Central Airlines
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| Founded | 1949 |
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| Ceased operations | 1967 |
| Hubs | Dallas, Denver, Fort Smith, AR, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Tulsa |
| Destinations | See Destinations below |
| Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas, United States |
| Key people |
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Central Airlines was a regional airline (then called a "local service" air carrier by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board which was known as the CAB) operating scheduled passenger flights in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas from 1949 to 1967. It was founded by Keith Kahle in 1944 to operate charter and fixed base services in Oklahoma and did not begin scheduled flights until September 15, 1949, just before its original certification expired. Central was then headquartered at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas. The airline was eventually acquired by and merged into the original Frontier Airlines (1950-1986) which continued and expanded its service network.
Backers and members of the board of directors initially included Ft. Worth oilman F. Kirk Johnson, former City Councilman R.E. Harding, Jr., Don Earhart and actor James Stewart; Stewart remained on the board for many years. Lamar Muse was president before going to Universal Airlines, Southwest Airlines and then founding Muse Air.
(scheduled flights only)
Central started with a fleet of eleven Beechcraft Bonanza A35s, replacing them with Douglas DC-3s between November 1950 and May 1951. The DC-3s were reinforced by Convair 240s beginning in 1960s and beginning in 1965 the CV-240s were converted to Convair 600 propjets as their piston engines were replaced with Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops. Another airline in the region which converted their Convair 240 prop aircraft to the CV-600 turboprop variant was Trans-Texas Airways (TTa) which was subsequently renamed Texas International Airlines.
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Wikipedia