:West Coast Airlines

West Coast was formed in 1941 and acquired fellow local service carrier Empire Air Lines in 1952.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yKpfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ojIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1520%2C4873218 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |title=EAL, West Coast merger authorized |date=June 28, 1952 |page=10}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=W7xeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8zAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1533%2C2402381 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |title=Merger of EAL and West Coast now effective |date=August 1, 1952 |page=10}}{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gLteAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zzAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3598%2C2418557 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |last=Riddle |first=Arthur S. |title=Empire notes 6th birthday with first of merger flights|date=September 28, 1952 |page=1}}[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200315.html Flight Global Archive article, March 1953] The company was based at Boeing Field in Seattle and began scheduled passenger service in 1946 with a fleet of Douglas DC-3s, marketed as Scenicliners.[http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/wc50/wc50-2.jpg West Coast timetable 1950]

A promotional film produced for the company in the 1960s said that in 1946 the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) granted the first regional airline certificate to West Coast Airlines as local service air carrier.

In July 1953, West Coast scheduled flights to 32 airports in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho; in May 1968 it flew to 36 airports including 29 in those states. Like other Local Service airlines West Coast was subsidized; in 1962 its revenues included $6.6 million from passengers and $5.4 million for mail.Moody's Transportation Manual 1964

West Coast was the first local service airline in the U.S. to use turbine airliners when it began Fairchild F-27 flights in September 1958. The F-27 was the U.S. manufactured version of the Dutch built Fokker F27 Friendship. In June 1968 West Coast was the first airline to order Fairchild 228 twin jets with the acquisition of three planned, but the F-228, a smaller variant of the Dutch manufactured Fokker F28 Fellowship, never made it to production.{{cite journal|journal=AAHS Journal|date=Spring 1998|title=What happened to the Fairchild 228?}} The only jet operated by West Coast was the Douglas DC-9-14 with 75 seats, all coach.

On July 1, 1968, West Coast merged with Pacific Air Lines and Bonanza Air Lines

to form Air West, which became Hughes Airwest in 1970. In 1968, West Coast operated Douglas DC-9s, Fairchild F-27s, Douglas DC-3s, and Piper Navajos. The DC-3s were not transferred to Air West and were retired; the Navajos continued for a short time. The West Coast route system then included cities in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and several in Montana. San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento in northern California were added in 1959 with Salt Lake City being served later. West Coast's only international destination was Calgary, Alberta, which was served with F-27s from Spokane. Almost all West Coast flights at Seattle used Boeing Field (BFI) instead of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA); after the merger Air West and successor Hughes Airwest continued to use BFI until DC-9 and F-27 flights moved to SEA in 1971.One exception: in 1967 three Navajo flights a day did CLM-SEA-BFI-CLM.

The April 28, 1968 West Coast timetable listed the following cities being served with Douglas DC-9-10 jets:http://www.timetableimages.com, April 28, 1968 West Coast timetable

{{col div}}

• Boise, ID (BOI)
• Eugene, OR (EUG)
• Medford, OR (MFR)
• Pasco, WA (PSC)
• Portland, OR (PDX)
• Salt Lake City, UT (SLC)
• San Francisco, CA (SFO)
• Seattle, WA - Boeing Field (BFI)
• Spokane, WA (GEG)
• Walla Walla, WA (ALW)
• Yakima, WA (YKM)

{{col div end}}

Other destinations saw Fairchild F-27s, Douglas DC-3s and/or Piper Navajos (or, in 1966, Piper Aztecs).

West Coast's lineage runs through a string of mergers: In 1980 Hughes Airwest was acquired by Republic Airlines which had been created by a merger of Southern Airways and North Central Airlines in 1979. In 1986 Republic Airlines was acquired by Northwest Airlines (formerly Northwest Orient Airlines). The Delta-Northwest merger with Delta Air Lines as the surviving air carrier was completed in 2010.

