American Airlines History

American Airlines History

One morning in April, 1926 aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and two other pilots flew a DH-4 airplane from St. Louis, MO. to Chicago, IL. At that time Lindbergh was the chief pilot of Robertson Aircraft Corporation of Missouri, the second aviation company in the U.S. to hold an airmail contract. His company eventually consolidated to form the modern day American Airlines in 1934.

By June of 1935, American was the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-3 in commercial service and by February of 1937, American Airlines carried its one-millionth passenger. During World War II, American turned over half its fleet to the military - Air Transport Command while the remainder of the fleet handled the increase in demand for US air travel. In January of 1959, American became the first airline to offer coast-to coast jet service; they continued to add other jets through the 1960’s and 1970’s as the older aircraft’s retired

After airline deregulation in 1978/1979, American integrated new domestic and Caribbean route service and moved its headquarters from New York to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

In 1984, American introduced the American Eagle system, a network of regional airlines offering service from small communities with connections to American Airlines. By 1987, American had completed an underground facility (secured against fire, earthquakes and other disasters) in Tulsa, Oklahoma to house the SABRE computer equipment. SABRE is now the world’s largest private real-time computer network and travel information database. Today, American Airlines is the largest airline carrier in the United States and continues to be the pioneer of the airline industry. Financially, American Airlines has reported a string of successful quarters with record profits and recently