Trunk carriers or trunk airlines or trunklines or trunks , were the US scheduled airlines certificated in the period 1939–1941 by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) or its immediate successor, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) after the passage of the 1938 Civil Aeronautics Act on the basis of grandfathering : those carriers that were able to show they performed scheduled service prior to the passage of the Act. During the regulated period (1938–1978) these carriers were an especially protected class, with the CAB regulating the industry in many respects in the interests of these companies, a form of regulatory capture . The importance of these carriers is reflected is shown that in 2024, the three largest airlines in the United States, American Airlines , Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were among the carriers certificated through this grandfathering in 1939.
34-589: Inland Air Lines was a small trunk carrier , a scheduled United States airline which started as Wyoming Air Service (WAS), founded by Richard Leferink in May 1930, initially as a flying school. In the mid-1930s WAS won airmail contracts for routes in Wyoming , Nebraska , South Dakota and Montana . WAS changed its name to Inland Air Lines on 1 July 1938. Pursuant to the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938,
68-498: A Wyoming corporation, Inland could not be merged into Western without the unanimous consent of its shareholders, and a few shareholders continued to hold out. Therefore, Inland continued to exist as a separate subsidiary of Western until 1952, when Wyoming law changed, the CAB gave final approval and Western was finally able to merge Inland into itself. Inland styled itself as "The Wings Over The West." In 1948, Inland accounted for less than
102-793: A five-year period after World War II , were known as local service carriers or feeder carriers, again names reflecting their purpose within the CAB-regulated industry. The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 established a tight regulatory regime for the US airline industry. Airlines were required to be certificated by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (after 1940, this function was inherited by the Civil Aeronautics Board). However, carriers that could show they had engaged in bona fide airline service prior to passage of
136-466: A half percent of total trunk airline Revenue-Passenger Miles , the smallest trunk airline by that measure. And as of December 1949, it operated only a single DC-3. Trunk carrier The CAB tightly regulated the industry and categorized airlines by function, the name of the trunk carriers reflected their role, the airlines that flew the main domestic (or trunk) routes. By contrast, a later group of CAB-regulated domestic carriers, first certificated in
170-468: A real airline (other than carrying passengers) including dispatch, maintenance, operating real flights, etc., learning how to handle real operational issues. The CAB saw public benefit in PAT being able to connect passengers on routes from one of the cases onto routes from the other cases PAT won; in modern terms that PAT would have a hub at St Louis. They liked that Parks was well capitalized. PAL didn't have
204-684: The Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) of the United States certificated Inland as a United States scheduled airline on March 28, 1939. Thereafter, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which succeeded the CAA in 1940, regulated Inland as a trunk carrier . In 1944, the CAB approved the purchase of Inland by Western Air Lines . However, although Western controlled the overwhelming majority of Inland’s stock, as
238-484: The Mississippi River from St Louis . Parks started the school in 1927, the first such in the country, and Parks and his school played a key role in training military pilots for World War II. During World War II, Parks's pilot training expanded to four other locations. After the war Parks converted these other four training companies into fixed base operators (FBOs) that ran and owned various airports under
272-595: The 1938 Act were entitled to be grandfathered. Between 1939 and 1941, the CAA/CAB considered 23 grandfather applications by US domestic airlines, as reflected in the CAA/CAB Reports in which CAA/CAB decisions were recorded. Of these applicants, three were denied. Two of these, Airline Feeder System (an east coast airline) and Condor Air Lines (in the San Francisco Bay Area ) were denied on
306-493: The CAB did not act. In March 1949, the CAB ordered PAL to start operations by July 1. In April PAL announced its sale to Mid-Continent Airlines , a Kansas City trunk carrier , subject to CAB approval. With PAL still not in operation, on 28 June 1949, the CAB launched the Parks Investigation Case, consolidating all Parks issues before the CAB. The CAB took 13 months to come to a final decision, but since
340-567: The CAB gave most of Park's route authorities. This marked the start of Ozark's operations. This was Oliver Parks's second use of the name "Parks Air Lines". He previously used it for his aviation activities prior to the Great Depression , including pilot training and aircraft manufacturing . See External links for a rare photo of a Parks aircraft. Oliver L. Parks was a prominent early aviator, known for his Cahokia, IL -based pilot training school, Parks Air College (PAC), across
