Texas International Airlines

Texas International Airlines

IATA TI ICAO TIA Callsign TEXAS INTERNATIONAL
Founded	1944 (as Aviation Enterprises)
Ceased operations	1982
Hubs	Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Parent company	Texas Air Corporation
Headquarters	Houston, Texas
Key people	Frank Lorenzo

Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1944 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982 when it merged with Continental Airlines. It was headquartered near William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) in Houston, Texas.^[1]

With hubs at Dallas and Houston, Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) was a "local service" airline in Texas and surrounding states.^[2] In August 1953 it operated scheduled flights to 36 airports from El Paso to Memphis. By May 1968 TTa flew to 48 U.S. airports plus Monterrey, Tampico and Veracruz in Mexico. The airline then changed its name to Texas International and continued to grow.

When Texas International was merged into Continental Airlines in 1982 it had grown to reach Baltimore, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Omaha, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tucson and Washington D.C. with an all Douglas DC-9 jet fleet.^[3][4]

History

Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles (scheduled flights only, domestic plus international)
Year Pax-Miles 1951 17 1955 35 1960 70 1965 209 1970 659 1975 580[5]

In 1949 Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) operated only in Texas with Douglas DC-3s that the airline called "Starliners".^[6] The "Route of the Starliners" in November 1949 covered Alpine, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Beeville, Brownsville, Brownwood, Carrizo Springs/Crystal City, Coleman, Dallas, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, El Paso, Fort Stockton, Fort Worth, Galveston, Harlingen, Houston, Laredo, Lufkin, Marfa, McAllen, Palestine, San Angelo, San Antonio, Uvalde, Van Horn and Victoria.^[7]

Circa 1961 TTA added Convair 240s^[8] and a few years later began converting them to Convair 600s, replacing the piston engines with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops. Beechcraft C99s were later added to the fleet as the DC-3s were retired. In the fall of 1961 TTa routes stretched from Albuquerque, NM and El Paso, TX in the west to Memphis, TN; Jackson, MS and New Orleans, LA in the east.^[9]

In 1966 Trans-Texas Airways introduced jet service with new Douglas DC-9-10s which the airline called the "Pamper-jet".^[10] The Douglas DC-9 fleet expanded and at one point had nineteen DC-9-10s and seven stretched DC-9-30s. By 1968 TTa was flying DC-9s into small airports such as Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas; Harlingen, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas, Lake Charles, Louisiana; Roswell, New Mexico and Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[11] The airline was derisively called "Tree Top Airlines" and "Tinker Toy Airlines" by competitors. When Trans-Texas Airways changed its name to Texas International Airlines in April 1969,^[12] the company 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." As Texas International, the airline standardized on the Douglas DC-9 and the Convair 600. The Convair 600s would eventually be retired and Texas International would become all-jet with DC-9-10s and DC-9-30s.

In 1970 Texas International was operating flights to Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont/Port Arthur, Big Spring, Brownwood, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Ft. Worth, El Paso, Galveston, Harlingen, Houston, Laredo, Longview, Lubbock, Lufkin, McAllen, Midland/Odessa, San Angelo, San Antonio, Temple, Tyler, Victoria, Waco and Wichita Falls.^[13]

Outside of Texas, in 1970 Texas International was serving Arkansas (El Dorado, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Texarkana); California (Los Angeles); Colorado, (Denver); Louisiana (Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Fort Polk, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport); Mississippi (Jackson); New Mexico (Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs, Roswell and Santa Fe); Tennessee (Memphis); and Utah (Salt Lake City). In Mexico flights reached Monterrey, Tampico and Veracruz.^[14] The airline operated several "milk run" flights like flight 904, a DC-9-10 that left Los Angeles at 11:00am and stopped in Albuquerque, Roswell, Midland/Odessa, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and Beaumont/Port Arthur before arrival at 8:34pm at Lafayette.^[15]

After suffering annual losses of up to $3 million, Texas International was acquired in 1972 by Jet Capital Corporation headed by 32-year old Frank Lorenzo. The airline quickly realized 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 (CAB) to begin offering discounted fares. These fares become a staple of the airline known as "Peanuts Fares".^[16]

The first modern frequent flyer program was created at Texas International Airlines in 1979.^[17] Lacking the computer resources of their larger competitors, Texas International was overtaken by American's introduction of AAdvantage in May, 1981.

On June 11, 1980 Lorenzo established a holding company, Texas Air Corporation, for Texas International.^[18] Texas Air then acquired Continental Airlines in 1982 and merged Continental and Texas International with TI assuming the former's name. The last Texas International aircraft were seen in 1983.

The ultimate successor to Trans-Texas Airways and Texas International is United Airlines, which merged with Continental in 2010. The airline has one of their largest hubs at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), a former hub for Texas International. Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) was also a hub for Texas International before its merger with Continental.^[19]

Fleet

• Beechcraft C99
• Convair 240
• Convair 600 (turboprop conversion of the piston powered Convair 240)
• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas DC-9-10
• Douglas DC-9-30

Livery

• Following the name change to Texas International, the airline's early livery consisted of a dark purple cheatline above the windows leading up into three branches on the tail, which in 1973 was changed to a thick red cheatline across the windows on a white fuselage, along with a Columbia blue cheatline with a large white star on a blue tail.

Destinations

Destination information includes Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) and Texas International scheduled passenger service from 1949 to 1982.

Accidents

On September 27, 1973, Texas International Airlines Flight 655, a Convair 600 crashed in Arkansas while on a scheduled flight from El Dorado, Arkansas to Texarkana, Arkansas; all 11 on board died.^[20]

See also

• Texas Air

References

External links

• "Trans Texas Airlines, no. 13620; Aircraft." Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Bailey (Bob) Studios. May 24, 1949.

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