West Coast Airlines First Flight Omak Washington - Yakima Washington - 1959

Description

On September 1, 1959 Omak, Washington was added to West Coast Airlines' Air Mail Route 77
between Ephrata / Moses Lake and Spokane
.
This cover was carried on the inaugural Air Mail Route 77 flight from Omak, Washington to Yakima, Washington (where it was backstamped) and is listed in the Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 77W52.
Herb Hauptmann, a noted air mail historian, prepared the cover.
Air West, Inc. was formed in April 1968, as the result of the merger of three local service carriers: Bonanza Air Lines, Pacific Air Lines and West Coast Airlines. Operations as Air West began on July 1, 1968.
Effective on October 1, 1980, Republic Airlines, Inc. purchased Hughes Airwest and made the carrier a wholly-owned subsidiary known as Republic Airlines West, Inc.
On January 23, 1986, Northwest Airlines announced the biggest merger in U.S. civil aviation history to that date — an 4 million purchase of Republic Airlines. The two carriers filed a merger application with the Department of Transportation on January 27. The Justice Department opposed the merger because it would “substantially lessen competition” in violation of antitrust laws. Full hearings regarding the merger were held and on July 31 the Department of Transportation approved Northwest Airlines’
takeover of Republic Airlines. On August 12 the acquisition of Republic was completed as officials from both airlines transferred ownership of Republic to Northwest. On October 1, 1986, the operations of Republic were fully integrated with a single Northwest flight schedule.
On April 15, 2008, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a merger agreement. The merger of the two carriers formed what was then the largest commercial airline in the world, with 786 aircraft. Delta Air Lines' brand survived, while Northwest's brand officially ended in 2009.