Central Airlines

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Central Airlines was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local service" air carrier) that operated scheduled passenger flights in Texas and Oklahoma from 1949 to 1967. Central was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to operate charter and fixed base services in Oklahoma. Due to financing difficulties, it did not begin scheduled air service until September 15, 1949, just before its original certification expired. Central was then headquartered at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas.

Backers and members of the board of directors initially included Ft. Worth oilman F. Kirk Johnson, former City Councilman R.E. Harding, Jr., Don Earhart and actor James Stewart; Stewart remained on the board for many years. Lamar Muse was president before going to Universal Airlines, Southwest Airlines and then founding Muse Air.

Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles (scheduled flights only)
Year Traffic
1951 5
1955 15
1960 32
1965 91
Source:[1]

Central started with a fleet of eleven Beechcraft Bonanza A35s. These aircraft didn't attract much business, so the airline turned to Douglas DC-3s in the 1950s. The DC-3s were reinforced by Convair 240s beginning in 1960. The CV-240s were eventually upgraded to turboprop Convair 600 aircraft starting in 1965. This conversion primarily concerned the removal of the piston engines which were then replaced with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines. The airline referred to these aircraft as the "Dart 600" in their system timetable.[2] Central's 1955 network blanketed Oklahoma and reached beyond to Amarillo, Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock and Kansas City; when the airline merged into Frontier in October of 1967, service had been extended to 40 cities in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, in addition to Texas and Oklahoma. The route system then ranged from Denver, Colorado to St. Louis, Missouri and Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas. Airports in both Dallas (DAL) and Ft. Worth (GSW) were served at this time.[3]

In 1961, the head office was moved to the new Amon Carter Field (later renamed Greater Southwest International Airport) in Fort Worth, Texas. By the mid-1960s Central operated to 40 cities throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas and Missouri.

At the time of the merger with Frontier Airlines on October 1, 1967, Central was operating Convair 600 turboprops as well as sixteen Douglas DC-3 aircraft. The DC-3s were aircraft N15563 N15584 N15837 N17397 N18939 N19454 N19937 N285SE N286SE N287SE N39544 N49541 N7820B N88790 N88794 and N91003. At one time Central Airlines operated 16 DC3s and 8 Convair 240 aircraft. When the CV-240s were converted to CV7th century, an additional three CV7th century were bought, to bring a total of 11 in the fleet - ship numbers being N74850 through N74860.

The Convair 600 was a turboprop version of the Convair 240. It was sometimes called the CV-240D. Central was the first customer for this aircraft. It first flew on May 20, 1965 and only 39 were produced as conversions from piston powered Convair 240 aircraft. It carried 40 - 44 passengers and a crew of three. Another airline that operated Convair 600 aircraft in the region was Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) which eventually changed its name to Texas International Airlines.

Central was planning to introduce jets into their fleet in the form of new Douglas DC-9-10 aircraft. The airline even ran an ad in the Official Airline Guide (OAG) announcing the advent of DC-9 jetliner service.[4] However, the DC-9 was never operated by Central as the airline became the target of an acquisition and merger.

Central was sold and merged into the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) on October 1, 1967. Frontier continued to operate Central's Convair 600 aircraft for a time following the merger but then retired these aircraft in favor of the Convair 580 as this turboprop aircraft type was already being operated by Frontier.

Destinations [edit]

The following destination information is taken from the July 1, 1967 Central Airlines system timetable several months before the air carrier was acquired by the original Frontier Airlines.[5]

  • Amarillo, TX (AMA)
  • Bartlesville, OK (BVO)
  • Borger, TX (BGD)
  • Colorado Springs, CO (COS)
  • Dallas, TX - Dallas Love Field (DAL)
  • Denver, CO (DEN)
  • Dodge City, KS (DDC)
  • Duncan, OK (DUC)
  • Enid, OK (WDG)
  • Fayetteville, AR (FYV)
  • Fort Leonard Wood, MO (TBN)
  • Fort Smith, AR (FSM)
  • Fort Worth, TX - Greater Southwest International Airport (GSW) - no longer in existence.
  • Garden City, KS (GCK)
  • Goodland, KS (GLD)
  • Great Bend, KS (GBD)
  • Guymon, OK (GUY)
  • Harrison, AR (HRO)
  • Hays, KS (HYS)
  • Hot Springs, AR (HOT)
  • Hutchinson, KS (HUT)
  • Joplin, MO (JLN)
  • Kansas City - Kansas City Municipal Airport (MKC)
  • Lamar, CO (LAA)
  • Lawton, OK (LAW)
  • Liberal, KS (LBL)
  • Little Rock, AR (LIT)
  • Manhattan, KS (MHK)
  • McAlester, OK (MLC)
  • Muskogee, OK (MKO)
  • Paris, TX (PRX)
  • Parsons, KS (PPF)
  • Ponca City, OK (PNC)
  • Pueblo, CO (PUB)
  • St. Louis, MO (STL)
  • Salina, KS (SLN)
  • Stillwater, OK (SWO)
  • Topeka, KS (TOP)
  • Tulsa, OK (TUL)
  • Wichita Falls, KS (ICT)

According to the above referenced timetable, Central was operating a fleet of Convair 600 turboprop and Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft at this time.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Handbook of Airline Statistics (biannual CAB publication)
  2. ^ timetableimages.com; July 1, 1967 Central Airlines system timetable
  3. ^ timetableimages.com, July 1, 1967 Central Airlines system timetable
  4. ^ January 1967 Official Airline Guide (OAG), North American edition
  5. ^ timetableimages.com, July 1, 1967 Central Airlines system timetable

External links [edit]

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