Texas International Airlines

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A McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 in Mexico in 1976.

Texas International Airlines was a United States airline, known from 1944 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises and until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways. It was derisively called "Tree Top Airlines" and "Tinker Toy Airlines" by its competitors. Operating out of hubs at Dallas and Houston, it provided regional passenger service in Texas and surrounding states for most of its life.

During the 1960s the airline operated a Beechcraft Model 99 and six Convair 600. By the early 1960's, Texas International had service from one side of Texas to the other, going as far west as El Paso and as far east as Texarkana. Soon, flights into New Mexico were added. In 1967 it purchased a fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jets: nineteen of the Series 10 model and seven of the Series 30 aircraft, operating them to airports as small as Baton Rouge, Beaumont, and Little Rock. In 1972, after suffering annual losses of up to $3 million, it was acquired by Jet Capital Corporation, headed by 32-year old Frank Lorenzo. The airline quickly saw a $6 million profit, largely due to aggressive wage cuts spearheaded by Lorenzo as well as sharp marketing efforts.

During the mid-1970s, in response to intense competition from Southwest Airlines Texas International successfully petitioned the Civil Aeronautics Board to receive discounted fares on its awarded routes. These fares become a staple of the airline, known as "Peanuts Fares". Following the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act the airline expanded its routes throughout much of the central and southern United States.

On June 11, 1980 Lorenzo established a holding company, Texas Air, for Texas International. Contracts were no longer offered to employees, and Lorenzo bled money out of the airline to spin up the nonunionized New York Air. Employees staged demonstrations at the airline's stockholders meeting on May 28, 1981, but Lorenzo used New York Air as leverage against the employees. Texas Air seized debt-ridden Continental Airlines in 1982, then merged Texas International with Continental. The last Texas International aircraft were seen in 1983.

[edit] Trivia

On November 16, 1976, a Texas International DC-9 Series 10 aircraft stalled after takeoff at Denver Stapleton International Airport and crashed. The 81 passengers and 5 crewmembers escaped but with 14 injuries.^[1]

On March 17, 1980, a Texas International DC-9 Series 10 aircraft hydroplaned after landing on a wet runway with a strong tailwind and ran off the end of the runway at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. All 4 crew members and 46 passengers on board escaped.^[2]

The airline's livery consisted of a dark blue cheatline leading up into three branches on the tail, which in 1973 was changed to a thick red cheatline on a white fuselage, with a large white star on a blue tail.

When Trans-Texas Airways changed its name to Texas International Airlines they ran newspaper ads showing a Tinker Toy airplane flying along treetops. The copy read "No More Tinker Toys. No More Treetops. We are now Texas International Airlines."