Huntsville International Airport - Airlines and Destinations & Present and Past

Airlines and Destinations & Present and Past

Huntsville International Airport is served by seven airlines representing all three international airline alliances.

Historically, Huntsville (HSV) had nonstop or direct, no change of plane mainline jet service to the U.S. west coast as well as to Florida and Texas during the height of the U.S. space program. These flights were aimed at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center which is located in Huntsville.

In June 1967, Eastern Airlines introduced a new transcontinental route they called "The Space Corridor" that linked Huntsville with important aerospace centers in St. Louis and Seattle and also with the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to the airline's June 13, 1967 timetable, daily Boeing 727-100 jetliner service was operated nonstop to St. Louis with continuing service to Seattle and also nonstop to Orlando with continuing service to Melbourne, FL, which is located in close proximity to the Kennedy Space Center. In addition, Eastern flew direct Douglas DC-9-30 jet service to and from Houston, home of the NASA Johnson Space Center, via an intermediate stop in New Orleans during the late 1960s. Eastern also operated direct jet service to Chicago during the early 1970s via an intermediate stop in Nashville.

United Airlines was also cognizant of the importance of Huntsville to the NASA space program and accordingly introduced twice daily nonstop Boeing 727-100 jet service to and from Los Angeles (LAX), another important aerospace center. The Official Airline Guide (OAG) lists these nonstop services to and from LAX in its April 1, 1974 edition. United first began serving Huntsville in the early 1960s when this air carrier acquired Capital Airlines which had been operating Vickers Viscount four engine turboprop airliners nonstop to Memphis, Knoxville and Washington, D.C. with direct, no change of plane service to New York (via both LaGuardia and Newark airports) and Philadelphia. United initially continued to serve most of these former Capital Airlines routes with the same British-manufactured Vickers Viscount aircraft inherited from Capital and then introduced Boeing 727-100 service into Huntsville with these new jet aircraft serving many of the same routes during the late 1960s. United also operated the French-manufactured Sud Aviation Caravelle VI-R twin jet from Huntsville on a route to Knoxville, Pittsburgh and Cleveland at this same time. By August 1982, United was operating direct, no change of plane Boeing 727 jet service to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver as well as nonstop Boeing 737-200 jet service to Washington, D.C. By February 1985, United was providing nonstop Boeing 727-100 jet service to Denver.

Southern Airways also served Huntsville and grew to have a significant presence in the market. In the late 1960s, Southern introduced Douglas DC-9-10 jets configured with 75 seats into their fleet which beforehand had exclusively consisted of Martin 4-0-4 twin prop airliners that could transport 40 passengers. Southern's timetable in September 1968 listed just four nonstop jet destinations served from Huntsville: Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans and Muscle Shoals, AL. The airline was still flying the Martin 4-0-4 from Huntsville as well at that time. However, by the summer of 1978, the airline primarily operated Douglas DC-9-10 and DC-9-30 jetliners. Southern's timetable in July 1978 listed nonstop DC-9 jet service from Huntsville to Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, Greenville/Spartanburg, SC, Nashville and Muscle Shoals, AL. In addition, Southern was operating direct, no change of plane DC-9 jet service from Huntsville to New York City (LaGuardia Airport), Washington, D,C. (Dulles Airport), Denver, St. Louis, Detroit and Wichita at this same time. Southern subsequently merged with North Central Airlines to form Republic Airlines which continued to serve Huntsville. Republic was then acquired by Northwest Airlines which in turn merged with Delta Airlines.

Service to and from Atlanta (ATL) hit a high point in early 1985 when up to seventeen (17) nonstop flights a day were operated between HSV and ATL by four different airlines with three of these air carriers providing mainline jet service on the route. According to the February 15, 1985 edition of the Official Airline Guide (OAG), Eastern Airlines was operating Boeing 727-100 and Douglas DC-9-50 jet service, Republic Airlines was flying Douglas DC-9-10, DC-9-30 and DC-9-50 jets, United Airlines was operating Boeing 727-100 jetliners and Delta Connection, operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), was flying de Havilland Canada DHC-7 "Dash 7" and Shorts 360 turboprops on the route. Today, Delta Airlines and their affiliate Delta Connection are the only air carriers flying between Huntsville and Atlanta.

Currently, only American Airlines and Delta Airlines operate mainline jet aircraft from the airport. American flies McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) with some flights to DFW being operated with American Eagle Embraer ERJ-140 regional jets. American also flew Boeing 727-200 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets from Huntsville to Nashville in the late 1980s and early 1990's when the airline operated a large connecting hub located in this Tennessee city. Delta flies McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and Douglas DC-9-50 jetliners nonstop to Atlanta (ATL) with some flights being operated by ExpressJet with Canadair CRJ-700 and CRJ-200 regional jets as Delta Connection service to ATL.