TPA is formed at Honolulu by local publisher Rudy Tongg on June 9, 1946. Incorporated under the laws of the Territory of Hawaii, it begins nonscheduled services with a single war surplus Douglas C-47 (military DC-3), piloted by Al Olson and Louis Lucas, on July 26.
Four Douglas transports, nicknamed “Alohaliners,” are in service by year’s end and enplanements for the first six months total 24,000. In the fall of 1947, older Hawaiian Airlines seeks and obtains an injunction to shut the newcomer down on the basis that it is actually flying scheduled service without CAB permission.
After a year of difficulty and litigation, the CAB in 1948 authorizes the carrier to commence scheduled operations in competition with Hawaiian Airlines under provision of a five-year temporary certificate. Future U. S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye is an employee and future owners Dr. Hung Wo Ching and Sheridan Ing begin to invest.
President Truman approves TPA’s temporary certification on February 17, 1949 and the formerly suspect irregular launches its newly authorized flights on June 6. As the result of a longshoreman’s strike, interisland traffic falls off and the company cannot earn a profit during the year. Indeed, a $300,000 loss is suffered.
There is also no profit in 1950, but in June 1951 the CAB grants a $127,000 airmail subsidiary. During the year, the company begins to use “The Aloha Airline” as part of its corporate moniker. On August 22, 1952, the company begins hauling sight-seers over an erupting Hawaiian volcano.
Operating as the “poor man’s airline,” TPA chalks up significant traffic gains as the two carriers fight one another for market share throughout the 1950s. During the decade, a fleet of eight Douglas DC-3s is operated. Now called Vistaliners, they are provided with puka camera openings in their five-foot windows. Flight attendants dress in native costume, dance for passengers, and serve fresh pineapple juice along with sodas. As statehood approaches toward decade’s end, the junior island service is renamed Aloha Airlines on February 11, 1959 and soon thereafter begins to fly Fokker F.27 Friendships.
TRANS PENN AIRLINES (TRANS PENNSYLVANIA AIRLINES): United States (1978-1980). Following President Carter’s signing of the Airline Deregulation Act in October 1978, TPA is established to undertake regional services under an Essential Air Service (EAS) contract. Employing a fleet of Piper PA-31-310 Navajos, scheduled daily roundtrips are inaugurated linking the company’s base at Reedsville with State College, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Atlantic City. Operations continue apace until 1981.
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