Wings West Airlines
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| Founded | 1979 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1998 (merged with Simmons Airlines) | ||||||
| Hubs | Los Angeles International Airport | ||||||
| Headquarters |
McChesney Field San Luis Obispo County, California |
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Wings West Airlines, often referred to simply as Wings West, was an American regional airline headquartered at McChesney Field (SBP), unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, California.
Wings West was founded by Mark Morro and William Hirsch and began service in 1979 as a commuter air carrier flying Cessna 402 twin prop aircraft to destinations in California. Their first flight was from Santa Monica, California to Mammoth Lakes, California on 11 November 1979. In 1981, Wings West was operating service linking Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, California with Oakland, Sacramento and Santa Monica. The airline 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 (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 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 (RAA) in 1985.
In 1986 Wings West began flying under the American Eagle brand name via a code sharing agreement with American Airlines, feeding passengers to American and a year later was purchased by AMR Corp. During 1991 Wings West began taking delivery of new Saab 340B turboprop aircraft. Also in 1991, the airline was supporting the American Airlines hub located at San Jose International Airport (SJC) 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 Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner and new Saab 340B commuter propjets. In 1996, Mary B. Jordan was named President of the airline. In 1998, Wings West was merged with Simmons Airlines and Flagship Airlines into AMR Eagle Holdings Corporation to form American Eagle Airlines which is currently known as Envoy Air.
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