Pacific Air Lines, experiencing steadily increasing traffic increases on its California-based system but facing a capacity cap with its 40-passenger Fairchild F-27 turboprops, announced an order in September 1965 for the Boeing 727-100 trijet, taking delivery of two copies in Summer 1966 and one in January 1967. Almost immediately Pacific management realized they had taken a step too far and could not fill the big mainline jets – leasing two to National Airlines of Florida, and one to BWIA in Barbados.
Instead, Pacific chose to recalibrate its jet ambitions and placed an order with Boeing for six brand-new 737-200 jets, for delivery beginning in early 1968. While other Local Service airlines had been buying Douglas DC-9 equipment (including West Coast, Bonanza, Southern, and North Central), Pacific would be the first regional carrier to put the 737 into operation. This would allow Pacific field the same equipment as mainline United Airlines and Western Airlines up and down the Pacific coast.
The three-way merger with West Coast and Bonanza to form Air West in April 1968, and one of the first orders of business was to simplify the fleet around the Douglas DC-9. The 737 order was immediately cancelled – but Boeing had plenty of customers waiting; the first frame went to Wien Consolidated in Alaska, and the remaining five were delivered to Air California. That Orange County-based carrier would go on to cause competitive trouble for Hughes Airwest in the 1970s with those very aircraft!
We do not have any materials or models that Boeing would have presented to Northwest to pitch 737s for the Red Tail, but NWA’s fleet planning in the 1960s was looking at larger-gauge aircraft. While engine and cabin commonality with the 727 would have been an excellent selling point to Northwest management, the airline already had the shorter 727-100 and longer 727-200 to fill any roles a 737 of that era would have been used for.
Header image is a current illustration of a potential 737-200 in final Pacific livery. (C) Northwest Airlines History Center. If you use these photos, please credit the Northwest Airlines History Center – please also contact us to let us know how you’re using them and if we can be of further help!
