In the 1950s and early 1960s the airline expanded into Arizona, Southern California and Utah, including Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

Bonanza Air Service began charter operations in 1945 in Las Vegas with a single-engine Cessna.

[9] However, there is no mention of such a merger in either of the CAB cases that awarded local service certificates to Arizona Airways and Bonanza.

[10][11] In June 1949, the CAB awarded Bonanza a feeder certificate from Reno to Phoenix via intermediate points including Las Vegas.

The award was unusual in that it involved the transfer of Las Vegas to Phoenix authority from trunk carrier Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA) to Bonanza.

[13] In November 1949, the CAB approved a deal by which Bonanza bought the rights from TWA for $672.09, significantly less than what Arizona Airways had proposed to pay in 1945.

In July 1952, the airline started service on a new route from Phoenix to Los Angeles via many intermediate points.

A McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 (construction number 47246/registration N9333) was ordered by Bonanza but was delivered to Air West after the merger.

[28] Bonanza Air Lines operated the following aircraft:[29] The airline's only fatal incident was on November 15, 1964, when Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114, flying from Phoenix, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, crashed into a mountain south of Las Vegas during poor weather.