Bonanza Air Lines was an international and domestic regional airline in operation from 1945 to 1968, with routes in the Western United States and Mexico [1]. Its headquarters were initially located in Las Vegas, Nevada; the headquarters moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1966.[2][3]
The airline began scheduled operations in 1945 with a single-engine Cessna[4], with service between the Nevada communities of Las Vegas, Reno, Tonopah and Hawthorne. During the 1950s and early 1960s the airline expanded into Arizona, Southern California and Utah, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Additionally, Bonanza was the only certificated airline to fly from Las Vegas to Reno. The carrier became an international airline just months before it ended service as an independent entity with the addition of trans-border flights to the Mexican cities of La Paz, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta.
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The company was created in 1945 and based in Las Vegas and was known at the time as Bonanza Air Services in Las Vegas. The company was part of a Civil Aeronautics Authority effort to develop regional airlines called "local service airlines."
During the later part of the 1940s and especially through the 1950s, the carrier added several Douglas DC-3 aircraft and expanded routes westward to California [5].
In 1959, Bonanza introduced the Fokker F-27 (nicknamed Silver Dart) and applied for additional routes to Texas (although these routes were never operated)[6] Bonanza was probably the first United States scheduled fixed-wing airline to go all-turbine, the DC-3 having been dropped from scheduled service in late 1960.
In an attempt to leap into the jet-age, the carrier ordered three British BAC 1-11 twinjets in October 1962, but this request was denied by the United States government[7]. In light of the denial, an order was placed for the American twinjet equivalent DC-9 series 10 aircraft with deliveries of the new type beginning in late 1965 and services commencing with the type on March 1, 1966. The DC-9s, dubbed Funjets[8], were deployed on the following routes within the first year of service: Las Vegas—Reno, Las Vegas—Los Angeles, Reno—Los Angeles, Salt Lake City—Phoenix, and Reno—Las Vegas—Phoenix[9]. The headquarters were moved to Phoenix during 1966.[10][11]
With approval received from the Civil Aeronautics Board on April 17, 1968[12],Bonanza Air Lines merged with Pacific Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West on July 1 of the same year. Air West, later re-named Hughes Airwest, would ultimately be acquired by Republic Airlines (another airline created via a merger, just a year earlier, in this case North Central Airlines and Southern Airways) in 1980, which was later absorbed by Northwest Airlines in 1986. At the time of the merger, Bonanza operated DC-9 and Fokker F-27 aircraft.
The legacy of Bonanza Air Lines continues as of late 2009. McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 (construction number 47246/ship number 292/registration N9333) was ordered by Bonanza but delivered to Air West following the merger. It still flies today with Northwest Airlines[13]. As of October 2009 it remained unclear if the aircraft would be retained by Delta Air Lines following its completed takeover of Northwest Airlines in 2010.
The airline suffered its only fatal incident on November 15, 1964, when Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114, flying from Phoenix, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, crashed into a mountain south of Las Vegas, Nevada during poor weather. There were no survivors among the 26 passengers and three crew members.
