Hughes Airwest
Encyclopedia
Hughes Airwest was an airline
that was backed by Howard Hughes
. Hughes Airwest flew routes around the western United States
and to certain points in Mexico
and Canada
. The airline
was purchased by Republic Airlines on October 1, 1980. Its headquarters were on the grounds of San Francisco International Airport
in unincorporated
San Mateo County
, California
.
to form Air West:
The airline's initial fleet included the Boeing 727
, McDonnell Douglas DC-9
, Fokker/Fairchild F-27, and Piper Aztec
aircraft.
Hungry for another adventure in the airline industry, TWA
's former owner Howard Hughes bought the airline in 1970. The airline was then renamed Hughes Airwest. Its new call sign became "Hughes-Air." Howard Hughes saw his new airline expand to several other cities in the western United States, Canada
, and Mexico
. The airline participated in some movies in the 1970s
, most notably The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood
and Sondra Locke
in 1977
. At the Las Vegas airport, Locke's character sarcastically called the airline, "Air worst."
Like other U.S. local service carriers in the 1970s, Hughes Airwest gradually eliminated many of the smaller communities served and opened new, longer-haul routes. New destinations were added, to resorts in Mexico and domestic routes to cities further east, such as Denver
, Des Moines
, Milwaukee
, and Houston
.
In 1980, Hughes Airwest was purchased by Republic Airlines, formed in 1979 from the merger of North Central
and Southern
. Republic was acquired by Northwest Airlines
in 1986.
-yellow
fuselage
and tail
colors. Because of this, their airplanes were often dubbed "flying bananas" and the airline even launched an advertising campaign with the catchphrase "Top Banana in the West". Most nicknames given to Hughes Airwest airplanes in aviation
books and magazines have to do with bananas. Apart from their all-yellow scheme, the airplanes also featured a blue logo that resembled three diamonds on their tails (and was possibly a reference to the initials of Howard Hughes.) The name Hughes Airwest, in stylized lettering, was featured below the front passenger windows.
This unique livery
was devised by the southern California design firm of Mario Armond Zamparelli
, following the crash of Hughes Airwest Flight 706
after it was involved in a midair collision with a U.S. Marine Corps
F-4B
jet fighter near Duarte
, California, on June 6, 1971. The company thought the plane's all-white fuselage, now called "Eurowhite," was a contributing factor, so the whole fleet was repainted. The cabin windows also had a metallized PET film
coating originally, but this proved too costly to maintain.
Following 1980, the all-yellow paint scheme was gradually replaced by Republic's white with blue and green trim.
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
that was backed by Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
. Hughes Airwest flew routes around the western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
and to certain points in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
was purchased by Republic Airlines on October 1, 1980. Its headquarters were on the grounds of San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...
in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
San Mateo County
San Mateo County, California
San Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
History
On July 1, 1968 three local service carriers mergedMergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
to form Air West:
- Pacific Air LinesPacific Air LinesPacific Air Lines was a regional airline serving the West Coast of the United States that began operations in the 1940s under the name Southwest Airways...
, originally known as Southwest Airways when it was founded in 1941, was based in San Francisco and flew along the coast, linking communities from Portland, OregonPortland, OregonPortland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, to Southern CaliforniaSouthern CaliforniaSouthern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
.
- Bonanza Air LinesBonanza Air LinesBonanza Air Lines was an international and domestic regional airline in operation from 1945 to 1968, with routes in the Western United States and Mexico...
, served communities from its PhoenixPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
base westward through Southern California and northward to Las VegasLas Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
.
- West Coast AirlinesWest Coast AirlinesWest Coast Airlines was a U.S. domestic and international regional airline linking smaller communities with larger cities in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, California and northward to southern Canada...
, based at Boeing FieldBoeing FieldBoeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a two-runway airport owned and run by King County, Washington, USA. In promotional literature, the airport is frequently referred to as KCIA, but this is not the airport identifier. The airport has some passenger service, but is mostly...
in Seattle, served the Pacific NorthwestPacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
The airline's initial fleet included the Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
, McDonnell Douglas DC-9
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. It was first manufactured in 1965 with its maiden flight later that year. The DC-9 was designed for frequent, short flights. The final DC-9 was delivered in October 1982.The DC-9 was followed in subsequent modified forms by...
, Fokker/Fairchild F-27, and Piper Aztec
Piper Aztec
-Accidents and incidents:*On 18 April 1974, Aztec G-AYDE was involved in a ground collision with BAC One-Eleven G-AXMJ at London Luton Airport after the pilot of the Aztec entered the active runway without clearance. He was killed and his passenger was injured...
aircraft.
Hungry for another adventure in the airline industry, TWA
Trans World Airlines
Trans World Airlines was an American airline that existed from 1925 until it was bought out by and merged with American Airlines in 2001. It was a major domestic airline in the United States and the main U.S.-based competitor of Pan American World Airways on intercontinental routes from 1946...
