Aircraft and Routes
Southern Airways was the Local Service airline covering the south-central U.S. In 1955 routes spanned from Memphis south to New Orleans and east to Charlotte and Jacksonville. By 1968 Southern's route system extended from its most northerly stop at the Tri-Cities regional airport in Tennessee south to New Orleans and Jacksonville. At the west edge of Southern's route system were Baton Rouge and Monroe, Louisiana. Routes extended east to the Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
Like most other Local Service airlines Southern flew only Douglas DC-3s for its first few years; it began acquiring 40-passenger secondhand Martin 4-0-4 piston airliners from Eastern Air Lines in 1961 and its last DC-3 was retired in 1967. The first 65-75 passenger Douglas DC-9-10s arrived in 1967 and 85-95 passenger DC-9-30s in 1969. Some of these were bought new from the manufacturer. Unlike other local service airlines Southern did not use turboprop aircraft in the 1960s, but by the time of the North Central merger Southern had replaced its Martins with a small fleet of 19-passenger Fairchild Metro II turboprop airliners.
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Famous quotes containing the word routes:
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