First Coast-to-Coast Air Service

November 30, 2009

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Profile America — Monday, November 30th. The age of jet passenger planes was still some years away when the nation’s first coast-to-coast round-trip nonstop air service began this week in 1953. American Airlines flew a Douglas DC-7 propellor aircraft from Los Angeles to what was then Idlewild International Airport in New York, now called JFK. The DC-7 was famous for its horseshoe-shaped lounge and bar in the tail section. The eastbound flight took seven hours and 15 minutes, and the westbound trip was forty minutes longer. Flights today are several hours shorter. The Los Angeles to New York route is still one of the most popular in the U.S., with 2.8 million passengers flying it each year. Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau, now preparing for the 2010 Census.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 1421
www.aa.com
www.centennialofflight.gov
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 1035
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html