Originally Posted by
WHBM
1. I guess this was Cubana. They bought fleets of both Viscount 700, and later Viscount 800, in the 1950s. As their market pretty much disappeared after the revolution, they were all sold off in the early 1960s.
17. I think the answer is one, operating Reno-Elko-Ely-Salt Lake City and return once a day, and this was the last mainstream piston operation by a US major carrier. One of those intermediate stops had a runway that wasn't suitable for jets, and in the end United subcontracted operation of this route, which in Regulation days they were not allowed to give up, to Frontier using Convair 580s.
1. Correct! The cover of the U.S. edition of the 1958 Cubana de Aviacion timetable proclaimed:
CUBANA: Fly the VISCOUNT to HAVANA and VARADERO BEACH
CUBANA de AVIACION: Over a Quarter of a Century of Air Service
Cubana was operating four daily round trip nonstops with the Viscount between Havana and Miami at this time and was also operating a daily Havana-Varadero Beach-Miami round trip as well with the Viscount. The twice weekly Viscount flight operated in association with BOAC flew a Havana-Varadero Beach-Nassau round trip routing. And Cubana was also operating a daily round trip nonstop between Havana and New York Idlewild with a Lockheed Super G Constellation at this time as well.
17. Correct! The routings were just a bit different. UA 816 departed SFO daily at 7:05am and then made stops in Oakland, Reno, Elko and Ely before arriving at SLC at 1:16pm. The DC-6 then flew back west as UA 837 departing SLC at 3:45pm with stops in Ely, Elko and Reno before arriving at SFO at 7:44pm.
One of the runways you mention must have been eventually lengthened as United subsequently ended the subcontract with Frontier for the CV-580 service. UA then began operating a daily round trip routing of SFO-RNO-EKO-ELY-SLC with a Boeing 737-200 before discontinuing jet service to Elko and Ely by the early 1980's.