727_2001 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (11 years 10 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1005 times:
I am wondering what the major airlines were in 1985 in order from largest to smallest. For example currently it goes American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, America West, Alaska, ATA, Hawaiian... and so on.( A few months ago that order was a little different than it is now because of the American takeover of TWA.) But, as I stated previously, I would like to know the order it was in 1985. (I didnt follow aviation in the 80s.) I have searched for it in the search engine and I turned up nothing. All of your comments are very welcome!
Tango-Bravo From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3725 posts, RR: 31 Reply 1, posted (11 years 10 months 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 960 times:
My best, most educated guess is that U.S. airlines ranked in the following approximate order in 1985 in terms of passengers boarded. As you will note, several of the mega-mergers (RC/NW, PI/US, OZ/TW, WA/DL and PE/FL/NY/CO) had not yet taken place.
United
American
Delta
Republic
USAir
Eastern
Northwest
Piedmont
PeopleExpress
TWA
Western
Continental
Ozark
Southwest
Frontier
America West
New York Air
Alaska
D L X From United States of America, joined May 1999, 10561 posts, RR: 53 Reply 3, posted (11 years 10 months 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 944 times:
I doubt that UA would have been close to the largest airline in 1985. UA grew quite substantially as a result of Pan Am's demise in the early 1990s. They were almost entirely domestic before then, iirc.
Srbmod From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 16888 posts, RR: 51 Reply 4, posted (11 years 10 months 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 909 times:
I think the top ten of this era were as followed (pre-megamergers):
1. American
2. United
3. TWA
4. PanAm
5. Delta
6. Northwest Orient
7. Continental
8. Eastern
9. Republic
10. Piedmont
Timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6468 posts, RR: 8 Reply 5, posted (11 years 10 months 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 891 times:
Once United merged Capital (Capitol?) in 1961 they passed American to become #1 based on passenger-miles, and they retained that rank for most (perhaps all) of the next thirty years. That's #1 among US airlines, of course, which I assume meant #2 in the world.
Boeing 747-311 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 795 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (11 years 10 months 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 833 times:
N863DA From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 48 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (11 years 10 months 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 829 times:
Misinformation ensues. What is it with you guys and your quest to destroy the truth?
When United absorbed Capitol, it became the largest airline in the Western World, regardless of the fact that it was purely a domestic carrier, and has been ever since - all the way until American absorbed TWA.
Aeroflot is no longer the biggest as it was broken up after the Wall fell.
And when will you guys realize that PanAm wasn't that big, just a figure-head?
Timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6468 posts, RR: 8 Reply 11, posted (11 years 10 months 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 811 times:
Giga-passenger-miles in 1985 (probably scheduled-service only):
AA 44.1
UA 41.5
EA 33.1
TW 32.1
DL 30.1
PA 27.1
NW 22.3
CO 16.4
PE 11.0
RC 10.7
WA 10.4
AL 9.7
PI 8.2
WN 5.3
FL 4.4
WO 4.2
PS 3.5
OZ 3.0
AS 2.3
HP 2.3
BN 2.2
OC 1.8
ML 1.6
NY 1.4
MC 1.1
SI 1.0
It seems UA had a 29-day strike in 1985; in 1984 their GPMs were 46.0 while AA's were 36.7. But AA also exceeded UA in 1989 and two or three years in the 1990s.
Sponsor Message: 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 3725 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
