Boeing 747-100 - TWA Trans World Airlines

Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet

Boeing 747-100 - TWA Trans World Airlines

The US airline TWA Trans World Airlines was, like Pan Am, primarily a long-haul intercontinental airline. During the 1970s and 1980s TWA was also a major operator of the Boeing 747. It flew a total of around forty 747-100s, -200s and -SPs. Other widebodies flown by TWA were the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar and the Boeing 767.

The airline was founded in 1925 as Western Air Express. After a merger with Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) in 1930 it became Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA). The name Trans World Airlines was adopted in 1950.

Until the early 1970s TWA and Pan Am were the only U.S. airlines serving Europe and by 1969 TWA's transatlantic operation was even bigger than Pan Am's. TWA ran into financial difficulty after deregulation in the USA in 1979. TWA was forced to sell big parts of its international operation to American Airlines and it filed for bankruptcy (Chapter 11) three times. In April 2001, after the third filing, TWA was purchased by American Airlines.

The final TWA flight occurred on December 1 2001. The result was that TWA's former hub at Lambert-St. Louis Airport was dismantled in favour of American's much larger nearby hub at Chicago O'Hare.