Highlights
1950 – First airline to use a conveyor belt system for loading and unloading aircraft.
1959 – First airline to fly the turboprop Lockheed 188 Electra.
1950
Service begins to Edmonton, Canada.
Western is the first airline to use a conveyor belt system for aircraft loading and unloading.
1952
Inland Airlines merges with Western, after operating as a Western subdivision since 1944. Direct West Coast to Michigan and Minnesota service begins.
Western starts coach service.
1954
Luxurious "Champagne Service" begins on 60-passenger Douglas DC-6B aircraft, with complimentary champagne, steaks, corsages, perfume and cigars.
1956
The animated VIB—"Very Important Bird"—nicknamed the "Wally Bird," first appears in Western's television commercials with the slogan "Western… The O-O-Only Way to Fly."
1957
Western flies to Mexico City and Phoenix. Inauguration of "Hunt Breakfast" meal service, with three choices of meat served from chafing dishes, tape-recorded bugle calls and stewardesses in bowler hats and red vests.
1958
Los Angeles—Phoenix nonstop service.
1959
First airline to fly the turboprop Lockheed 188 Electra.