Wings West Airlines was an American regional airline headquartered at

McChesney Field San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport , McChesney Field is a civil airport near San Luis Obispo, California, United States. Three passenger airlines serve the airport with nonstop flights to eight cities: Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Los Angeles ...

(SBP),

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Missi ...

. The airline initially began scheduled passenger service as an independent commuter air carrier and then subsequently became an American Eagle affiliate of

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

operating turboprop aircraft on

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communicati ...

flights on behalf of American.

History

Swearingen SA227AC N638AV Am Eagle ORC 16

Wings West was founded by

Mark Morro Wings West Airlines was an American regional airline headquartered at McChesney Field (SBP), unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, California. The airline initially began scheduled passenger service as an independent commuter air carrier and ...

and William Hirsch and began service in 1979 as a commuter air carrier flying

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft. This line was manufactured by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Utiliner and Businessliner.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplane ...

twin prop aircraft to destinations in California. Their first flight was from

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

to Mammoth Lakes, California on 11 November 1979. In 1981, Wings West was operating service linking Mammoth Lakes and

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was ...

with Oakland, Sacramento and Santa Monica. In 1982, the airline was operating weekend nonstop service between Phoenix and

Aspen, CO Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...

with

Swearingen Metro The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

propjets. Wings West became a publicly traded company in 1983. By early 1985, Wings West had significantly expanded its route network in California as an independent commuter airline with the addition of

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

(Metro II and Metro III models) and Beechcraft C99 turboprops to their fleet and was serving Eureka/Arcata, Los Angeles ( LAX), Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Oxnard, Redding, Sacramento, San Francisco (

SFO San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

), San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Visalia. Service was also then expanded to Arizona. Founder Mark Morro was elected as chairman of the

Regional Airline Association The Regional Airline Association (RAA) is a business association founded in 1975 that represents 17 North American regional airlines and 280 associate, non-airline members. This includes manufacturers of products and services supporting the region ...

(RAA) in 1985. In 1986 Wings West began flying under the American Eagle brand name via a

agreement with

, feeding passengers to American and a year later was purchased by AMR Corp. In 1988, the airline was operating American Eagle service with Convair 580 turboprops on behalf of American primarily between Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and the American hub in

San Jose, CA 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 po ...

(SJC). During 1991 Wings West began taking delivery of new Saab 340B turboprop aircraft. That same year, the airline was continuing to support the

hub located at San Jose International Airport in northern California with nonstop feeder service between SJC and Chico, Concord, Eureka/Arcata, Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Modesto, Monterey, Palm Springs, Redding, Sacramento, San Francisco (

), San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa and Stockton in California with these flights being operated by

and new Saab 340B commuter propjets. Also in 1991, Wings West was operating American Eagle service into

Los Angeles International Airport 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 ...

(LAX) with

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin- turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

, Saab 340B and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprops nonstop from Bakersfield, Carlsbad, Fresno, Inyokern, Orange County, Oxnard, Palm Springs, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria in California as well as American Eagle service into

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middl ...

(SFO) with Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprops nonstop from Lake Tahoe, Monterey, Redding, Reno, Sacramento and San Jose. In 1996, Mary B. Jordan was named president of the airline. In 1998, Wings West was merged with two other regional air carriers,

Simmons Airlines Simmons Airlines was a United States airline. It was the predecessor to American Eagle Airlines. Its headquarters were originally near Marquette, Michigan, at the Marquette County Airport in Negaunee Township, and were eventually moved to the ...

and Flagship Airlines (with both airlines also operating American Eagle service at this same time), into AMR Eagle Holdings Corporation to form

American Eagle Airlines Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airline ...

which is currently known as

Envoy Air Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airl ...

Destinations

Wings West served the following destinations during its existence as an independent commuter airline and later as an American Eagle air carrier on behalf of

with not all of these destinations being served at the same time: * **

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has an estimated population ...

(

Flagstaff Pulliam Airport Flagstaff Pulliam Airport is south of Flagstaff, in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The airport is serviced by American Eagle and United Express, and is also used for general aviation. Federal Aviation Administration records say th ...

) ** Phoenix ( Sky Harbor International Airport) ** Yuma (

Yuma International Airport Yuma International Airport is a joint use airport with civilian and military flight activity operated in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps via the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. The airfield is located south of the central business dis ...

) * **

Arcata Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...

( Arcata-Eureka Airport) **

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

( Meadows Field Airport) **

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

( Eastern Sierra Regional Airport) ** Burbank ( Hollywood Burbank Airport) ** Chico (

Chico Municipal Airport Chico Regional Airport is north of Chico, in Butte County, California, United States. The airport covers , has two runways and one helipad. Its fixed-base operator, Northgate Aviation provides fuel, maintenance, flight training, and charter fl ...

] ** Concord, California, Concord ( Buchanan Field Airport) ** Fresno ( Fresno Air Terminal) **

Inyokern Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, a ...

