Trunk carrier

Trunk carriers or trunk airlines or trunklines or trunks, were the US scheduled airlines certificated in the period 1939–1941 by the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) or its immediate successor, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) after the passage of the 1938 Civil Aeronautics Act on the basis of grandfathering: those carriers that were able to show they performed scheduled service prior to the passage of the Act.

The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 established a tight regulatory regime for the US airline industry.

However, carriers that could show they had engaged in bona fide airline service prior to passage of the 1938 Act were entitled to be grandfathered.

[32] Wilmington-Catalina Airline was founded by the Wrigley family in 1931 and flew two small amphibious aircraft from the Port of Los Angeles to Santa Catalina Island.

1941 plans for expansion using land-based aircraft were ended by the start of World War II, which forced the airline to cease operation in 1942.

As Table 1 also shows, six (Capital, Chicago & Southern, Colonial, Inland, Mid-Continent, Northeast) of the 16 trunk carriers merged out of existence during the regulated period, 1938–1978, leaving 10 trunks as US airline deregulation dawned in 1979: American, Braniff, Continental, Delta, Eastern, National, Northwest, TWA, United and Western.

A number of other carriers were certificated to fly routes outside the continental United States by the CAB, such as Panagra and Trans Caribbean, none of these counted as trunks either.