Eastern Airlines isn’t the first airline to call Kansas City home. Here are the others

Joseph Hernandez
·3 min read
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A new airline has just landed in Kansas City.

In February, Eastern Airlines announced that the city would serve as its new headquarters.

The airline has been doing business near the airport since 2021, when it bought Alta Aero Technic, a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility, and formed Foxtrot Aero, a passenger-to-freighter design company, according to a press release.

“Eastern Air Holdings has had a great experience operating two other businesses at MCI, Alta Aero Technic and Foxtrot,” said Stephen Buscher, Eastern Airlines Chief Financial Officer, in a statement. “Kansas City and its airport have a great legacy in our industry. We did look at a number of cities to rebase our headquarters, but the enthusiasm of Missouri and the city combined with the generous assistance of the Missouri Works program made our decision easy.”

The headquarters is located at 11500 N. Ambassador Drive, near the airport and is one of a few that have called Kansas City home. Here’s a look back at the city’s airline history.

Trans World Airlines

Founded as Transcontinental Air Transport in 1929, Trans World Airlines was Kansas City’s first, operating out of what is now the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.

Charles Lindbergh visited the city in 1927 to help dedicate Kansas City’s first commercial airport. The location, a sliver of land just north of the Missouri River, was known as Peninsula Air Field and officially as New Richards Air Field.

That name was soon changed to Municipal Airport, and new terminal buildings were erected on the site.

In 1931, TWA set up shop in the airport and later moved its world headquarters to what is now the Crossroads Arts District.

TWA moved to St. Louis in 1982 and filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

American Airlines

While not based in Kansas City, American Airlines began using TWA’s headquarters in 2001 before shutting it down and taking full operations to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2009, according to The Star’s archives. American acquired TWA after the latter filed for bankruptcy, according to the Kansas City Public Library.

“American Airlines’ decision to vacate the Northland overhaul base lays to rest the final legacy of Trans World Airlines, our largest private employer a generation ago,” former Star reporter Rick Montgomery wrote.

The idling of the overhaul base would end a 50-year run for the facility, once operated by TWA. In the 1960s and 1970s, TWA employed as many as 10,000 workers at the facility and was one of Kansas City’s biggest employers.

Vanguard Airlines

Vanguard Airlines, a low-cost airline based in Kansas City, opened in 1994 and filed for bankruptcy in 2002, according to The Star’s archives.

Scott Dickson, Vanguard’s chairman and chief executive officer at the time, said that efforts to secure much-needed new financing failed, which forced the company into a Chapter 11 reorganization filing.

“This is a sad day for Vanguard, for its employees and for Kansas City,” Dickson said . “Today’s events hurt people. We have done everything in our power to avoid today’s actions.”

In 2003 the Vanguard Airlines boarding area at Kansas City International Airport had been stripped of everything but its sign after the Kansas City based carrier went out of business.
In 2003 the Vanguard Airlines boarding area at Kansas City International Airport had been stripped of everything but its sign after the Kansas City based carrier went out of business.

Mid-Continent Airlines

Founded as Tri-State Airlines in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1934, Mid-Continent Airlines moved to Kansas City two years later as Hanford Airlines, according to the library. The airline rebranded itself as Mid-Continent Airlines in 1938 and continued with that name until 1952, when it merged with Braniff International Airways, which shut down in 1982.