Everything about Trans International Airlines totally explained
» Not to be confused with Trans World Airlines, Texas International Airlines, or Transamerican Airlines.
Trans International Airlines (TIA) was an
airline which offered charter service from and within the
United States. It offered scheduled service operating as
Transamerica Airlines in its last decade. TIA used the
IATA airline designator:
TV.
History
Future travel and entertainment mogul
Kirk Kerkorian purchased Los Angeles Air Service, a small charter operator, in
1947 for $60,000. As tourism to
Las Vegas, Nevada boomed, so did the fortunes of the airline. From a single
Douglas DC-3, it expanded rapidly, adding
DC-6s and
Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellations, and became the first charter airline to operate
jet aircraft with the introduction of the
Douglas DC-8 on transpacific routes and
Boeing 727(later to add the
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and
Boeing 747). To better reflect its growing routes, the airline was renamed Trans International Airlines in
1960. Between 1966 and 1986 it operated regular charter flights to Europe, destinations were Paris Orly, London Gatwick, Brussels Zaventem and Frankfurt airport. It contributed to cheap transatlantic flights which didn't exist at the time. It also flew specific charter flights between New York and Africa known as the "Roots" program. At last, among other activities it flew on behalf of UTA and Air Afrique more than a hundred flights for the jeddah pilgrimages.
In
1962 the
Studebaker Corporation quixotically purchased the airline, leaving Kerkorian as president. Financial circumstances forced them to sell TIA back to him in
1964. Kerkorian took the company public in
1965, then sold his interests in
1968 to insurance conglomerate
Transamerica Corporation, profiting an estimated $85 million. He would reinvest proceeds from the sale in Las Vegas property, notably the
International Hotel.
Transamerica later purchased
Universal Airlines and in December
1976,
Saturn Airways, and merged their operations into TIA. The airline remained focused on charter and cargo operations until the passage of the
Airline Deregulation Act of
1978, which gave it the opportunity to offer scheduled passenger service. In
1979 it was renamed Transamerica Airlines and on
November 2 of that year commenced transatlantic passenger flights to
Shannon and
Amsterdam.
During this time the airline operated a number of military charters. Most notable was the route that connected
Clark Air Base,
Philippines and
Andersen Air Force Base,
Guam, to
Travis Air Force Base,
California during the late
1970s, which used stretch DC-8s.
Transamerica was unable to run the airline profitably, however, and as it divested its non-core holdings in the
1980s, sought a buyer for the airline. Finding none, the airline was dissolved and ceased operations on
September 30,
1986.
Incidents
TIA was involved in a single fatal accident, involving a DC-8 cargo flight en route from
John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York City to
Washington Dulles International Airport. On
September 8,
1970 a foreign object became wedged between the right elevator and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot failed to use the pre-flight checklist and the problem wasn't detected, and the aircraft crashed upon takeoff with the loss of all 11 on board.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Trans International Airlines'.
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