Phoenix, Arizona is the fifth-most populated city in America, so it would only make sense for the city to start its own major airline. That it certainly did around the mid-20th century.
The company had quite a pioneer on its hands for a while, until the late 1960s when competition swallowed it up when it was still growing.
Bonanza Air Lines was known for being the first airline in America to comprise its entire fleet of jets in 1960. Bonanza also expanded its network to include smaller cities in the West, providing more options for consumers than rival airlines at the time.
Here is the story of Bonanza Air Lines.
(Vegas) Aces High
Bonanza Air Service was created in Las Vegas, Nevada, by former Navy Lieutenant Commander Edmund Converse and charter pilot Charles Keene.
Its first year in business was 1945 when it operated as a charter service with a lone Cessna four-seater. A year later, it added another plane, the Douglas C-47, and began conducting intrastate flights between Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The year 1949 saw Bonanza’s first major flight expansion by making its first out-of-state destination to Phoenix. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) approved Bonanza for airline certification to make this route possible. Along the way, the plane would make stops in various towns and cities in Nevada and Arizona.
Bonanza’s route map grew throughout the 1950s, with the airline now offering flights to and from Los Angeles, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Bonanza’s fleet also received new modern additions, the Douglas DC-9 and Fairchild F-27.
In 1962, Bonanza was looking to add more impressive additions to its fleet, this time from across the pond. The airline ordered BAC One-Eleven jets from the British Aircraft Corporation. However, BAC blocked this transaction. Bonanza then stuck with American aircraft and ordered the new Douglas DC-9 series 10.
Deadly Crash of Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 and Merger
The airline experienced a horrific accident in 1964. On 15 November, BAL Flight 114 failed to land at McCarran International Airport, flying into a mountainside during stormy weather. The crash killed all 26 passengers and three crew members on board. Flight 114 was the only catastrophe in the airline’s history.
Bonanza officially relocated its headquarters two years later to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). The City of Phoenix allowed the airline to build a larger headquarters and an upgraded hangar at the Sky Harbor. The new facilities opened on 25 June of that year.
By 1968, Bonanza officially went international, with a route connecting Phoenix to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The flight would also make stops in Mazatlan and La Paz, Mexico, in addition to Tucson, Arizona.
Despite the airline’s fascinating growth, Bonanza’s brass agreed to merge with Pacific Air Lines and West Coast Airlines. The three carriers became Air West on 17 April 1968.
In 1970, Hollywood film producer Howard Hughes purchased Air West for $90 million and later renamed it Hughes Airwest. By 1980, Hughes Airwest faced a strike, citing that agents and office workers had been working without contracts.
The strike was resolved, but it wasn’t much longer until Hughes Airwest would be absorbed by Republic Airlines. The deal was worth $38.5 million. Two more mergers occurred throughout history, leading the remnants of Bonanza to be found under the Delta portfolio in 2010.
