West Coast Airlines

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West Coast Airlines was a U.S. regional airline linking smaller communities in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana. It was formed in 1946 from the merger of Zimmerly Airlines and Empires Airlines.^[1] The company was based at Boeing Field, Seattle and began scheduled passenger service in the late 1940s. A promotional video for the company produced in the 1960s stated that in 1946 the Civil Aeronautics Board granted the first regional airline certificate to West Coast Airlines.

On July 1, 1968, West Coast merged with Pacific Air Lines and Bonanza Air Lines to form Air West, later Hughes Airwest. At the time of the merger, West Coast operated a fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-9, Fairchild F-27 and Piper aircraft. (After further mergers, the airline became part of what is now Northwest Airlines).

In 2001 an attempt was made to resurrect the West Coast Airlines name, with plans for an airline based in Concord, California to connect several Northern California cities with Las Vegas, Reno and San Diego. The abortive effort ended in bankruptcy. ^[2]

An airline with the similar name West Coast Air operates floatplane services between Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia.

[edit] Notable accidents

West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashed on October 1, 1966 with eighteen fatal injuries and no survivors 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south of Wemme, Oregon. This marked the first loss of a Douglas DC-9. ^[3]