Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
Hmm... well, no stops in Dallas or San Antone would seem to take American out of the equation, and in 1979, I can't think of any new Mexican carriers that had sprung up, so we're looking for a US carrier...
Three days a week has me thinking Frontier, which used to route down through ABQ and ELP to various west coast destinations in Mexico, but of course by 1979 Frontier had divested its fleet of 727s and did not offer First Class at that time anyway.
I vaguely remember Continental flying to Mexico out of El Paso as well about this time. I'm not sure of the destination, but MEX seems more likely.
Delta and Eastern both served ACA, but it's hard tp figure either airline starting a Mexico flight routing out of Chicago, thence to fly away from ACA towards ATL. With all the populous northeastern cities both airlines served, and their traditional route systems, I'm not seeing ORD as a flight origination point.
I think we've gotta look west and/or south out of ORD...
Haven't mentioned United yet, but I don't think UA ever served ACA.
So I guess we're in wild guess territory. CO used to serve Mexico through places like Brownsville and McAllen, but IIRC, all those flights routed through Houston and didn't happen until the 80s or 90s.
I guess I'll go CO routing ORD - DEN - ELP - ACA with a 72S.
18. Well, sir, your wild guess is
correct! Here's the Continental sched....
CO 21: Chicago O'Hare (ORD) 7:30a - 8:55a Denver (DEN) 9:30a - 10:54a El Paso (ELP) 11:30a - 3:05p Acapulco (ACA)
Freq: ORD-DEN-ELP daily; ELP-ACA Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays only
Service classes: F/Y
Meal services: Breakfast ORD-DEN, Breakfast in F & snack in Y DEN-ELP, Lunch ELP-ACA
Equip: 727-200
Continental CEO Robert F. Six mentioned the airline's new services to Mexico in his final letter to the stockholders in the 1979 annual report for CO. Here are some excerpts from his report....
"This is my last annual letter to stockholders as Chief Executive Officer of Continental, and by any measurement, 1979 was one of the most extraordinary years in the history of the United States airline industry. It witnessed massive and rapid changes in route systems due to the implementation of the Airline Deregulation Act, amazing rises in the cost of fuel with consequent upward pressure on ticket prices and, finally, the historic grounding of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft for 38 days during the summer travel season.....Your airline operates fifteen new U.S. Mainland routes established since deregulation. Such expansion would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. To accomplish planning, preparation and execution on such a scale in a normal year would have required an all-out effort. In the dismal year of 1979, it asked extraordinary performances from everyone.....The hubs of Houston and El Paso added other segments as Continental solidly developed its new routes rather than dismay passengers and travel counselors by 'in-and-out' marketing experiments.....In October, Continental extended to yet another nation when service to five beautiful resort cities in western Mexico was instituted from El Paso.....
As many of the stockholders are aware, I joined the southwest division of Varney Speed Lines, which was the predecessor of Continental, in July of 1936 as general manager. On February 3, 1938, I was named President and Chief Executive Officer and have functioned in that role since that time. I was only the sixteenth employee of the Company and no one dreamed that a tiny southwestern 'puddle-jumper' airline would ever spread its wings across the nation and across the Pacific.....The growth of Continental and the development of my own life are inextricably intertwined. In great part, the history of this airline is my biography. "
The five new CO destinations in Mexico served from El Paso were Acapulco, La Paz, Los Cabos, Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta, all flown with the 727-200.
BTW, as you mention, Frontier was also serving Mexico at this same time from El Paso with flights to Guadalajara, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan, all operated with the 737-200.
Ol' El Paso never had it so good with regard to service to Mexico at this time....