Editor's Note: The following was taken from a 1949 company document and does not reflect the history of the line from 1950 until its eventual merger into Continental in 1955. That will be addressed in the near future.

 

A Brief Early History of Pioneer Air Lines

 

The Civil Aeronautics Board, by an order dated November 5, 1943, granted to Pioneer air Lines (then Essair Lines) a certificate of public convenience and necessity, authorizing it to engage in air transportation of persons, property and mail between the terminal point Houston to intermediate points Austin, San Angelo, Abilene, and Lubbock, and the point Amarillo. This was known as Route 64. The certificate was effective from November 5, 1943 until December 31, 1946.

 

This order was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, which court, on January 29, 1945, remanded the proceeding to the Board for further hearing. After further hearing, the Board, in an opinion dated April 19, 1945, affirmed the November 5, 1943 order.

 

Operations commenced on August 1, 1945, with one daily round-trip schedule for mail and property service only. Passenger service was inaugurated on August 25, 1945, and a second daily round-trip was added on August 26, 1945. The daily designated mileage for the carriage of mail was 2,732 miles.

 

Pioneer was the first of the feeder air lines, and as such was compelled to meet the challenge of introducing not only a variation but a completely and entirely new method of providing a network of air transportation services. There were no precedents for Pioneer to use as guides in the inauguration of its services. Among its many problems, this new carrier was faced with a shortage of experienced manpower. The war had not ended and the draft was still in effect. The trunk carriers were operating at minimum personnel quotas, making it impossible to obtain experienced personnel from that source. As a result, Pioneer turned to returning veterans whose military experience and specialties training gave them a background that could be utilized in this new enterprise. This source was utilized, and of the 440 Pioneer personnel 84 ½ per cent are veterans of World War II.

 

bOver its route from Houston to Amarillo, Pioneer established six stations; namely, Houston, Austin, San Angelo, Abilene, Lubbock, and Amarillo. The personnel for these stations consisted largely of returned war veterans whose aviation experience was gained while serving in the war effort. A majority of the Pioneer pilots had been pilots in the United States Air Forces. The first Pioneer aircraft consisted of three Lockheed Electra 10-A’s released by the United States Air Force.

 

While the first flight was on August 1, 1945, passengers were not carried until August 25. During the last six days of A8ugust, 101 passengers were transported a total of 32,588 (number of passengers times miles flown) passenger miles. In addition, 1,668 ton miles of mail, 42 ton miles of express, and 22 ton miles of excess baggage were carried during August. The first feeder operation was under way! At the end of 1945, of the 384,752 scheduled miles, 318,490 were completed for an operating completion or performance factor of 82.78 per cent; this being accomplished under VFR authority, and during daylight hours. During this period a total of 4,452 passengers were carried a total of 1,347,993 passenger miles.

 

By the end of 1945, many of the problems which were inherent, but previously unknown, came to the fore. The 96 people who were members of the Pioneer “family” had gained some experience and recognized at least some of these problems. It was recognized that instrument authority was a “must” for a dependable on-time operation. It was also recognized that the Lockheed aircraft were not satisfactory for many reasons. Among these reasons were the limited seating capacity, limited cargo apace, cramped interior, the unavailability of parts, the lack of space for necessary radio equipment and the unsatisfactory single-engine performance.

 

Accordingly in the spring of the year 1946, Pioneer purchased four late Douglas C-47 war surplus planes, at a cost, approximately $20,000 each; and contracted an outside agency for their conversion into DC-3 type aircraft.

 

These DC-3 planes were placed in service on August l5, 1946, and for the first time a feeder air line was operating with equipment identical to that of some of the trunk carriers. However, there were several features which distinguished the Pioneer planes from the ones used by other carriers. One of the major changes was the installation of 24 seats instead of the conventional 21 seats. These 24 seats allowed an additional 3 passengers. This was made possible through a reduction of front cargo space which Pioneer thought was not necessary on its short-haul flights. One 202-gallon fuel tank and the automatic pilot installation were removed, eliminating the expense and upkeep of those items, and reducing the empty weight of the aircraft, thus increasing the payload.

