July 13, 1925: Western Air Express incorporated with Harris "Pop" Hanshue as president. The company owns six open-cockpit Douglas M-2 planes, has 24 employees and operates out of an old hangar that had been a former movie studio.

April 17, 1926: Western's first commercial flight (airmail only): Los Angeles-Salt Lake City, via Las Vegas, 651 miles. The Douglas M-2 biplane was piloted by Maury Graham.

May 23, 1926: Western begins its first passenger service: Salt Lake City-Los Angeles via Las Vegas. Piloted by Jimmie Jones, the two passengers Ben Redman and J. A. Tomlinson sat on mail sacks. The 8-hour flight cost $90 one-way.

Two more passengers flew that day in a later flight from Los Angeles-Salt Lake City.

June 1926: Maude Campbell is Western's first woman passenger—and the first woman passenger carried on a U.S. commercial airline flight.

December 1926: Western completed all 518 of its flights in 1926, safely delivering 70,230 pounds of mail and 258 passengers.

1927: Western's Los Angeles mail service accounts for 40% of the nation's airmail.

Western is the first airline to pay a cash dividend to stockholders ($72.60 per share net profit).

Air Express shipments begin on September 1.

1928: Meals are served by a steward on Western's "model" Los Angeles-Salt Lake City flights, a luxurious passenger-only (no mail) experiment financed by a grant from the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Western used Fokker F-10 aircraft, the first tri-motor airliner in the U.S, for this special service, which lasted about a year.

Western develops first airline on-route weather reporting service, setting up 37 weather stations between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

1930: Western has the largest air system in the United States. Routes cover 4,765 miles from California to Dallas and Kansas City, and served by 40 aircraft.

Pioneers research in the use of two-way radios, radio marker beacons and radio compasses. With Boeing Aircraft Company, Western develops and uses the first air-to-ground radio.

Uses the first directional radio compass for air navigation.

The first $1 million airport terminal, which Western built, is at Alhambra, California.

Introduces the world's first four-engine airliner—the Fokker F-32—a luxurious wooden giant that carried 32 passengers and a crew of four.

1930: Passage of the Watres Bill forces a merger of the routes of Western and Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). Western continues to operate its original Los Angeles-Salt Lake City route independently. The company payroll is cut by two-thirds.

1931: General Motors acquires control of Western through a subsidiary.

Western acquires Mid-Continent Air Express in October, with routes from Denver to El Paso and Dallas.

1932: Western is the first airline with airborne television reception (a one-time event). The broadcast, from an experimental TV station, features a then-unknown actress named Loretta Young.

1934: Western changed its name to General Air Lines, and once again becomes an independent corporation under the control of General Motors.

All U.S. airmail contracts are cancelled with President Roosevelt's investigation of route awards and mail payments. Western (as General Air Lines) is awarded the San Diego-Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and back to where it started in 1926.

Western's association ends with TWA when an independent Western Air Express Corporation is created, dissolving both General Air Lines and Western Air Express, Inc. Alvin P. Adams is president.

1935: Western regroups by leasing and acquiring used Boeing 247D aircraft and operating them in conjunction with United Airlines. Hires female flight attendants—called "stewardesses."

1937: National Parks Airways merges with Western, bringing service to the Montana region, including popular Yellowstone National Park.

Western begins flying 21-passenger Douglas DC-3 aircraft.

1938: First airline to place typewriters onboard for passenger use.

1940: William A. Coulter is president.

1941: Western becomes an international airline when service extends to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Name changes to Western Airlines.

1942: Western contributes to the war effort by establishing "Sourdough Operation"—a supply route from Edmonton, Canada, across the Alaskan wilderness to Russia.

As part of the Air Transport Command (ATC), Western carries 22 million tons of goods over 67 million passenger miles. Western has the highest aircraft utilization rate in the ATC—15.9 hours a day—and the best safety record during the war.

1944: Routes expand northeast of Denver to Huron, North Dakota, with acquisition of 83 percent of Inland Air Lines' stock.

1945: Nonstop Los Angeles-Denver service begins.

1946: Western takes delivery of the first postwar-built Douglas DC-4, the civil version of the wartime four-engine C-54. World's first DC-4 airline service begins on January 18.

1947: Terrell C. Drinkwater is president.

Operations move from Burbank to a hangar and general offices at the new Los Angeles International Airport. Service extends to Portland and Seattle.

Severe declines in traffic and post-war personnel turnover cause turmoil in airline industry. Western sells its significant Los Angeles-Denver route and four DC-4s to United Airlines for $3.7 million and implements other cost-saving measures, including temporarily suspending onboard food service in late 1948.

1948: Western flies the pressurized Convair 240.

1949: Nonstop service begins Denver-Minneapolis/St. Paul. Service starts to Ontario, Canada.

