Trans World Air Cargo 1989 T-Shirt

Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline that operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops. It was one of the "Big Four" domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930. Howard Hughes acquired control of TWA in 1939, and after World War II led the expansion of the airline to serve Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, making TWA a second unofficial flag carrier of the United States after Pan Am. By the '60s, TWA began aggressively pursuing the profitable air cargo segment, though one of the airline's biggest missteps was ignoring the emerging dedicated air cargo market.