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Central Airlines

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Central Airlines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" airline) 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. It did not begin scheduled flights 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, replacing them with Douglas DC-3s starting in November 1950. The DC-3s were reinforced by Convair 240s beginning in 1960. Starting in 1965 the CV-240s were upgraded to Convair 600s with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops.

In August 1953 Central scheduled flights to 19 airports. Central's 1955 network blanketed Oklahoma and extended to Amarillo, Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock and Kansas City; in April 1957 it served 29 airports. When the airline merged into Frontier in October 1967 Central's network had 40 cities from Denver, Colorado to St. Louis, Missouri and south to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas.[2]

In 1961 the head office moved to Amon Carter Field (later renamed Greater Southwest International Airport) in Fort Worth.

When it merged with Frontier Airlines on October 1, 1967, Central was operating Convair 600s and sixteen Douglas DC-3s. The DC-3s were aircraft N15563 N15584 N15837 N17397 N18939 N19454 N19937 N285SE N286SE N287SE N39544 N49541 N7820B N88790 N88794 and N91003. Previously, Central Airlines had operated 16 DC-3 and 8 Convair 240 aircraft.

The Convair 600 was a turboprop version of the Convair 240, sometimes called the CV-240D. Central was the first customer. It first flew on May 20, 1965 and 39 were produced as conversions from piston powered Convair 240s. It carried 40 - 44 passengers and a crew of three. Another airline in the region with Convair 600s was Trans-Texas Airways (later Texas International Airlines).

Central was planning to introduce Douglas DC-9-10 jets; the airline ran an ad in the Official Airline Guide (OAG) announcing upcoming DC-9 service.[3] However, the DC-9 was never operated by Central as the airline became the target of an acquisition and merger.

Central merged into Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) on October 1, 1967. Frontier continued to operate Central's Convair 600 aircraft for a time but retired them in favor of the Convair 580, already operated by Frontier.

Destinations

Cities in the airline's July 1, 1967 timetable, months before Central was acquired by Frontier.[4]

  • 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)

The timetable says Central had Convair 600s and Douglas DC-3s.

References

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