Trans International Airlines
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| Founded | Pre-1947 (as Los Angeles Air Service) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | September 30, 1986 | ||||||
| Parent company | Transamerica Corporation | ||||||
| Headquarters | Oakland, California | ||||||
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Trans International Airlines (TIA) was an airline that offered charter service from and within the United States. It also operated scheduled passenger service flying as Transamerica Airlines as well as charter flights during its last decade. Its headquarters were on the grounds of Oakland International Airport (OAK) in Oakland, California.
Future travel and entertainment mogul Kirk Kerkorian purchased Los Angeles Air Service, a small charter operator, in 1947 for $60,000. As tourism to Las Vegas, Nevada, boomed, so did the fortunes of the airline. From a single Douglas DC-3, the company expanded rapidly, adding Douglas DC-6s and Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellations, and it became the first charter airline to operate jet aircraft with the introduction of the Douglas DC-8 on trans-Pacific routes and Boeing 727 (later adding the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Boeing 747).
To better reflect its growing route structure, the airline was renamed Trans International Airlines in 1960. Between 1966 and 1986 TIA operated regular charter flights between the U.S. and Europe. International destinations were Paris Orly (ORY), London Gatwick (LGW), Brussels Zaventem (BRU) and Frankfurt (FRA). TIA contributed to cheap transatlantic flights which did not exist at the time.
In 1962 the Studebaker Corporation quixotically purchased the airline, retaining Kerkorian as president. Financial circumstances forced it to sell TIA back to him in 1964. Kerkorian took the company public in 1965, then sold his interests in 1968 to insurance conglomerate Transamerica Corporation, profiting an estimated $85 million. He reinvested proceeds from the sale in Las Vegas property, notably the International Hotel.
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