Bonanza Air Lines
Encyclopedia
Bonanza Air Lines was an international and domestic regional airlineRegional airline
Regional airlines are airlines that operate regional aircraft to provide passenger air service to communities without sufficient demand to attract mainline service...
in operation from 1945 to 1968, with routes in the Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
and Mexico . Its headquarters were initially located in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
; the headquarters moved to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
in 1966.
The airline began scheduled operations in 1945 with a single-engine Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
, with service between the Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
communities of Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, Tonopah
Tonopah, Nevada
Tonopah is a census-designated place located in and the county seat of Nye County, Nevada. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 95 approximately mid-way between Las Vegas and Reno....
and Hawthorne
Hawthorne, Nevada
Hawthorne is a census-designated place in Mineral County, Nevada, United States. The population was 3,311 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Mineral County...
. During the 1950s and early 1960s the airline expanded into Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, including Las Vegas, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Additionally, Bonanza was the only certificated airline to fly from Las Vegas to Reno. The carrier became an international airline just months before it ended service as an independent entity with the addition of trans-border flights to the Mexican cities of La Paz, Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
, and Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican balneario resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas.The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the sixth-largest city in the state of Jalisco...
.
History
The company was created in 1945 and based in Las Vegas and was known at the time as Bonanza Air Services in Las Vegas. The company was part of a Civil Aeronautics Authority effort to develop regional airlines called "local service airlines."During the later part of the 1940s and especially through the 1950s, the carrier added several Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
aircraft and expanded routes westward to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
In 1959, Bonanza introduced the Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
F-27 (nicknamed Silver Dart) and applied for additional routes to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
(although these routes were never operated) Bonanza was probably the first United States scheduled fixed-wing airline to go all-turbine, the DC-3 having been dropped from scheduled service in late 1960.
In an attempt to leap into the jet-age, the carrier ordered three British BAC 1-11 twinjet
Twinjet
A twinjet or twin jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. Such configuration of an aircraft is the most popular today for commercial airliners, for fighters, and many other kinds, because while offering safety from a single engine failure, it is also acceptably fuel-efficient.-Aircraft...
s in October 1962, but this request was denied by the United States government. In light of the denial, an order was placed for the American twinjet equivalent DC-9 series 10 aircraft with deliveries of the new type beginning in late 1965 and services commencing with the type on March 1, 1966. The DC-9s, dubbed Funjets, were deployed on the following routes within the first year of service: Las Vegas—Reno, Las Vegas—Los Angeles, Reno—Los Angeles, Salt Lake City—Phoenix, and Reno—Las Vegas—Phoenix. The headquarters were moved to Phoenix during 1966.
With approval received from the Civil Aeronautics Board on April 17, 1968,Bonanza Air Lines merged with Pacific Air Lines
Pacific Air Lines
Pacific Air Lines was a regional airline serving the West Coast of the United States that began operations in the 1940s under the name Southwest Airways...
and West Coast Airlines
West Coast Airlines
West Coast Airlines was a U.S. domestic and international regional airline linking smaller communities with larger cities in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Montana, California and northward to southern Canada...
to form Air West on July 1 of the same year. Air West, later re-named Hughes Airwest, would ultimately be acquired by Republic Airlines
Republic Airlines (1979-1986)
Republic Airlines was an airline formed on July 1, 1979 by the merger of North Central Airlines, Southern Airways, and Hughes Airwest. Its headquarters were located on the grounds of Minneapolis-St...
(another airline created via a merger, just a year earlier, in this case North Central Airlines
North Central Airlines
North Central Airlines was founded as Wisconsin Central Airlines in 1944 in Clintonville, Wisconsin. It was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Early history:...
and Southern Airways
Southern Airways
Southern Airways was a regional airline operating in the United States from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979 when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines, which on October 1, 1986, became part of Northwest Airlines, which in 2008 became a part of Delta Air...
) in 1980, which was later absorbed by Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
in 1986. At the time of the merger, Bonanza operated DC-9 and Fokker F-27 aircraft.
The legacy of Bonanza Air Lines continues as of late 2009. McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
DC-9-31 (construction number 47246/ship number 292/registration
Aircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
N9333) was ordered by Bonanza but delivered to Air West
Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest was an airline that was backed by Howard Hughes. Hughes Airwest flew routes around the western United States and to certain points in Mexico and Canada. The airline was purchased by Republic Airlines on October 1, 1980...
following the merger. It still flies today with Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
. As of October 2009 it remained unclear if the aircraft would be retained by Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a major airline based in the United States and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates an extensive domestic and international network serving all continents except Antarctica. Delta and its subsidiaries operate over 4,000 flights every day...
following its completed takeover of Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
in 2010.
Incidents and accidents
The airline suffered its only fatal incident on November 15, 1964, when Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114
Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 was a Fairchild F-27 turboprop airliner flying out of Phoenix, Arizona to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, on the evening of November 15, 1964....
, flying from Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
to Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, crashed into a mountain south of Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
during poor weather. There were no survivors among the 26 passengers and three crew members.
External links
- Bonanza Airlines Historical Website - bonanzaairlines.com
- Photographs of Bonanza Air Lines planes - airliners.net
- Bonanza Air Lines timetable cover, showing Nevada destinations in February 1948 - airtimes.com
- Gallery of Bonanza Air Lines timetables - timetableimages.com
- Gallery of Bonanza Air Lines timetables from the 1950s - airtimes.com
- Gallery of Bonanza Air Lines postcards - williamdemarest.com
- historical notes, route summations, marketing materials, and aircraft images of Bonanza Air Lines - airlinecolors.com
- Bonanza Air Lines records - lists artifact collection stored at the Minnesota Historical Society
