Inland Air Lines was a small trunk carrier, a scheduled United States airline which started as Wyoming Air Service (WAS), founded by Richard Leferink in May 1930, initially as a flying school.[2][3] In the mid-1930s WAS won airmail contracts for routes in Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana. WAS changed its name to Inland Air Lines on 1 July 1938.[4][5]
| Founded | May 1930 as Wyoming Air Service |
|---|---|
| Ceased operations | April 9, 1952 merged into Western Air Lines |
| Parent company | Western Air Lines (1944–1952) |
| Headquarters | Casper, Wyoming[1] until 1944 Los Angeles from 1944 |
| Key people | Richard Leferink |
Pursuant to the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) of the United States certificated Inland as a United States scheduled airline on March 28, 1939.[6] Thereafter, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which succeeded the CAA in 1940, regulated Inland as a trunk carrier.
In 1944, the CAB approved the purchase of Inland by Western Air Lines.[7] However, although Western controlled the overwhelming majority of Inland’s stock, as a Wyoming corporation, Inland could not be merged into Western without the unanimous consent of its shareholders, and a few shareholders continued to hold out. Therefore, Inland continued to exist as a separate subsidiary of Western until 1952, when Wyoming law changed, the CAB gave final approval and Western was finally able to merge Inland into itself.[4][8]
Inland styled itself as "The Wings Over The West."[9] In 1948, Inland accounted for less than a half percent of total trunk airline Revenue-Passenger Miles, the smallest trunk airline by that measure.[10] And as of December 1949, it operated only a single DC-3.[11]
References
edit- ^ Inland Air Lines timetable image, accessed May 4, 2024
- ^ Casper - Wyoming Air Service, Inc., capitalized at $50,000, filed articles of incorporation., Jackson's Hole (WY) Courier, 29 May 1930
- ^ Flying School Increases Fast, Casper (WY) Star-Tribune, 15 June 1930
- ^ a b Serling, Robert J. "Chapter Ten". The Only Way to Fly: the Story of Western Airlines, America’s Senior Air Carrier. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0385013426.
- ^ Air Schedules To Be Changer July 1, Rapid City Journal, 28 June 1938
- ^ "Inland Air Lines, Inc.—Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity". Civil Aeronautics Authority Reports. 1: 34–38. February 1939 – July 1940. hdl:2027/uc1.b2938502.
- ^ "Western Air Lines, Inc., acquisition of Inland Air Lines, Inc". Civil Aeronautics Board Reports. 4: 654–669. December 1942 – June 1944. hdl:2027/osu.32435022360648.
- ^ Announces Completion of Air Lines Merger, Billings Gazette, 10 April 1952
- ^ "Inland Air Lines". AirTimes: Collector's Guide To Airline Timetables. AirTimes. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
- ^ "Scheduled Air Carrier Operations". Civil Aeronautics Journal. 10 (3). Civil Aeronautics Administration: 32. March 15, 1949. hdl:2027/osu.32437011223969.
- ^ "U.S. Scheduled Air Transport Industry". Aviation Week. 52 (9): 121. February 27, 1950. ISSN 0005-2175.
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