374-440: The CAB issued Parks a certificate for part of its system, based on a sufficient number of airports being of required standard. In the same month, Parks Air Transport became Parks Air Lines (PAL). In making these awards to PAT, the CAB cited Parks's extensive experience with PAC and aviation generally. They noted he had airline experience through PAC's long-standing student-run "airline" ("Parks Air College Airlines"), that ran like
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#1732786684271408-504: The CAB) was $ 650,000 committed by PAC, PASS and the board members of PAT (including Parks). PAT won routes in three CAB cases, most with a St Louis terminus, in Dec 1946 (North Central Case), September 1947 (Great Lakes Area Case) and December 1947 (Mississippi Valley Case). In February 1948, it added another route to Parks's Great Lakes certificate. (see nearby map). The resulting mileage of
442-417: The airline, then known as Parks Air Transport , a substantial network of routes to mostly smaller cities mostly centered on St Louis. But after lengthy delays in initiating service, the CAB instituted proceedings to strip Parks of its network. Parks started service just in advance of the CAB's decision, but after a brief period of operation and some litigation, merged into Ozark Air Lines , the carrier to which
476-436: The basis of service interruptions and financial weakness. Another applicant, Railway Express Agency , was not an operating airline, but rather a freight forwarder who worked with airlines, and the CAB saw no reason it should be certificated. Two grandfather applicants received certification but failed to launch certificated service: Two grandfathered carriers had brief existences as certificated carriers. Marquette Airlines
510-587: The case examiner published preliminary findings, recommending PAL be decertificated and its routes split between three other airlines, two of them existing (Turner Air Lines, which was soon to become Lake Central Airlines and Mid-Continent), and one new, Ozark Air Lines. Ozark had been an unsuccessful applicant in the cases where PAL had won its certifications. A month later, Parks announced he'd acquired DC-3s and intended to start service in June. The CAB chairman wrote to dissuade Parks, saying such service would "not be in
544-403: The case included taking applications for replacement service, the likely outcome was clear. A December 1949 news article noted there was "general disbelief that Parks itself will get another chance to operate." In October 1949, Parks raised a $ 400,000 loan for PAL by pledging his other companies, providing a personal guarantee and securing a $ 130,000 investment from St Louis University. He said
578-462: The flights; now that PAL was operating, they were afraid that switching to Ozark would mean further delays, given that Ozark had no airline operations experience. Finally, on September 20, Ozark announced it would buy PAL, including five DC-3s, all its operations and equipment, for a 37.5% stake in Ozark. The CAB waived a review of the merger, saying it didn't want to stop the benefit the sale offered to
612-473: The money to start operations. The CAB later determined that of the $ 650,000 in capital that Parks represented to the CAB, the airline only drew on $ 81,000 (which, it noted, had been spent mainly on intangible items). In early 1948, Ozark, in appealing to the CAB to reverse the PAT route awards, noted "severe financial losses suffered by Parks and his affiliated companies during the past two years." PASS lost over $ 148,000 in 1948. Oliver Parks had notable drains on
646-580: The original 19 passenger grandfather certificates from the 1938 Act are still represented in the industry as of 2024. Six of the grandfather certificates were merged into Delta over time (as well as Delta's own grandfather certificate): Two of the grandfather certificates were merged into American over time (as well as American's own grandfather certificate): Two of the grandfather certificates were merged into United over time (as well as United's own grandfather certificate): Parks Air Lines Parks Air Lines , named for its founder, Oliver Parks ,
680-450: The outcome from that recommended by the examiner: Ozark was to get two of the three Parks certifications (which included the one route Parks was currently operating), with Mid-Continent getting the third. But on August 9, the appeals court said that while Parks was free to pursue a full appeal, the court would not, in the meantime, stop the CAB order from being implemented on schedule on September 26. Some Illinois cities supported PAL keeping
714-406: The public interest." Parks asserted the chairman's directive was a "suggestion" and the airline had every right to fly. PAL started service June 23 from St Louis to Chicago , via Decatur , Springfield and Champaign . On August 1 the CAB announced PAL lost its certification, but PAL obtained a temporary stay of the ruling through Federal appeals court pending a hearing. The full board changed
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#1732786684271748-418: The public. On September 25, Parks flew its last flight, and on September 26, the same operation flew under Ozark control. Ozark's maintenance base continued to be at Parks Metropolitan Airport until January 1952, when it moved to St. Louis Lambert Airport . Ozark merged into Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1987, which merged into American Airlines in 2001. Mid-Continent started flying over its portion of
