R.I.P. TWA: Obituary for an Aviation Pioneer

N E W   Y O R K, Jan. 10 -- Trans World Airlines, a pioneer of transcontinental and international flight whose initials were synonymous with trendy jet-setting and corporate takeovers, is capping its history as an aviation pioneer with an ignominious ending: filing for bankruptcy protection prior to its buyout by competitor American Airlines. TWA was 75 years old.

The nation's eighth largest airline, TWA entered bankruptcy protection for the third time in a decade by filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware today. But before the latest (and final) financial troubles came a long line of firsts — the first carrier to offer transcontinental and, later, transatlantic service, the first to fly the Boeing 747 on a domestic route, the first to offer business class seating, and nonsmoking sections on all its aircraft.

TWA was born out of two carriers — Western Air Express, formed in 1925; and Transcontinental Air Transport, which debuted in 1928, out of a merger of several air companies and the Pennsylvania Railroad. TAT launched the first transcontinental service between Los Angeles and New York (consisting of two rail links and a Ford Tri-Motor, with a top speed of 140 mph). In 1930, the two airlines merged and took the moniker Transcontinental and Western Air, or TWA.