This pioneer local service company is organized in the spring of 1932 to provide scheduled passenger and air express service between Sioux City and St. Paul. Employing two Lockheed Model 5 Vegas, Hanford begins revenue frequencies on April 1.
In December 1933, the route is extended south to Omaha by the purchase of St. Louis-based Rapid Air Lines (RAL). RAL is allowed to continue operations as a subsidiary under its own name, flying the Sioux Falls-Kansas City via Sioux City and Omaha mail route obtained at its 1930 start-up. Hanford, however, elects to lease RAL’s largest aircraft, the Lockheed Model 5C Vega Aksarben Comet.
On February 9, 1934, as a result of investigations into the Air Mail Scandal, the U. S. Post Office cancels all existing mail contracts and the White House orders the U. S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail. Hanford temporarily closes its routes, especially the RAL mail run. When the military option proves unsuccessful, the Post Office rebids the mail contracts at the end of March and opens applications in late April. Hanford wins two significant routes, AM-16 from Chicago to Winnipeg via Fargo and Pembina, and AM-26 and its three spurs, which include the previous RAL route, the previous Hanford passenger route now also to include mail, and Sioux Falls to Bismarck.
Mail is added to the previous St. Paul-Sioux City run in May and Hanford initiates the remainder of its routes in June. Meanwhile, on June 12, the former Pacific Air Transport/United Air Lines Ford 5-AT-110 once named Glacier is purchased.
En route to Omaha from Kansas City in a rainstorm on August 31, an RAL division Stinson 6000 crashes at Oregon, Missouri (five dead). The newly acquired Ford is also the victim of an accident, at Cochrane, Wisconsin, on September 2, although exact details are unknown.
The Model 5C Vega Aksarben Comet is badly damaged in a crash landing at Albany, Minnesota, on October 19. En route to Omaha from Kansas City on November 15, a Stinson 6000B hits a hill at Amazonia, Missouri, and crashes (two dead).
In December, a new mail route is received from St. Paul to Fargo and AM-16 is purchased by Northwest Airways.
Flights continue apace throughout 1935 and, on July 1, 1936, A. S. Hanford turns over control of the concern to new management, which renames the company Hanford Air Lines and extends its routes from Chicago and the upper midwest to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Late in the month, two Lockheed Model 10A Electras are acquired, one new and the other from Northwest Airlines.
On January 20, 1937, the Lockheed Model 5 c Vega Aksarben Comet is destroyed in a Sioux City, Iowa, hangar fire. A second Electra arrives from Northwest Airlines in November. Eighteen months later, in August 1938, the carrier is renamed Mid-Continent Air Lines.
HANG KHONG VIET NAM: Vietnam (1976-1991). Following the July 2, 1975 unification of the defeated Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and People’s Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) into the Socialist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a new airline is formed to replace the south’s old Air Vietnam, S. A. and the north’s CAAV (Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam). Operating under the auspices of the national defense department, the carrier retains its principal base at Hanoi’s Gialem Airport and will acquire and integrate the remaining facilities and damaged aircraft of the ex-Saigon-based airline at Ho Chi Minh City.
From that destination, 2 Douglas DC-4s, 3 DC-3s, and 1 DC-6 resume domestic services on November 1, 1976, to Hanoi, Da Nang, and Phu Quoc Island. With technical assistance from Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, the company, without access to western aircraft or parts, is rebuilt to Russian standard.
Twice-weekly Antonov An-24 service is started between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and on December 1, the company takes over the Soviet carrier’s rights on the routes from Hanoi to Vientiane and Phnom Penh. Four Soviet-made Il-18s maintain service from Hanoi to Moscow.
During this process, on October 29, 1977, four armed Vietnamese commandeer a Douglas DC-3 during a domestic flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc Island, Thailand. After killing two crewmen, they force the plane to fly to Singapore, where the pirates seek and receive political asylum. They also receive 14-year prison terms.
Enplanements for the year total 21,000.
Daily nonstop flights are operated between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Tupolev Tu-134As and Ilyushin Il-18s; a second main line adds a stop at Danang. Other domestic destinations visited include Nha Trang and Hue.
Weekly Tu-134A flights are opened from Hanoi to Bangkok via Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh and between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, on May 11, 1978. Nonstop weekly Antonov An-24 service is inaugurated from Hanoi to Vientiane.
Reciprocal Tu-134A Ho Chi Minh City to Moscow flights begin on June 16, 1979, but because of hostilities with China, continuing service to Beijing is halted.
These services are maintained over the next decade with a fleet that grows to include 5 Tu-134As, 3 Yakovlev YAK-40s, 8 An-24s, 3 Il-18s, and 1 Boeing 707-344 leased from the Irish concern Air Tara. Most of the Antonovs come from Interflug (DDR German Airlines), which contracts to provide management and technical assistance. Arrangements are also made with Air France and Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. for traffic rights from Bangkok and Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City, respectively; with dual airline designation, the seats are purchased by Hang Khong and are thus considered Vietnamese flights.
With the beginning of doi moi (modernization) in 1985, Hang Kong inaugurates its own Tu-134A services from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok. Fuel shortages in Vietnam require the airliners to load maximum poundage in Thailand.
Operations continue apace in 1986-1987.
Attempting to avoid thunderstorms while on a flight from Hanoi on September 9, 1988, Flight 831, a Tu-134A with 6 crew and 84 passengers, drops below minimum altitude and crashes on final approach 6 km. from the airport at Bangkok, bursting into flames. There are no survivors from the Tupolev and an additional six people are killed on the ground.
Enplanements for the year total 250,000.
The marketing name Vietnam Airlines is first employed by the 2,000-employee carrier in 1989. The most visible sign of this change is a new blue and white aircraft livery and flying crane logo.
By 1990, Director General Khoang Igok Zieu has added three more YAK-40s. The company becomes independent on April 1 as the company’s world profile is enhanced by its formal transfer from the Department of Defense to the Department of Civil Aviation.
Orders are now placed for two Avions de Transport Regional ATR72s and service is inaugurated to Singapore. Enplanements for the year increase 34.9% to 427,192.
The following year, 1991, the carrier is officially renamed Vietnam Airlines.
HANKYU AIR LINES COMPANY, LTD. (HANKYU KOKU): Hankyu Terminal Building, 1-1-4, Shibata, Kita-ku, Osaka, 530, Japan; Phone (6) 373-1661; Fax (6) 373-1660; Year Founded 1980.
Hankyu Air Lines is established at Osaka in 1980 to provide aerial work and charters. Business includes passenger and cargo flights, offshore support, construction, aerial application, aerial photography, and so forth. A mixed fleet, beginning with Bell 206B JetRangers, Bell 47G3s, and Aerospatiale AS-365N Dauphins will be employed over the next decade.
Tetuzo Okano is president in 1991 and he operates a 25-unit fleet.
In August, a Dauphin, with 8 passengers crashes in Hyogo Prefecture; there are no survivors. The tragedy is one in a series of eight accidents that have afflicted Japanese helicopter operators over the last 18 months and claimed 21 lives.
Flights continue apace during the remainder of the decade, but, as a result of more stringent regulations on the commercial rotary-wing community established by the Ministry of Transport, helicopter fleets, in general, are reduced. President Okano now oversees the work of 10 Eurocopter AS-350Bs, 4 AS-355Fs, 3 Dauphins, and 2 Hughes 369Ds.
World History