 

During 1946. Pioneer transported 20,687 passengers a total of 5,903,860 passenger miles. Mail volume had increased to 19,449 ton miles, express to 6,539 ton miles, and excess baggage to 3,164 ton miles. 0f the 1,065,226 scheduled miles of 1946, a total or 968,205 had been successfully completed with a 90.88 per cent operating factor.

On November 14, 1946, in the Texas-Oklahoma case, 7 C.A.B. 481, the Board awarded Pioneer eleven new cities and 734 additional route miles. Pioneer’s certificate was also extended for a three-year period from November 14, 1946. These routes consisted of a segment from Houston to Dallas with intermediate points of Bryan. Temple, and Waco, and another segment from Dallas to Midland-Odessa via Fort Worth, Mineral Wells, Abilene, Sweetwater, and Big Spring.

 

At the end or 1946, Pioneer again faced the very difficult task of providing new service to new cities, and this task was a challenge to the 219 people who then constituted the Pioneer organization. A needed boost was given on January 4, 1947, when the Civil Aeronautics Administration authorized the full use of instruments in the conduct of Pioneer’s operations. This was the first time a feeder airline had been granted full instrument authority. This was an important and decisive step forward and increased public confidence in Pioneer and in the efficiency of its operations.

 

bAs a result, in January 1947, the first month of full instrument operation, Pioneer was able to attain an operating factor of 84.03 per cent, in comparison to 71 per cent during the same month of the year previous. In February, the second month of instrument operations, 94.61 per cent scheduled miles were successfully completed, as compared to 78 per cent in February, 1946.

 

In establishing the new route authorized by the  decision of November 14, 1946 (notification  was received on November 27) Pioneer was able, in the comparatively short period between November 27 and February 19, to establish its stations in Bryan, Temple, Waco, Dallas, Fort Worth, Mineral  Wells, Sweetwater, Big Spring, and Midland-Odessa. By that time it had installed communications equipment, employed and trained new personnel, promoted and shifted old personnel, and inaugurated service on this new mileage.

 

Pioneer has been on a constant search for methods of achieving economies.

On January 14, 1947, all downtown ticket offices were eliminated and ticketing and reservation points at the field ticket offices were established. This resulted in a considerable saving to Pioneer and, of course, was an experimental method of achieving economies; further, it was more convenient and time saving to the passengers. This experiment has proved successful and is being continued as a method of handling reservations. Under this new method of handling reservations, which is the “sell and tell” method, it is the practice to give instant confirmation of space upon request until such time as Central Reservations Control issues a stop-sales notice. This method has been continued and Pioneer at present has but one down-  town ticket office and that is in the City of Austin, Texas,  where due to the nature of the business , is needed.

 

In line with the elimination   of the downtown ticket office and the installation of this method of handling reservations, the general use of preprinted tickets was installed for al1 on-line points, thus making it possible to ticket passengers in a minimum of time.

Subsequent to these innovations, procedures were initiated for the handling of hotel reservations for the Pioneer traveler. Arrangements were made with hotels on the Pioneer system for the honoring of reservations requests by the Pioneer agent. This is another public service and has met with the approval of the traveling public. Procedures have also been initiated for handling requests for plane reservations on enroute flights.

Confirmation is awaiting the passenger when he reaches his destination.

 

In line with this passenger service Pioneer entered into an agreement with Braniff Airways whereby Pioneer was able to automatically sell and record space on two of Braniff’s northbound flights out of Dallas, one being the local Dallas- Chicago flight and the other the non-stop Dallas-Chicago flight. A similar agreement has been made with Eastern Air Lines which allows Pioneer to automatically sell and record space on four of Eastern’s eastbound flights out of Houston. Two of those are the local Houston-NewYork and Boston flight, and one Constellation non-stop flight to Washington and Newark, and one Constellation nonstop flight, Houston to New Orleans, Washington and New York. Continental Airlines and Pioneer have arrangements for exchange of available space on certain connecting flights between the two carriers.

This passenger handling and simplified procedures, and the agreement with other carriers are in accord with the basic principles of the local service of the feeder operator transporting  passengers from local points to the major centers and into the hands of the trunk operators. This method of operation by Pioneer is demonstrative of the fulfillment of the obligation to render local service with which the Board charged the feeder operators.

