[3] On May 31, 1939, Boston-Maine was certificated to be a United States scheduled airline by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) under the terms of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, which granted certificates to airlines that had been providing bona fide scheduled service prior to the Act.

[4] The next year, the airline regulatory functions of the CAA would be moved to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which would closely regulate Boston-Maine/Northeast as a trunk carrier for the rest of its existence.

The name Northeast Airlines was adopted on November 19, 1940, which was duly approved by the CAB, including the required signature of President Franklin D.

[5] During World War II Northeast pioneered transatlantic service for the military under contract from the U.S. Army Air Forces.

[1] In June 1944, the CAB approved the takeover of moribund Mayflower Airlines, giving Northeast routes to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard from Boston.

[8] In 1956 Northeast began service to Washington National Airport, and received a temporary certificate to serve Florida, for which the airline purchased a fleet of new DC-6Bs.

Northeast ordered ten Vickers Viscounts in the late 1950s and used them until financial problems in the early 1960s forced the company to return them to the manufacturer.

Beginning on December 17, 1959, Northeast became one of the early jet operators, flying a leased TWA Boeing 707-331 round trip between New York and Miami.

The airline's temporary Miami route authority was terminated by a CAB decision that year, and Hughes decided to exit from the company, selling control to a trustee in 1964.

[15] In early 1970, following another abysmal set of financial results in 1969, Northeast cancelled the order, taking a $3.6mm charge against 1969 to do so.

Every trunk airline started with small points on their network (some just for the purposes of refueling), but over time, most of them shifted these to local service carriers or otherwise abandoned them.

Mohawk then had a disastrous strike in 1971 (which ultimately forced it to merge with Allegheny in 1972), after which it could no longer support Keene service.

The CAB forced Northeast back into some of these points (like Keene, NH) and it had to pull two FH-227s out of storage, leaving three still stored with one leased out.

[18][25] At the end of 1969, following a long period of financial difficulties, Northeast announced its intention to merge with Northwest Airlines.

The merger was approved by both the CAB and President Richard Nixon in 1970, but it was conditional upon relinquishing the Miami-Los Angeles route.