Central Airlines

Central Airlines

Founded	1949
Ceased operations	1967
Hubs	Dallas, Denver, Fort Smith, AR, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Tulsa
Destinations	See Destinations below
Headquarters	Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Key people	Keith Kahle (Founder) Lamar Muse (President)

Central Airlines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" air carrier by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board which was known as the CAB) operating scheduled passenger flights in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to operate charter and fixed base services in Oklahoma and 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. The airline was eventually acquired by and merged into the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) which continued and expanded its service network.

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

Central started with a fleet of eleven Beechcraft Bonanza A35s, replacing them with Douglas DC-3s between November 1950 and May 1951. The DC-3s were reinforced by Convair 240s beginning in 1960s and beginning in 1965 the CV-240s were converted to Convair 600 propjets as their piston engines were replaced with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops. Another airline in the region which converted their Convair 240 prop aircraft to the CV-600 turboprop variant was Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) which was subsequently renamed Texas International Airlines.

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 route system served 40 cities from Denver, Colorado to Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri and south to Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas.

Like other "local service" airlines regulated by the federal CAB, Central was subsidized; in 1963 its operating "revenues" of $10.7 million included a $4.5 million federal subsidy.

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

When it was acquired by and merged into the original Frontier Airlines on October 1, 1967, Central was operating Convair 600s and sixteen Douglas DC-3s. Central was planning to introduce Douglas DC-9-10 jetliners and the airline ran an ad in the Official Airline Guide (OAG) announcing the upcoming DC-9 service; however, DC-9 twin jets were never delivered or operated due to the merger. Frontier continued to operate the Convair 600s for a time but then retired them in favor of Convair 580 turboprops which were the backbone of Frontier's fleet during the late 1960s. Frontier was also a Boeing jet customer flying the Boeing 727-100 at the time and later operated 727-200 and 737-200 jetliners. Frontier would eventually introduce Boeing 737-200 jet service into a number of smaller cities previously served by Central including Fayetteville, AR; Fort Smith, AR; Joplin, MO; Lawton, OK; Manhattan, KS; Pueblo, CO; Salina, KS; and Topeka, KS.

Destinations

Central Airlines Convair 600 at Dallas Love Field (1966)

According to their July 1, 1967 system timetable, Central was serving the following destinations shortly before it was acquired by the original Frontier Airlines:

• Amarillo, TX
• Bartlesville, OK
• Borger, TX
• Colorado Springs, CO
• Dallas, TX - Dallas Love Field (DAL)
• Denver, CO
• Dodge City, KS
• Duncan, OK
• Enid, OK
• Fayetteville, AR
• Fort Leonard Wood, MO
• Fort Smith, AR
• Fort Worth, TX - Greater Southwest International Airport (GSW) - no longer in existence.
• Garden City, KS
• Goodland, KS
• Great Bend, KS
• Guymon, OK
• Harrison, AR
• Hays, KS
• Hot Springs, AR
• Hutchinson, KS
• Joplin, MO
• Kansas City - Kansas City Municipal Airport (MKC)
• Lamar, CO
• Lawton, OK
• Liberal, KS
• Little Rock, AR
• Manhattan, KS
• McAlester, OK
• Muskogee, OK
• Paris, TX
• Parsons, KS
• Ponca City, OK
• Pueblo, CO
• St. Louis, MO
• Salina, KS
• Stillwater, OK
• Topeka, KS
• Tulsa, OK
• Wichita Falls, TX

The above referenced timetable states that Central operated Convair 600s and Douglas DC-3s at this time.

Fleet

During its existence, Central Airlines operated the following aircraft:

• Beechcraft Bonanza (model A35)
• Convair 240
• Convair 600 (Convair 240 prop aircraft converted by the airline to turboprop power with Rolls-Royce Dart engines)
• Douglas DC-3

The airline also announced it would operate its first jet type, being the Douglas DC-9-10; however, the DC-9s were not operated by Central as the air carrier was acquired by the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) before the Douglas twin jets could be delivered.

References

• Lamkins, Jake "Central Airlines website". http://Lamkins.tripod.com/CentralAirlines.html
• Lamkins, Jake "Central Airlines Collection website". http://Lamkins.tripod.com/CNcollection.html

External links

• Central Airlines photographs
• A large collection of Central Airlines memorabilia
• Old Frontier Airlines a website about the history of the old Frontier Airlines and its predecessor airlines.
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Central Airlines