 

Among other innovations which have caused passenger benefit and economy to Pioneer has been the simplified ramp procedures. In feeder operation, time is an element of importance. With the short hops and frequent stops, passenger comfort must be considered. In the Southwest during most of the year the weather is humid and when the plane remains on the ground for any length of time, the result is passenger discomfort in addition to the loss of time. Pioneer found through the trial and error method that at most local points on its route all passengers, mail and baggage could be deplaned and boarded within periods of two and three minutes. Thus, with the approval of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the simplified ramp procedures were used at local intermediate points on the Pioneer system. These simplified ramp procedures eliminate the wasted effort of plugging in a battery cart, placing landing gear pins and wheel chocks, and even permits the idling of the right engine which was opposite the side where passenger were boarding and deplaning. In addition to passenger conveniences, this simplified ramp procedure brought about actual savings in the Pioneer operation, the purpose being to reduce ground time, thus  reducing elapsed time which made possible more successful competition with surface transportation and an increase in public acceptance of the service. The two and three minute stops are Pioneer standard procedures.

 

By the 1st of March, 1947, Pioneer was serving a total of sixteen Texas cities and a route of some 1,400 miles, all within the boundaries of the state of Texas. In order to keep abreast of the latest developments in the fields of aerial navigation Pioneer, upon invitation or the Navy, sent its pilots to Corpus Christie, Texas Naval Air Station in March, 1947, to investigate, use, and check out in the procedures of the Navy G.C.A. (Ground control approach) system.

 

By the end of 1947, a total of 360 employees constituted the Pioneer organization, and substantial improvements had been made in all phases of the operation. Of the 2,217,870 miles scheduled, some 95.92 per cent were successfully completed, in comparison with the 90.88 per cent completed during 1946.

 

Pioneer started off 1948 with another series of expansions and the related problems that go with such expansions. On January 5, service was inaugurated to Plainview, Texas, which is located 73 miles south of Amarillo and 36 miles north of Lubbock on the original Pioneer route from Houston to Amarillo.

 

On February 23, 1948, in the Arizona-New Mexico case, the Civil Aeronautics Board authorized Pioneer Air Lines to extend its service between the terminal point Amarillo, Texas, the intermediate points Clovis, Roswell, Alamogordo and Las Cruces, new Mexico, and the terminal point El Paso, Texas; and between the terminal point Lubbock, Texas, the intermediate points Clovis, Tucumcari, Las Vegas and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the terminal point Albuquerque, New Mexico. The inauguration of this service as authorized by the Board again brought about feverish months of activity for the Pioneer organization. New stations had to be established and staffed, new planes put into service, personnel, both new and old, had to be trained, communication systems installed, schedules and fares had to be worked out, and literally hundreds of other vital and necessary steps had to be taken before service could be inaugurated.

 

On May 1, 1948, the first Pioneer plane started service on the route from Lubbock to Albuquerque via intermediate points. One month later, on June 1, service was inaugurated on the segment from Amarillo to El Paso. In the Amarillo-El Paso portion it was not possible to serve Alamogordo, due to the existing security and safety regulations at the nearby White Sands Proving Grounds. Service to Las Cruces was delayed until October 12, 1948, due to the unavailability of airport facilities.

 

Thus, in 1948 Pioneer added service to seven new cities in New Mexico and two new cities in Texas, with approximately 800 new miles added to its system.

 

The results of the pioneer operation in 1948 were indeed gratifying. During the year Pioneer carried a total of 93,855 revenue passengers more than 25,000,000 revenue passenger miles. Thus, 25,090,194 revenue passenger miles were a great improvement over the 16,513,708 miles flown in 1947; the 5,903,860 in 1946, and the 1,347,993 flown in 1945. The 1948 revenue passenger miles were more then one-half of the total 48,855,755 flown during the period of August 1, 1945 to December 31, 1948.

