In 1949, all Trans-Texas Airways flights were operated within the state of
Texas with
Douglas DC-3s which the airline called "Starliners". In November 1949, it served
Alpine,
Beaumont/
Port Arthur,
Beeville,
Brownsville,
Brownwood,
Carrizo Springs/
Crystal City,
Coleman,
Dallas (
Love Field),
Del Rio,
Eagle Pass,
El Paso,
Fort Stockton,
Fort Worth,
Galveston,
Harlingen,
Houston (
Hobby Airport),
Laredo,
Lufkin,
Marfa,
McAllen,
Palestine,
San Angelo,
San Antonio,
Uvalde,
Van Horn, and
Victoria. The network expanded to Memphis and Marshall in 1953, Lafayette in 1956, New Orleans and Jackson in 1959, into Mexico in 1967, and to Denver in 1969. In late 1963 the carrier added 13 new cities by taking over service formerly operated by
Continental Airlines. These cities included Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Clovis, Hobbs, Roswell, and Santa Fe in New Mexico as well as Abilene, Amarillo, Big Spring, College Station, Lubbock, Temple, and Waco in Texas. About April 1961,
Convair 240s formerly operated by
American Airlines began carrying Trans-Texas passengers; the airline later converted them to
Convair 600s, replacing the piston engines with
Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines. These turboprop powered Convair aircraft were referred to by the airline as the "Jet Powered TTa Silver Cloud 600". First scheduled CV-600 flights were in March 1966. Small
Beechcraft C99 commuter turboprops were later added to serve the smaller cities of Longview, Lufkin, Galveston, Tyler and Victoria (the last DC-3 flight was in 1968). at
Los Angeles International Airport In October 1966, Trans-Texas Airways introduced the
Douglas DC-9-10 (which the airline marketed as the "Pamper-jet") with its jet fleet subsequently being expanded to nineteen DC-9-10s and seven
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. By 1968, TTa was flying DC-9s to Beaumont/Port Arthur; Harlingen;
Hot Springs, Arkansas,
Lake Charles, Louisiana;
Roswell, New Mexico, and
Santa Fe, New Mexico in addition to larger cities in its route system. DC-9's briefly flew to
Clovis, New Mexico,
Carlsbad, New Mexico, and
Hobbs, New Mexico in 1977. Also, in 1977, Texas International became the first airline to ban cigar and pipe smoking onboard. , 1973 Trans-Texas was derisively called "Tree Top Airlines," "Tinker Toy Airlines", and "Teeter-Totter Airlines" by competitors and cynical customers. When it changed its name to Texas International Airlines in April 1969, the company ran newspaper ads showing a Tinker Toy airplane flying along treetops. The copy read "No More Tinker Toys. No More Treetops. We are now Texas International Airlines." As Texas International, the airline standardized on the
DC-9 and
Convair 600. The last Convair 600 flights were in 1979 and Texas International became all-jet with DC-9-10s and DC-9-30s. In 1970, Texas International served:
Abilene,
Amarillo,
Austin,
Beaumont/
Port Arthur,
Big Spring,
Brownwood,
Bryan/
College Station,
Corpus Christi,
Dallas/
Ft. Worth,
El Paso,
Galveston,
Harlingen,
Houston,
Laredo,
Longview,
Lubbock,
Lufkin,
McAllen,
Midland/
Odessa,
San Angelo,
San Antonio,
Temple,
Tyler,
Victoria,
Waco, and
Wichita Falls, Texas. Outside of Texas in 1970, Texas International flew to
Arkansas (
El Dorado,
Hot Springs,
Jonesboro,
Little Rock,
Pine Bluff and
Texarkana);
California (
Los Angeles);
Colorado, (
Denver);
Louisiana (
Alexandria,
Baton Rouge,
Fort Polk,
Lafayette,
Lake Charles,
Monroe,
New Orleans and
Shreveport);
Mississippi (
Jackson);
New Mexico (
Albuquerque,
Carlsbad,
Clovis,
Hobbs,
Roswell and
Santa Fe);
Tennessee (
Memphis); and
Utah (
Salt Lake City). In
Mexico flights reached
Monterrey,
Tampico,
Mérida and
Veracruz. After suffering annual losses of up to $3 million, Texas International was acquired in 1972 by Jet Capital Corporation headed by 32-year-old
Frank Lorenzo. The airline quickly realized a $6 million profit, largely due to wage cuts spearheaded by Lorenzo and sharp marketing efforts. In the mid-1970s, in response to competition from
Southwest Airlines, Texas International successfully petitioned the
Civil Aeronautics Board to allow discounted fares. These fares become a staple of the airline and were advertised as "Peanuts Fares". In spring 1978, the airline was flying nonstop between Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) and both
Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and
Houston Hobby Airport (HOU), up to 18 round trip DC-9 flights a day, all with "Peanut Fares". The Texas International March 15, 1978 timetable advertised "Peanut Fares" in other markets as well. Lacking the computer resources of their larger competitors, Texas International was overtaken by
American's introduction of
AAdvantage in May 1981. On June 11, 1980, Lorenzo established a
holding company,
Texas Air Corporation, for Texas International and
New York Air, the first holding company in the airline industry. Texas Air then acquired
Continental Airlines in 1982 and merged Continental and Texas International on October 31, 1982, under the former's name. The last Texas International aircraft were seen in 1983. Today's successor to Trans-Texas Airways and Texas International is
United Airlines, which merged with Continental in 2010. United currently operates a large hub at
Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), a former hub for Texas International. The
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) was also a hub for Texas International before its merger with Continental. ==Fleet==