Swift Aire Lines was a U.S. commuter air carrier that was based in
San Luis Obispo, California. The airline's two letter code was "WI". Swift Aire provided scheduled passenger air service wholly within California from the late 1960s until 1981 when it merged with
Golden Gate Airlines
Golden Gate Airlines was a United States regional airline founded in 1980 in Monterey, California after the merger of Gem State Airlines and Air Pacific (USA) in 1979. It merged again in 1981, this time with Swift Aire Lines, but discontinued ...
. Shortly thereafter, Golden Gate experienced financial challenges and ceased all operations.
Swift Aire served as the unofficial hometown airline of
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
as the air carrier was founded in 1969 in this small city located on the scenic central coast of California. Swift Aire identified a niche which was the lack of passenger air service at San Luis Obispo at the time. Southwest Airways had previously served San Luis Obispo with
Douglas DC-3 aircraft. However, this airline then introduced more modern
Martin 4-0-4
The Martin 4-0-4 was an American pressurized passenger airliner built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In addition to airline use initially in the United States, it was used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy as the RM-1G ( ...
prop airliners into its fleet which were too large to operate from the relatively short runway at the San Luis Obispo Airport. During the mid-1950s, Southwest Airways moved its passenger service for all of San Luis Obispo County to the
Paso Robles Airport
Paso Robles Municipal Airport is four miles (6 km) northeast of downtown Paso Robles, in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States.
Facilities
The airport covers 1,300 acres (5.3 km²) and has two runways and one helipad:
* 1 ...
which is located approximately 25 miles north of the city of San Luis Obispo. Southwest Airways subsequently changed its name to
Pacific Air Lines
Pacific Air Lines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) on the West Coast of the United States that began scheduled passenger flights in the mid 1940s under the name ...
which in turn introduced new
Fairchild F-27
The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...
turboprops into its fleet. Pacific operated F-27 propjet service from Paso Robles to Los Angeles, San Francisco and other California cities. Pacific Air Lines then merged with
Bonanza Air Lines
Bonanza Air Lines was an airline (known at the time as a "local service" air carrier as defined by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the Western United States (and eventually Mexico) from 1945 until it merged with two other local service ai ...
and
West Coast Airlines to form
Air West
Air West is an airline based in Khartoum, Sudan. It operates domestic passenger services and international cargo charters. Its main base is Khartoum International Airport, with a hub at Sharjah International Airport.
This airline has no connect ...
which continued to serve Paso Robles. Air West was then renamed
Hughes Airwest
Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the wes ...
. All three airlines listed San Luis Obispo in their respective system timetables even though their services were actually operated from Paso Robles with Fairchild F-27 propjets. Swift Aire was responsible for the return of air service to San Luis Obispo in 1969 while Hughes Airwest eventually ceased all service to Paso Robles in 1974. Building on its success in San Luis Obispo, Swift Aire then expanded its service to other California cities.
Swift Aire was also responsible for significantly improving air service into San Luis Obispo as well as other cities served by the carrier when it introduced new
Fokker F.27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...
-600 turboprop aircraft into its fleet. Swift Aire purchased these 48-seat twin turboprops from the manufacturer. The primary runway at the San Luis Obispo Airport had been lengthened thus facilitating expanded service provided by larger aircraft. The Fokker F.27 propjet was the largest aircraft to operate into San Luis Obispo Airport at the time and greatly enhanced passenger comfort for Swift Aire's customers.
A book on the history of Swift Aire Lines was written in 1979 by an authority on commuter airlines, Dr.
Imre E. Quastler of San Diego State University.
Accident history
![Nord Aviation 262](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Nord_Aviation_262.jpg)
On March 10, 1979, Swift Aire flight number 235 operated by a Nord 262 twin turboprop aircraft (registration N418SA, pictured) flying from Los Angeles International Airport to Santa Maria with continuing service to San Luis Obispo crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Santa Monica shortly after departing from LAX. The report on the crash determined the right engine failed during takeoff and the flight crew responded to the alarms by shutting off the left engine rendering the plane powerless. Two crew members and one passenger died while one crew member and three passengers survived. This was the only fatal accident experienced by the airline.
Destinations
Swift Aire served the following destinations during its existence. Those cities appearing in bold were being served by the airline in April 1981 shortly before Swift Aire was merged into
Golden Gate Airlines
Golden Gate Airlines was a United States regional airline founded in 1980 in Monterey, California after the merger of Gem State Airlines and Air Pacific (USA) in 1979. It merged again in 1981, this time with Swift Aire Lines, but discontinued ...
:
*
Bakersfield, California (
BFL)
*
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
(
FAT
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...
)
*
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
(
LAX
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
)
*
Modesto, California (
MOD)
*
Palm Springs, California (
PSP)
*
Paso Robles, California
Paso Robles ( ), officially El Paso de Robles (Spanish for "The Pass of Oaks"), is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River approximately north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot ...
(
PRB)
*
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
(
SMF)
*
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
(
SFO)
*
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
(
SJC)
*
San Luis Obispo, California (
SBP) - ''Swift Aire home base''
*
Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria (Spanish for "St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County. It is approximately northwest of Santa Barbara and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 202 ...
(
SMX)
*
Visalia, California
Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
(
VIS)
Following the merger with Golden Gate Airlines, Swift Aire began serving
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
via
Lindbergh Field
San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federa ...
(SAN).
Fleet
*
Aérospatiale N 262
The Aérospatiale N 262 is a French twin-turboprop high-wing airliner built first by Nord Aviation (merged into Aérospatiale in 1970). The aircraft was also known as the Nord 262.
Design and development
In 1957, the French aircraft manufactu ...
(
Nord 262
Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to:
Acronyms
* National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization
* New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Film and televis ...
)
*
Fokker F.27 Friendship (New build series 600 models. Following the merger of Swift Aire with Golden Gate Airlines and the subsequent failure of the merged carriers, the F.27s were sold to Air North, a regional airline based in the northeast U.S. which subsequently changed its name to
Brockway Air
Brockway Air was a regional airline in the United States, which was formerly known as Air North and originally as Northern Airways.
History
Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont, the airline began operating in the late 1960s under a marketing re ...
. Air North then adopted Swift Aire's green and white paint scheme for their aircraft.)
*
Riley Turbo Skyliner (modified de Havilland Heron)
*
de Havilland Heron
The de Havilland DH.114 Heron is a small propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more engines. It was designed as a rugged ...
*
Piper PA-31 Navajo
See also
*
List of defunct airlines of the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
External links
{{Authority control
Defunct airlines of the United States
Airlines established in 1969
Airlines disestablished in 1981