In 2001 an attempt was made to resurrect the West Coast Airlines name, with plans for an airline based in Concord, California, to connect several Northern California cities with Las Vegas, Reno and San Diego. The effort ended in bankruptcy.{{cite web

| url = http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/01/14/story5.html

| title = Startup airline makes landing in bankruptcy

| author = Ron Leuty

| work = San Francisco Business Times

| date = January 11, 2002

| accessdate =November 1, 2009

}}

A Canadian commuter airline with a similar name, West Coast Air, flew floatplanes between Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

• On August 24, 1963, a Fairchild F-27 operating West Coast Airlines Flight 794, flying from Spokane, Washington to Calgary, Canada crashed short of the runway at Calgary. An investigation concluded that the pilot failed to maintain the approved minimum altitude during the approach. There were no fatalities among the 16 occupants.{{cite web | url = https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19630824-0 | title = ASN Aircraft accident Fairchild F-27 N2707 Calgary-McCall Field, AB (YYC) | work = Aviation Safety Network}}
• West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashed on October 1, 1966, with eighteen fatalities and no survivors {{convert|5.5|mi|0}} south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marked the first loss of a Douglas DC-9,[http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR67-AF.pdf National Transportation Safety Board: Aircraft Accident Report. West Coast Airlines, Inc DC-9 N9101. Near Wemme, Oregon], Adopted: December 11, 1967 and the first fatalities for the airline.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sOVVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6277%2C18260 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |last=Wyant |first=Dan |title=Jet airliner missing near Portland |date=October 2, 1966 |page=1A}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SrJfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AzMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2296%2C112730 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press |title=West Coast plane missing with 18 aboard |date=October 2, 1966 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=seVVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6170%2C447032 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |last=Wyant |first=Dan |title=Investigators sift wreckage for clues |date=October 3, 1966 |page=1A}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M_9XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JPcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6201%2C4638865 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=UPI |title=Investigators probing WCA plane wreckage |date=October 3, 1966 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S7JfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AzMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3240%2C320472 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press |title=None survive WCA crash |date=October 3, 1966 |page=1}}
• West Coast Airlines Flight 720 crashed on March 10, 1967, with four fatalities and no survivors near Klamath Falls, Oregon. The Fairchild F-27 was bound for Medford from Klamath Falls, and crashed due to ice accumulation on the aircraft.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0KdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-uADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5236%2C1801547 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |title=Airline crash takes 4 lives |date=March 10, 1967 |page=1A}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ujdWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tugDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1704%2C3130822 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=West Coast crash kills 4 in Oregon |date=March 11, 1967 |page=1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0qdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-uADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5847%2C2066132 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Deep snow prevents probe of plane crash |date=March 12, 1967 |page=3A}}

File:N2701 Fairchild F.27 West Coast A-l YYC 01JUN67 (6874827941).jpg

The West Coast Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:{{cite web | url = https://rzjets.net/operators/?show=2615 | title = West Coast Airlines | publisher = rzjets | accessdate = 8 September 2019}}

• 13 - Douglas DC-3
• 4 - Douglas DC-9-14
• 14 - Fairchild F-27
• Piper Aztec
• Piper Navajo (PA-31 model)

{{clear}}

The April 28, 1968 West Coast timetable lists scheduled passenger flights to:http://www.timetableimages.com, April 28, 1968 West Coast timetable

{{col div}}

• Astoria, Oregon
• Baker, Oregon
• Boise, Idaho - Focus city
• Burley, Idaho - Rupert, Idaho was served via Burley.
• Calgary, Alberta, Canada - only international destination
• Corvallis, Oregon - Albany, Oregon was served via Corvallis
• Ephrata, Washington - Moses Lake, Washington was served via Ephrata
• Eugene, Oregon
• Great Falls, Montana
• Hoquiam, Washington - Aberdeen, Washington was served via Hoquiam
• Idaho Falls, Idaho
• Kalispell, Montana
• Klamath Falls, Oregon
• Lewiston, Idaho - Clarkston, Washington was served via Lewiston
• McMinnville, Oregon
• Medford, Oregon
• North Bend, Oregon - Coos Bay, Oregon was served via North Bend
• Oakland, California
• Olympia, Washington
• Ontario, Oregon- Payette, Idaho was served via Ontario
• Pasco, Washington
• Pocatello, Idaho
• Portland, Oregon- Focus city
• Pullman, Washington - Moscow, Idaho was served via Pullman
• Redmond, Oregon - Bend, Oregon was served via Redmond
• Roseburg, Oregon
• Sacramento, California
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• San Francisco, California
• Seattle, Washington - Hub and headquarters at Boeing Field (BFI)
• Spokane, Washington - Focus city
• Sun Valley, Idaho
• Tacoma, Washington
• Twin Falls, Idaho
• Walla Walla, Washington
• Wenatchee, Washington
• Yakima, Washington

{{div col end}}

• List of defunct airlines of the United States

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

{{Portal bar|United States|Companies|Aviation}}

Category:Defunct companies based in Seattle

Category:Airlines established in 1941

Category:Airlines disestablished in 1968

Category:Defunct regional airlines of the United States

Category:Airlines based in Washington (state)