782-597: The resources of his enterprises during the period 1944 to 1950: PAL was unable to obtain funding, including from government-owned Reconstruction Finance Corporation which in January 1949 turned it down a loan (based on all of Parks's enterprises) for a $ 600,000 loan on the basis of insufficient collateral and weak prospective earnings. The delay in starting service hurt Parks's reputation. Editorials expressed anger for him retaining routes he'd been unable to operate, and politicians said they'd pass legislation to fix things if
816-423: The routes awarded in these certifications was 50% larger than the next biggest feeder network and over eight times as large as the smallest. PAT was recognized as potentially the “richest feeder network in the U.S.”. The certifications were contingent on a sufficient number of airports on these routes upgrading (radios and other infrastructure) to federal standards required to accept commercial aircraft. In May 1948,
850-407: The routes originally awarded to Parks Air Lines , a local service carrier, were handed to Mid-Continent Airlines , a trunk airline, after Parks failed to start operation in a timely manner. And in 1955, the CAB also permitted a merger between a trunk airline and a local service carrier, when Continental Air Lines bought Pioneer Air Lines . So the division between local service carriers and trunks
884-453: The start of World War II , which forced the airline to cease operation in 1942. The company never resumed airline operations of its own, though it contracted with United Air Lines to operate on its behalf 1946–1954. The 16 grandfathered carriers that continued to operate were the trunk carriers or trunk airlines or trunk lines or trunks. Note the category encompassed airlines that were originally strikingly different in size. In 1948, American
918-469: The total enabled him to start service across the network using single-engined four-passenger Cessna 190 aircraft (rather than Douglas DC-3s previously promised). The CAB's attorneys, in their case brief of January 1950, criticized Parks for not previously putting his own money at risk, failing to operate even a single route, questioned his desire to operate and management competence. It also dismissed single-engine aircraft operation as unsuitable. In April,
952-486: The trunks as a special category of airline to be particularly protected: Over time, local service carriers did come to compete with trunk carriers to a degree. In permitting local service carriers to enter some trunk routes, the CAB was motivated in significant part by a desire to reduce government subsidy paid to local service carriers, a process known as “route strengthening.” Further, some local service carrier routes were assigned to trunks. For instance, in 1950, some of
986-605: The umbrella of Parks Aircraft Sales and Service (PASS). In August 1944, Parks incorporated Parks Air Transport (PAT) in Nevada to apply to the CAB for certification as a local service carrier . The CAB had created the category of local service (or “feeder”) airlines earlier in the year to bring air transport to previously unserved smaller cities and was seeking to certificate new carriers to fly such routes. PAT had authorized capital of $ 3.5mm, over $ 60mm in 2024 dollars. This sounded impressive, but actual available capital (as represented to
1020-465: Was a US scheduled airline that initially appeared likely to be one of the most significant carriers of its kind, but in the end, operated only a single route for three months in 1950. In 1946 and 1947 the airline was certificated as a local service carrier (also known at that time as a "feeder airline") by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US air transportation. The CAB awarded
1054-666: Was certificated to fly from St Louis to Detroit but outsourced its operation to TWA (which at that time stood for Transcontinental & Western Air) in August 1940, and then sold out completely to TWA in December. Wilmington-Catalina Airline was founded by the Wrigley family in 1931 and flew two small amphibious aircraft from the Port of Los Angeles to Santa Catalina Island . 1941 plans for expansion using land-based aircraft were ended by
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1088-422: Was far from absolute. However, as Table 2 below shows, the distinction between trunk airline and local service airline remained meaningful even in 1978, the last year of the regulated era. Relative to local service carriers, even the smallest trunk airlines flew substantially greater seat-miles and distances and with substantially larger aircraft. It’s worth considering what airlines were not trunks. What mattered
1122-651: Was flying domestic routes in 1938, where “domestic” was the continental United States, since until 1959, Hawaii and Alaska were territories, not states. Pan Am was not a trunk carrier, because as of 1938 it did not fly domestic service. A number of other carriers were certificated to fly routes outside the continental United States by the CAB, such as Panagra and Trans Caribbean , none of these counted as trunks either. Similarly, there were carriers certificated as, originally, territorial carriers, such as Hawaiian Airlines and Caribair in Puerto Rico. Thirteen of
1156-435: Was well over 20 times the size of Colonial by ASMs, as Table 1 shows. As Table 1 also shows, six (Capital, Chicago & Southern, Colonial, Inland, Mid-Continent, Northeast) of the 16 trunk carriers merged out of existence during the regulated period, 1938–1978, leaving 10 trunks as US airline deregulation dawned in 1979: American, Braniff, Continental, Delta, Eastern, National, Northwest, TWA, United and Western. The CAB saw
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