Western Air Lines, Inc.

▪ American company

      former American airline that was first incorporated in 1925 as Western Air Express, Inc., reincorporated in 1928 as Western Air Express Corp., and renamed Western Air Lines in 1941. The airline was acquired by Delta Air Lines, Inc. (q.v.), in 1987.

      Less than a month after becoming an operating mail carrier for the federal government, Western began the first scheduled and sustained passenger service in the United States (May 23, 1926), on a route between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles, via Las Vegas, Nev. In 1928 regular service was inaugurated between Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif., and soon a series of weather stations were established enroute, the first for any airline.

      In 1930 Western became part of Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA (Trans World Airlines, Inc.)); but government pressure and the loss of mail contracts in 1934 caused many amalgamated airlines to split up. Western became fully independent again, reduced to its Salt Lake City–Los Angeles route, with a spur to San Diego, Calif. During the 1940s and '50s, however, the airline grew, and in 1967 it merged with Pacific Northern Airlines. Western subsequently added more routes, and by the time it was acquired by Delta it served the West Coast, the Rockies, the northern Midwest, Alaska, Hawaii, and Miami, Fla.

* * *