Mail statistics were just as encouraging, as 73,809 ton miles were flown in 1948 as competed with 37,147 ton miles in 1947. Express, freight, and excess baggage statistics reflect the same encouraging trend. Of the 3,532,922 miles scheduled in 1948, 96.85 per cent were successfully completed, in contrast to the 95.92 per cent operating factor in the year 1947, the 90.88 per cent operating factor in 1946, and the 82.78 per cent operating factor in 1945.

 

It is noteworthy that, at the end of 1948, 457 and women had invested their futures with that of Pioneer.

 

Pioneer’s captains are required to hold Airline transport Ratings and in 1945, 51 per cent of the co-pilots held CAA Airline Transport Ratings. This was increased to 73 per cent in 1946, 81 per cent in 1947, and finally to 100 per cent in 1948. Men were selected who possessed an Airline Transport Certificate of Competence and had a minimum of 2,000 multi-engine flying hours of experience.

 

During 1945, Pioneer was qualified by the Civil Aeronautics Administration to conduct VFR daylight operation with 1,000-foot ceilings and 3-mile visibility. In January, 1946, the minimums were 1,000-foot ceilings and 1 mile visibility, VFR day or night, while in October, 1946, Pioneer qualified and was approved for IFR flying at airports with approved facilities with 400-foot ceilings and 1-mile visibility. During 1948 the company became one of the first of the feeder air lines to intensify its training and be approved for the use of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) equipment in those cities which have ground counterparts.  After a complete training program in the use of the Instrument Landing System (ILS), the company was approved in September, 1948 for 300-foot ceilings and ¾-mile visibility. In March, 1949 this minimum was lowered to 200-foot ceilings and l/2-mile visibility, which is the lowest possible minimum under the present regulations of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. It is believed that only one other feeder airline, Southwest Airways, has this authority and that at only one point on its system.

 

Although the CAA has installed no landing aids at points served only by Pioneer and no navigation aids on its routes, substantial gains have been made in having Pioneer’s route designated as “civil airways”.  At the beginning of operations only 151 of the 683 route miles were on airways, and by early 1949, 1,362 miles of Pioneer’s 2,200-odd route miles were certificated as airways.

           

The feeder operation presented a serious challenge to the maintenance and engineering sections of the company as schedules require a landing on an average of every 38 minutes flying time, and with 134 landings daily in 1949 there was considerable wear on all parts of the aircraft such as tires, brakes, wheels, landing gear, gyro and flight instruments, starters       regulators, solenoids, and other parts; also engine wear was greatly increased. All utilization of the aircraft had to be accomplished during daylight and early evening hours, with maintenance conducted principally during the eight-hour period when operations ceased. With the original 683 route miles, Pioneer was able to utilize its aircraft only five hours daily.

           

bIn March, 1947, with the advent of additional mileage which brought the system up to approximately 1,400 miles, the utilization increased to six hours and seventeen minutes daily per airplane. In October, 1948, after the New Mexico mileage had been added to the system bringing the total up to some 2,200 miles, Pioneer was able to utilize its nine planes some eight hours and eleven minutes daily.

 

Due to the recognition of its maintenance standards, Pioneer has been able to effect other economics. From a permissible operating time before overhaul of 600 engine hours in 1946, Pioneer, by September, 1948, had been approved for 900 hours per engine. In June, 1949, approval was granted for 1,000 hours of engine use. Oil change periods and fuselage overhaul periods also have been extended in proportion. 

Through these diligent efforts, the Pioneer maintenance and engineering de­partments have been able to greatly decrease maintenance costs, in spite of an in­crease in other factors involved which have been general in the industry. Pioneer has maintained the highest standards and has received recognition therefore.

 

Pioneer has also been able to bring about economies in its station operating costs. Pioneer has approximately 115 persons employed in its 24 stations. This is an average of less than one man per scheduled plane arrival. Pioneer now has 134 plane arrivals daily. These 115 men handled a total of 9,456 passengers during May, 1949. Unlike the trunk carrier, Pioneer cannot employee specialists for each duty which these people must perform. The Pioneer station personnel act as reservationists, ticket agents, cargo handlers, radio operators, gas men, weather observers, traffic and sales representatives, and teletype operators.

