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History

Western Historical Timeline

Though the Decades

Western's history, decade by decade. Select the decade you're interested in.

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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, Hawaii—Anchorage, Alaska.

Boeing 727 service starts.

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