed between St. Louis, Missouri, and Las Vegas, Nevada, also on December 1, 2001. At 10:00 PM 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's name on the tail. One lighted TWA sign still exists (as of 2006) on the runway side of Saarinen's New York JFK terminal.

TWA's St. Louis hub suffered after the merger due to its proximity to American's much larger hub at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As a result, American replaced TWA's St. Louis mainline hub with regional jet service (going from over 800 operations a day to fewer than 300) and downsized TWA's maintenance base in Kansas City. Furloughs and layoffs have left less than 1,500 of 24,000 TWA employees with American Airlines jobs. Although American Airlines acquired over 200 aircraft from TWA (MD80s, 717s, 757s and 767s), many analysts believe the TWA assets were not worth the additional debt inherited from TWA .

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