Departing from the Airliners International conference in July 2021, we had given ourselves plenty of time to explore Phoenix International Airport’s pair of landside terminals and the excellent photography options made available by the airport’s elevated inter-terminal tram system. While food and shopping options pre-security were still severely limited due to combination of COVID spacing concerns and the overall labor shortage, the airport’s commitment to displaying art nevertheless made for a visually interesting expedition, and one that we will be keen to repeat when the pandemic is finally under control.
Below are a collection of Phoenix Airport Museum flyers and photos from several exhibits, with the “Style in the Aisle” installation of special interest to the Northwest Family of course due to the colorful display of uniforms, bags, and service materials from Bonanza, Air West, and Hughes Airwest.
The NWAHC Archives received a cache of over 250 photo negative slides back in 2008 but they were not converted to positives until a few years ago by our previous editor Robert DuBert. Only a few came with captions to identify people or events, but you can see these were taken in the 1959-1962 era at the company’s headquarters in Las Vegas, and most were candid or lightly staged shots of everyday business. We’ll debut a large number of them here now – many pictures were shot of particular scenes, so we’ll show the highlights. If you can help us identify the folks and their roles in these pictures, or share stories about your time at Bonanza, please leave a note in the comments!