AIRWAYS HISTORY Pacific Air Air Lines – Part – Part 2 : 1 Route : Southwest of the Jethawks Airways
ON MARCH 6 , 1958 , Southwest Airways officially became Pacific Air Lines , a name more appropriate for the region it served . The slogan ‘ The Pacific Air Line ’ had appeared on the cover of Southwest Airways timetables since mid-1956 in preparation for the name change .
F-27 JETHAWKS
Pacific was one of America ’ s local service airlines , a group of air carriers created to link the nation ’ s smaller cities with big-city airports . As such , the company relied heavily on subsidy payments from the US government to make up for the losses incurred by providing such service . Pacific was one of the few local service carriers that had added aircraft larger than Douglas DC- 3s to its fleet . The company owned seven Martin 2-0-2s outfitted in a 44-passenger configuration .
In order to help the financially strapped locals upgrade their flight equipment , the Civil Aeronautics Board ( CAB ) sponsored a program guaranteeing 90 % of a loan of up to US $ 5 million for any local service carrier wishing to purchase new equipment . Unfortunately , there were not a lot of aircraft types to choose from . The DC-3 , with its near-perfect seating capacity of 21 to 28
1 F-27 N2771R is captured on final approach to Los Angeles International Airport ( LAX ) in this Bob Archer photo . // PROCTOR / LIVESEY / THOMAS COLLECTION
2 In 1958 , Southwest Airways officially became Pacific Air Lines , a name more appropriate to the region served by the carrier . // DAVID H . STRINGER COLLECTION
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