Hub-and-spoke, point-to-point, and ?

[kirkpatrick]

I've got a book showing CAB route maps, which dates back to around 1965 if I recall.

Here's a TWA timetable from Jan 1972, the year I was hired. Note the lack of any service to the Northwest, anywhere in TX except Amarillo, and the lack of any routes between the NE and Florida.

MK

 

[mga707]

FM, you must be a young one. NW servered Atl in the 60's, DL on the west coast in the the 60's, CO on the east coast n the 60's. You really do need to get out those old maps and study them yourself.

You are correct on two of the three. NW did serve ATL (and TPA and MIA) in the '60s (since Dec. '58, actually), but their southeast presence was a small one. They had one route authority from Chicago and MKE down to ATL and Florida. The infamous Tell City, IN Electra crash of a NW Electra in March 1960 was a flight headed south on that very route. That crash, along with a similar Braniff Electra crash in Texas, led to the "whirl mode" investigation that determined that the planes' wings basically tore right off. Major modifications ensued, and the Electra's long-term sales furture was toast (except, of course, with the US Navy [Orion]!)

Delta, along with National, finally obtained long-sought routes from Dallas to Vegas and California (National got Houston to Vegas and California) in 1961. Prior to the CAB's awarding of these routes, both airlines had long-running intercahnges with American and Continental that enabled them to offer 'same-plane' service from the southeast to the west coast.

However, Continental did not serve any cities east of Chicago or New Orleans until just prior to deregulation in the mid-'70s, when they finally did get a single Houston-Miami route award.

 

[mga707]

When I was in my teens, back around 1975, I laboriously hand-crafted route maps of all ten of the then-trunk carriers (this was after the NE/DL merger), using timetables and base map of the USA. I also did most of the then-Local Service carriers (did not have an Air New England timetable, but I think I had all of the others).

One of many things I later foolishly threw out (along with a bunch of pre-1971 timetables!) that I wish I hadn't...

What a great "eve of deregulation" time capsule they would've been!

 

[kirkpatrick]

I would love to see route maps make a comeback. These days, everyone thinks they're too big for a route map, but nothing tells you as well in a quick glance just where an airline flies.

A route map of AA's system would be quite impressive. I'm not sure I'm up to the task, however.

MK

 

[nyc6035]

Here's a TWA timetable from Jan 1972, the year I was hired. Note the lack of any service to the Northwest, anywhere in TX except Amarillo, and the lack of any routes between the NE and Florida.

MK

I noticed an around the world route on your map...but it is difficult to see the detail on the scan. What was the around the world route TWA ran in 1972?

 

[TWAnr]

Take a look at this site:

airchive.com

 

[mga707]

I noticed an around the world route on your map...but it is difficult to see the detail on the scan. What was the around the world route TWA ran in 1972?

The 'thin' part of the around the world service, through south Asia and across the Pacific, went as follows: Tel Aviv--Bombay--Bangkok--Honk Kong--Taipei--Okinawa--Guam (there also was a Hong Kong-Guam 'cutoff')--Honolulu--LAX.

TWA obtained the round-the-world route authority in 1969, but did not run it very long. IIRC, it ended not long after the date of the above timetable map.

 

[eolesen]

FM, you must be a young one. NW servered Atl in the 60's, DL on the west coast in the the 60's, CO on the east coast n the 60's. You really do need to get out those old maps and study them yourself.

I didn't say that NW, DL, and EA didn't fly outside their strongholds at all... Sure, they had a few token destinations. But nothing more than a token presence, as opposed to what they were able to do after 1979.

I took the maps out of storage... I'll post some of them later this week.

 

[eolesen]

As promised... These are a few for the trunk carriers.

AA

DL

EA

NW

TW

UA

 

[whlinder]

Awesome, thanks FM.

 

[Kev3188]

I second that. Thanks for posting these!

 

[mga707]

Just you younger folks are fully informed, these CAB route maps were not intended to show the full array of nonstop routes operated by each carrier.
As an example, using the 1978 AA map and my home airport: At that time AA had nonstop service from TUS to the following cities: SAN/LAX/SFO/PHX/ELP/DFW/ORD. Far more extensive than the PHX/ELP routes shown on the map.
Also, for some unknown reason Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Monterey (Mexico) are both shown, although AA had dropped service to both years before (late 50s/early 60s).
Thirdly, AA's Caribbean system is not shown or even alluded to. This had started in 1971 with the purchase of Trans-Caribbean, and had been expanded in the mid-70s via a route swap with Pan Am: AA's south Pacific routes beyond Hawai'i wet to PA in exchange for additional Caribbean destinations that PA transferred to AA.
The route maps in the AA timetables of the era are a better indicator of the true nature of their service at the time.

 

[twaokc]

F.M.
Don't know where you dug up those route maps, but most are no where close to what was going on at the time.

 

[eolesen]

Just you younger folks are fully informed, these CAB route maps were not intended to show the full array of nonstop routes operated by each carrier.

The lines connecting the dots might vary, but I don't think you're going to find any dots missing.

As I understand CAB route authority, any intermediate point along a given route could be served from any terminal point along that route, unless otherwise prohibited by the CAB.

In the case of TUS, which is on Route 4, nonstop service to every destination you mentioned (SAN/LAX/SFO/PHX/ELP/DFW/ORD) was permitted, as was nonstop service to the terminal points of STL, SAT, IAH, OAK, EWR, BWI, CVG, JFK, DTW, CLE, and LGA. Service between intermediate points (i.e. TUS-BNA or TUS-TUL) could only be operated thru a terminal point, and even there, it was often specifically prohibited or restricted as to where the thru service could originate and terminate.

Likewise, on DL's map, there isn't a nonstop on ATL-ORD, however both are terminal points along Route 54, so nonstops would be permitted.

Also, for some unknown reason Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Monterey (Mexico) are both shown, although AA had dropped service to both years before (late 50s/early 60s).

The scanned map is a summary of all routes and destinations authorized for the carrier. It's not practical for me to have scanned all of the route maps for each carrier -- there are about 80 pages of them for the variou carriers.

On the detail maps for Route 56 and Route 134, both destinations you mention show as service suspended, as does ELP, which was designated as a US gateway along with SAT (with restrictions) and DFW.

Thirdly, AA's Caribbean system is not shown or even alluded to.

These were domestic system maps. Aside from the tranborder flights to Canada and Mexico, there aren't any international routes showing for NWA, TWA, or Pan Am.

The route maps in the AA timetables of the era are a better indicator of the true nature of their service at the time.

Perhaps, but the point of showing the CAB maps was to give an idea of how the country was carved up under regulation, and how restrictive it was for a given carrier to operate.