The airline became Pacific Air Lines on March 6, 1958; said the company was in its "17th year of scheduled service". Like other local-service airlines, Pacific was subsidized; in 1962, its operating "revenues" of $12.1 million included $4.1 million in federal subsidy.
Prop and turboprop transition is below the tail In 1959 Pacific added the first of 14 secondhand
pressurized Martin 4-0-4s. the last DC-3 flight was in 1962 and the last Martin 2-0-2s were retired in March 1964. The Martin 4-0-4s and Fairchild F-27s became the workhorses of Pacific's fleet. One F-27 in summer 1964 flew Reno-Lake Tahoe-Sacramento-San Francisco-San Jose-Fresno-Bakersfield-Burbank-Los Angeles-San Diego. It left Reno at 6:00 am and was scheduled into San Diego at 12:10 pm. Pacific's fleet became all-turbine after their last Martin 4-0-4 was retired in April 1967. According to the airline's timetables, flights to Las Vegas started in 1957, to Reno and San Diego in 1962, and to Lake Tahoe in 1964. Medford and Portland, Oregon, and Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, were Pacific's only destinations outside of
California.
Crash of Flight 308 A Pacific Air Lines DC-3 operating as Flight 308 carrying three crew and 17 passengers crashed on October 26, 1959, killing the co-pilot. The plane was taking off from
Santa Maria, California when the number five cylinder of the left engine failed, and severe buffeting began shaking the aircraft. The captain was forced to make an emergency landing about north of the airport, during which the plane cartwheeled to the left on its nose, causing severe damage. The co-pilot was killed, the captain was severely injured, and the
purser and passengers suffered injuries of varying severity.
Crash of Flight 773 in 1962 On May 7, 1964, Pacific
Flight 773 crashed nearly
San Ramon, California, east of
Oakland. All 44 aboard the Fairchild F-27 were killed when the aircraft dove into a hillside near vertically. Investigators found a gun in the wreckage, The jets were ordered during a prosperous time for the airline, but net income for Pacific dropped from $700,337 in 1965 to $150,716, chiefly because the 727 was uneconomical on Pacific's routes. Two were leased to
National Airlines. The airline promoted the Boeing 727 in a 1966 print ad: "Pacific Air Lines jets to more California cities any other airline." The ad stated that Pacific 727s served Fresno, Bakersfield, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Barbara. Pacific planned to order
Boeing 737-200s, more economical than the 727s, but events overtook the airline and the order was cancelled.
Controversial ad campaign In 1967 the airline embarked on a controversial advertising campaign, including a full-page ad in the
New York Times on April 28, 1967, that highlighted the
fear of flying, a subject rarely mentioned by airlines. Pacific had hired award-winning advertising executive and comedian
Stan Freberg for the ad campaign, knowing that unconventional ideas were his forté. Under his direction, print advertisements said: The copy from another ad said: To complement the ad campaign,
flight attendants handed out "survival kits" featuring hot-pink lunch pails containing a small security blanket, The attendants were also encouraged to exclaim "We made it! How about that!" upon landing. Objections to the unorthodox campaign were raised at a May 1967 stockholders meeting, and two Pacific Air Lines executives resigned in the wake of the controversy. ==Merger==