American Airlines Marks 100 Years With Celebration at Charlotte Douglas Airport
American Airlines threw a party on Wednesday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to celebrate a century of flying. The ceremony was one of many held at big hubs nationwide. Travelers…
(Photo by Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
(Photo by Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)American Airlines threw a party on Wednesday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport to celebrate a century of flying. The ceremony was one of many held at big hubs nationwide. Travelers catching Flight 3091 to New York's LaGuardia Airport walked down a red carpet while airline officials greeted them with smiles and handshakes.
The morning flight was the 100th takeoff that day at the Charlotte hub. Ralph Lopez Massas runs CLT hub operations as senior vice president. Carolina Panthers TopCats Cheerleaders appeared. So did Sir Minty from Charlotte FC.
"American has grown to be the world's largest airline, operating more flights than any other airline in the world," said Lopez Massas, according to Queen City News. "The CLT hub plays a critical role as the second-largest hub and one of the most pivotal engines in our global network."
The Fort Worth, Texas-based company handles about 90% of flights at the airport. Lopez Massas says the carrier brings $30 billion into North Carolina's economy.
100 Years with American Airlines
The carrier's story began on April 15, 1926. Aviator Charles Lindbergh flew a bag of U.S. mail from Chicago to St. Louis that day. He worked as chief pilot for Robertson Aircraft Corporation. Between 1929 and 1930, more than 80 small airline groups merged into Aviation Corporation, which created American Airways. The company changed its name in 1934, becoming American Airlines.
Piedmont Airlines launched its first flight in 1948, connecting Wilmington and Cincinnati. Charlotte was among the first stops. By 1982, Piedmont opened a new $64 million terminal at its Charlotte hub — 25 gates, 86 flights. Aviation director Jerry Orr persuaded Piedmont founder Thomas Davis to pick Charlotte instead of Greensboro.
Piedmont joined with USAir in the late 1980s. That created the seventh-largest airline. When US Airways and American Airlines combined in 2013, Charlotte Douglas became the carrier's second-largest hub. The last US Airways flight departed Oct. 17, 2015.
Working with the airport, crews are building a fourth parallel runway. The $1 billion project includes a 10,000-foot-long runway designed for growing air traffic. When finished in 2027, the runway should reduce taxi times, fuel use, and how long passengers wait.