 

In this connection, it might be well to mention that Pioneer has made efforts to consolidate its station activities with other air lines, i.e., by making arrange­ments with other lines, whore a common point is served, to handle, or let Pioneer handle, the reservations, maintenance and other functions. While some consolidations have been effected, resulting in economies to both Pioneer and the other lines in­volved, nevertheless, on a whole, it has been found that Pioneer cannot consolidate those activities for the most part, since the trunk carriers operation is so different, particularly with respect to the duties of personnel.

 

As has been mentioned above, the Pioneer station people generally perform all sta­tion duties whereas it has been found that the trunk operator has specialists employed for many of the duties. Actual negotiations have demonstrated that the cost to Pioneer for the trunk carrier to handle the Pioneer operations was greater in total dollars than where Pioneer provides its own station personnel. This failure to consolidate services has not boon brought about by non-cooperation of the trunk operator but, due to the nature of the operations involved, the trunk operator could not handle the Pioneer services for a cost which would constitute a saving to Pioneer.

 

The consolidation of services now in existence include:

1. Pioneer performs overnight and turn-around maintenance to all of Mid-Continent’s ships in    Houston.

2. Pioneer provides space in the hangar and on its premises in Hous­ton to Chicago and Southern for      their maintenance facilities for domestic and international operations,

3. Delta provides Pioneer with standby maintenance in Fort Worth.
4. American provides Pioneer with standby maintenance in El Paso.

5. Continental provides Pioneer with refueling at Santa Fe.

6. American provides Pioneer with public address system in Midland-Odessa and Abilene.

7. Pioneer provides public address system to Continental and Trans-
            Texas in San Angelo.

 

Pioneer employs some 33 hostesses. Through investigation, it has been found that in this section of the country the hostesses have been a contributing factor in the sale and acceptance of the Pioneer service.

           

The experience of Pioneer economy with respect to airport landing fees is worthy of mention. As is generally known in the industry, the trunk lines have established a system of sliding scale landing fees. This scale is usually high for the first few landings and with more landings diminishes until the average landing charge to the large carrier is relatively small. However, the feeder operator, with fewer landings, found itself in the upper brackets of this sliding scale system. It became apparent that Pioneer, as a local carrier with few schedules, would have to obtain relief from this method of landing charges. The feeder carriers devised the method of offering the cities 2 per cent of their gross local passenger receipts in lieu of the scale used by the trunk carriers. Much difficulty was en­countered in selling this arrangement in those cities which the trunk carriers also serve, since the contracts in existence contained the so-called “favored nations” clause. However, Pioneer has been diligent in its efforts to sell the cities on the distinction in the type service rendered by the local carrier and, as a re­sult, in most cities Pioneer does not pay more than the average landing fee paid by the trunk operator.

 

Pioneer has seven goals or targets set for achievement in the year 1949. They are:

1.  Safe, convenient, and economical operations.

2.  98 per cent operation factor.

3.  85 per cent on-time factor,

4.  35 per cent load factor, based on 24 seats.

5.  Non-mail revenues to exceed mail revenues.

6.  Cost not to exceed 78 cents per revenue plane mile.

7.  Promotion of soil conservation.

 

This seventh project is one on which Pioneer has briefed its personnel. Literature is distributed on flights and passengers arc shown from the planes the effects of soil erosion and the effects of the soil building programs which are being promoted in the Southwest. This is another effort to secure the Southwest’s future and to secure Pioneer’s future—to put something back as well as to take out.

Perfection is, of course, the ultimate goal. It is not contended that Pioneer has reached this goal. Pioneer has had many trials; it has made many errors, and no doubt will continue to make errors. The record does show, however, that Pioneer has made a sincere effort to make its standards of operation of the highest type. The airline standards of this country are high. The Pioneer operations meet airline standards, and in many respects are above the average.

 

Pioneer has accepted the challenge of conducting the feeder experiment as authorized by the Civil Aeronautics Board, It has followed the guiding principles established by the Board and demonstrated that it has set up and is operating a local air transportation system — properly adapted to the present and future needs of the commerce of the United States, the Postal Service, and national defense, and to encourage the development of civil aeronautics generally