's former owner Howard Hughes bought the airline in 1970. The airline was then renamed Hughes Airwest. Its new call sign became "Hughes-Air." Howard Hughes saw his new airline expand to several other cities in the western United States, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The airline participated in some movies in the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, most notably The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
and Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke is an American actress, singer and film director.She made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress...
in 1977
1977 in film
The year 1977 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network....
. At the Las Vegas airport, Locke's character sarcastically called the airline, "Air worst."
Like other U.S. local service carriers in the 1970s, Hughes Airwest gradually eliminated many of the smaller communities served and opened new, longer-haul routes. New destinations were added, to resorts in Mexico and domestic routes to cities further east, such as Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
.
In 1980, Hughes Airwest was purchased by Republic Airlines, formed in 1979 from the merger of North Central
North Central Airlines
North Central Airlines was founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin. It was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Early history:...
and Southern
Southern Airways
Southern Airways was a regional airline operating in the United States from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979 when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines, which on October 1, 1986, became part of Northwest Airlines, which in 2008 became a part of Delta Air...
. Republic was acquired by Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
in 1986.
| Pacific/RW | Bonanza | West Coast | Empire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 26 | 7 | 11 | 9 |
| 1955 | 47 | 23 | 35 | (merged WC) |
| 1960 | 103 | 64 | 93 | |
| 1965 | 138 | 170 | 122 | |
| 1970 | 893 | (merged 1968) | (merged 1968) | |
| 1975 | 1497 |
Livery
Hughes Airwest's planes were rather recognizable by their bananaBanana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
-yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
and tail
Vertical stabilizer
The vertical stabilizers, vertical stabilisers, or fins, of aircraft, missiles or bombs are typically found on the aft end of the fuselage or body, and are intended to reduce aerodynamic side slip. It is analogical to a skeg on boats and ships.On aircraft, vertical stabilizers generally point upwards...
colors. Because of this, their airplanes were often dubbed "flying bananas" and the airline even launched an advertising campaign with the catchphrase "Top Banana in the West". Most nicknames given to Hughes Airwest airplanes in aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
books and magazines have to do with bananas. Apart from their all-yellow scheme, the airplanes also featured a blue logo that resembled three diamonds on their tails (and was possibly a reference to the initials of Howard Hughes.) The name Hughes Airwest, in stylized lettering, was featured below the front passenger windows.
Aircraft livery
Aircraft livery is a paint scheme applied to an aircraft, generally to fuselage, wings, empennage , or jet engines. Most airlines have a standard paint scheme for their aircraft fleet, usually prominently displaying the airline logo or name. From time to time special liveries are introduced, for...
was devised by the southern California design firm of Mario Armond Zamparelli
Mario Armond Zamparelli
Mario Armond Zamparelli is an American artist and designer, best known for his connection with Howard Hughes. For 18 years, Zamparelli was Chief Executive Designer of Hughes' empire and created the entire corporate identity of Hughes Airwest and Hughes Helicopters. He designed Las Vegas hotels...
, following the crash of Hughes Airwest Flight 706
Hughes Airwest Flight 706
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 was a regularly scheduled Hughes Airwest flight operated by a Douglas DC-9-31 that collided in midair with a U.S. Marine Corps F-4B Phantom II on June 6, 1971. Flight 706 was en route from Los Angeles, California, to Seattle, Washington, with stopovers in Salt Lake City,...
after it was involved in a midair collision with a U.S. Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
F-4B
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
jet fighter near Duarte
Duarte, California
Duarte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 21,321, down from 21,486 at the 2000 census....
, California, on June 6, 1971. The company thought the plane's all-white fuselage, now called "Eurowhite," was a contributing factor, so the whole fleet was repainted. The cabin windows also had a metallized PET film
PET film (biaxially oriented)
BoPET is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties and electrical insulation.A variety of companies manufacture boPET and other...
coating originally, but this proved too costly to maintain.
Following 1980, the all-yellow paint scheme was gradually replaced by Republic's white with blue and green trim.
Historical fleet details
- Douglas DC-9-14/15/30 (48)
- Boeing 727-2M7Boeing 727The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
(11) - de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin OtterDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin OtterThe DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...
(1) - Fokker/Fairchild F-27 (?)
External links
- Hughes Airwest enthusiast site — hughesairwest.com
- Period photographs from the Ed Coates collection:
-
- Air West — Douglas DC-3
- DC-9
- Boeing 727
- Hughes Airwest — Fairchild F-27
- Douglas DC-9
- Boeing 727
- Photographs of Hughes Airwest planes — airliners.net
- Gallery of Air West and Hughes Airwest timetables — timetableimages.com
- Hughes Airwest route map and timetable — routemapsonline.com
- Gallery of Hughes Airwest postcards — williamdemarest.com