1950: Service begins to Edmonton, Canada.

Western is the first airline to use a conveyor belt system for aircraft loading and unloading.

1952: Inland Airlines merges with Western, after operating as a Western subdivision since 1944. Direct West Coast-Michigan and Minnesota service begins.

Western starts coach service.

1954: Luxurious "Champagne Service" begins on 60-passenger Douglas DC-6B aircraft, with complimentary champagne, steaks, corsages, perfume and cigars.

1956: The animated VIB—"Very Important Bird"—nicknamed the "Wally Bird," first appears in Western's television commercials with the slogan "Western… The O-O-Only Way to Fly."

1957: Western flies to Mexico City and Phoenix. Inauguration of "Hunt Breakfast" meal service, with three choices of meat served from chafing dishes, tape-recorded bugle calls and stewardesses in bowler hats and red vests.

1958: Los Angeles-Phoenix nonstop service.

1959: First airline to fly the turboprop Lockheed 188 Electra.

1960: Boeing 707 service begins.

1961: Boeing 720B service begins.

1962: Operations move to new facilities at the Los Angeles airport.

1965: Service begins to Acapulco.

Gemini 7 astronaut Jim Lovell uses Western's "The O-O-Only Way to Fly" slogan to describe how it feels to orbit the earth. This is the first commercial message ever broadcast (even if inadvertently) from space. Western sends Lovell a case of champagne after he lands.

1966: "Flub-Stub" program begins. Passengers are offered a dollar if Western failed to deliver promised service.

1967: Pacific Northern Airlines merges with Western, bringing routes from Seattle and Portland to Alaska. Service begins to Vancouver.

1968: Boeing 737 service begins.

1969: J. Judson Taylor is president.

Western flies nonstop Honolulu-Anchorage.

Boeing 727 service starts.

1970: In-flight movies and stereo first available on Hawaiian flights.

1971: A Western Boeing 737, flying San Francisco to Seattle with 92 passengers, is hijacked to Vancouver.

1972: Two Western Boeing 727s, flying Salt Lake City to Los Angeles with 90 passengers, are hijacked. The first one in May is flown to Cuba; the next in June is flown to Algiers, after changing to a B-720B in San Francisco.

1973: Arthur F. Kelly is president.

Douglas DC-10 service begins.

1974: Interchange flights begin with Continental Airlines between Anchorage and Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas/Colorado/Louisiana, with equipment change at Seattle.

1976: Dominic P. Renda is president.

Western hires its first woman pilot.

Miami-Los Angeles service begins.

1977: Western carries over one million pounds of cargo for the first time in one day.

One-stop service begins to Ft. Lauderdale via Miami.

1978: Western's five domestic routes are consolidated into one route; the Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico routes remain separate.

Interchange service begins with Braniff between Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, and Calgary and Edmonton, Canada.

Interchange service begins with Continental Airlines between Houston and Calgary.

Los Angeles-Guadalajara, Mexico nonstop service begins.

Western opens a new flight attendant base in Honolulu.

1979: Anchorage-San Francisco nonstop service begins with a special inaugural fare of 49 cents (for Alaska, our 49th state), good for first day of service only.

One-stop Seattle-Washington, D.C. transcontinental service begins.

Western takes delivery of the 100th Boeing aircraft—a 727.

Western appoints seven baggage service managers, the industry's first system-wide team of full-time, on-location baggage officials, in an attempt to wipe out lost/damaged baggage.

1980: Western experiences financial difficulties after weakening profits in the late 1970s and deregulation of U.S. airlines in 1978.

Trans-Atlantic service begins: Honolulu-Anchorage-London.

1981: Trans-Atlantic service modified: Honolulu-Anchorage-London service suspended; Denver-London service starts.

1982: Salt Lake City becomes a major Western hub with 59 daily flights.

All trans-Atlantic service to London discontinued.

1983: Larry H. Lee is Chief Executive Officer.

Los Angeles becomes a Western hub (rather than terminus) with new services, including more connections to Salt Lake City.

1984: Larry H. Lee is Chairman of the Board and CEO.

Western avoids bankruptcy after reworking its flight schedule—the new SLC hub operations were especially successful—and reaching work concessions with its unions.

1985: Jerry Grinstein is CEO, with Larry H. Lee as Chairman of the Board.

In August, Western announces profits estimated to be $45 million for the first 7 months of the year.
Western now has 115 departures a day from Salt Lake City

1986: Jerry Grinstein is Chairman and CEO.

Western enters an operating agreement with regional airline Skywest, to add feeder lines between Salt Lake City and smaller cities, many formerly served by Western. The joint service is named Western Express.

Western and Delta Air Lines announce a merger agreement providing for Delta's acquisition of Western for $860 million on September 9.

Western becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta on December 19.

April 1, 1987: Operations of Western and Delta officially merge.