December 1, 2001 was a sad day in St. Louis. For over 77 years, TWA provided commercial service to millions of passengers around the globe through its hub at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). This day would be the last day of TWA as they ceased operating as an independent airline.
The Proud Heritage of TWA
TWA, also known as Trans World Airlines, was in service for 77 years, from 1924 to 2001. TWA’s corporate history dates back to 1930. The airline was originally formed to create a transcontinental route from New York City to Los Angeles in a Ford Trimotor aircraft, with intermediate stops along the way.
Along with American, United, and Eastern, TWA was one of the “big four” domestic airline companies in the United States.
Howard Hughes acquired control of Trans World Airlines in 1939 and expanded it to serve Europe, Asia, and the Middle East during its heyday. Hughes gave up control of Trans World Airlines in the 1960s.
From 1967 to 1972, TWA was the world’s third-largest airline in terms of passenger miles flown. In 1969, TWA carried the most transatlantic passengers of any airline.
Icahn Ran the Airline Into the Ground
The nineties were a devastating decade for Trans World Airlines. The airline bounced back and forth between holding companies. TWA became heavily in debt and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy twice in the early 1990s.
The explosion of TWA Flight 800 didn’t help matters any. Flight 800 was a Boeing 747 on its way to Paris in 1996 when it exploded, killing all 230 people onboard.
In the late ‘90s, Trans World Airlines began a turnaround plan. New jets like the 717-200 and 757 were meant to revitalize the flailing airline. However, a terrible ticketing revenue setup with activist investor Carl Icahn and the economic downturn in 2000 doomed TWA once and for all.
The End: American Buys TWA
December 1, 2001 – The Last Day of TWA
December 1st, 2001 holds a sad place for Avgeeks and former employees of TWA. If you mention the date to them, they’ll instantly recall that it was the ‘last day of TWA’. The employees of TWA operated the last flight with the same professionalism that they had shown for 77 years.
TWA Was A Merger of Should Have and Could Have Been’s.
American Airlines purchased the airline in 2000. The slogan “Two great airlines. One great future.” was meant to highlight the opportunity of the new ‘merged’ airline. The merger was supposed to be a good thing. St. Louis provided a reliever hub for American’s overcrowded O’Hare hub.
TWA’s fleet of MD-80s was also supposed to provide American with additional capacity. The TWA purchase by American was going to unlock an additional midwest reliever hub, save the airline, and provide American with additional capacity for east-west travel that had previously been growing in demand.
Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks on September 11th meant that much of TWA’s infrastructure was superfluous and would be dismantled instead. Most of TWA’s pilots and flight attendants were also furloughed. St. Louis Lambert Airport became a shell of its former self.
American eventually pulled down many of TWA’s former routes by 2003. By 2005, American’s presence in St. Louis was mainly to its other hubs with a few high-performing spoke routes that survived the cuts.
Today, Trans World Airlines is remembered fondly for its people and its initial history of innovation. The airline lives on (sort of) in the form of an American Airlines heritage jet. The Boeing 737-800 still flies in a modified TWA livery that still occasionally surprises passengers in the terminal as they see the jet taxiing. There is also a Trans World Airlines hotel at JFK that proudly serves up 1960s nostalgia.
A great and classy airline. An American institution.
Sadly destroyed by greedy and incompetent management.
I am proud to have been a part of that proud family. (1966-1968)
It was a great airline. I worked for 35 years at Eastern and we had a great relationship with TWA. Eastern went bankrupt in 1991 and closed very suddenly. I became a travel agency owner and one of the things we did was attend travel conferences. In 2001, our conference was in St. Louis. It was kinda of weird to be there. All these TWA current & former people at the conference, lots of TWA memorabilia, TWA speakers, lots of tears, knowing that the last day of TWA was also the last day of our conference. On that day, hundreds of TWA employees came to the conference in their uniforms. When the conference ended, we all walked out of the building and were given red & white helium balloons, We all gathered together in a big courtyard, and together everyone let their balloons go. To say that that was emotional is such an understatement! For ten years, I had repressed my own feelings about Eastern disappearing, but this was such an unexpected emotional experience after ten years, I actually broke down and cried along with hundreds of TWA ex-employees. I still vividly remember that moment and wished that my fellow Eastern people could have had such a watershed moment for their own emotional closure.