(

Inyokern Airport Inyokern Airport is a public use airport located northwest of the central business district of Inyokern, in Kern County, California, United States. It is owned by the Indian Wells Valley Airport District and serves the Indian Wells Valley area. ...

) ** Lake Tahoe, California (

South Lake Tahoe Airport Lake Tahoe Airport is a public airport three miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. It covers and has one runway; it is sometimes called Tahoe Valley Airport. History The airport in the Sierra Nevada just south ...

) **

Los Angeles 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 ...

(

) – Hub **

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

(

Long Beach Airport Long Beach Airport is a public airport three miles northeast of downtown Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is also called Daugherty Field, named after local aviator Earl Daugherty. The airport was an operating base ...

) ** Hawthorne ( Hawthorne Municipal Airport) **

Mammoth Lakes Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

( Mammoth Yosemite Airport) **

Merced Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on Apri ...

( Merced Municipal Airport) **

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

(

Modesto City-County Airport Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

) **

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

(

Monterey Peninsula Airport Monterey Regional Airport is three miles (5 km) southeast of Monterey, in Monterey County, California, United States. It was created in 1936 and was known as the Monterey Peninsula Airport until the board of directors renamed it on Septem ...

) **

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

(

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger ...

) ** Orange County (

John Wayne Airport John Wayne Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport that serves Orange County, California, and the Greater Los Angeles area. The airport is located in an unincorporated area of Orange County, and it is owned and operated by the cou ...

) ** Oxnard ( Oxnard Airport) **

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

( Palm Springs International Airport) ** Redding ( Redding Municipal Airport) **

San Diego 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 States ...

(

San Diego International Airport 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 Feder ...

) ** San Jose ( San Jose International Airport) – Hub **

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 ...

(

) – Headquarters **

San Francisco 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 17t ...

(

) – Hub **

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

(

Sacramento International Airport Sacramento International Airport is located northwest of Downtown Sacramento in Sacramento County, California, United States and covers . It serves the Sacramento Metropolitan Area, and it is run by the Sacramento County Airport System. The ...

) ** Santa Barbara (

Santa Barbara Municipal Airport Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is west of downtown Santa Barbara, California, United States. SBA covers 948 acres (384 ha) of land and has three runways. It is near the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the city of Goleta. The ...

) ** Santa Maria ( Santa Maria Public Airport) **

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

( Santa Monica Airport) **

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

(

Sonoma County Airport Sonoma may refer to: * ''Sonoma'' (beetle), a genus of beetles * Sonoma County, California, a county in northern California in the United States ** Sonoma, California, the city for which the county is named ** Sonoma Valley, the region in Sonoma ...

** Stockton ( Stockton Metropolitan Airport) ** Visalia (

Visalia Municipal Airport Visalia Municipal Airport is five miles west of downtown Visalia, in Tulare County, California, United States. The airport is eligible for the Essential Air Service program, but has no scheduled air service, and is not eligible to request fund ...

) * **

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (C ...

( Aspen-Pitkin County Airport) * **

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

(

McCarran International Airport Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

( Reno-Cannon International Airport) * ** Farmington (

Four Corners Regional Airport Four Corners Regional Airport is in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States, in the city of Farmington, which owns it. It is a Class D towered general aviation airport with no commercial passenger services, but has chartered flight servi ...

) * ** Klamath Falls ( Klamath Falls Airport) * **

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

** Lubbock ** Dallas/Ft. Worth ( DFW)

Fleet

Wings West operated the following turboprop aircraft in the livery of American Eagle: * Beechcraft C99 *

and 32 * Convair 580 *

(Metro III) * Saab 340B Wings West also operated

twin prop aircraft and Swearingen Metro II turboprop aircraft as an independent air carrier. As an American Eagle carrier, the airline had ordered the

BAe ATP; however, this large turboprop aircraft was not delivered to or operated by Wings West.

Accidents and incidents

* August 24, 1984: Wings West Airlines Flight 628 midair collision. Shortly after departing the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport on a commuter flight to

, a Wings West twin-engine

Beechcraft Model 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

(N6399U) collided head-on with a private Rockwell Commander 112TC aircraft (N112SM) that was descending for a landing at the same airport, killing all 17 on both aircraft. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

attributed the crash to inadequate visual lookout on the part of both pilots, and their failure to heed the recommended communications and traffic advisory practices for

uncontrolled airport In aviation, a non-towered airport is an airport without a control tower, or air traffic control (ATC) unit. The vast majority of the world's airports are non-towered. In the United States, there are close to 20,000 non-towered airports compared ...

References

External links

AirTimes.com index of Wings West flight schedules from the 1980s' with destinations and some route maps
{{Portal bar, California, Companies, Aviation Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1979 Northwest Airlines American Airlines Airlines disestablished in 1998 1979 establishments in California 1998 disestablishments in California

History

Destinations

Fleet

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links