AVIATION: To the Americas

At Mexico City’s Central Airport a crowd of 15,000 wildly cheered the landing of a shiny, reconverted Douglas DC-3. The big transport had just made the first flight over Mexico’s newest airline—Aerovias Braniff, S.A.

By modern standards Aerovias would be rated as a puny operation. It has a lone DC-3 in service, another in the shops being converted from an Army transport. Its single line from Mexico City north to Nuevo Laredo on the Rio Grande is only 569 miles long, takes only four and a half hours to fly. It will have no more planes to fly the line until it gets them from the U.S. Army.

But Aerovias’ competitors in Mexico know better than to judge the potential strength of their new rival by such standards. Fledgling Aerovias is backed by the million dollar fortune of able, affable Thomas E. Braniff. His American company, Braniff Airways, Inc., is the fifth largest airline in the U.S. (see map). Many Braniffmen are already on the job in Mexico, sharing their operating know-how with Aerovias’ eager Mexican employes.

Pioneer Makes Good. Tom Braniff, 61, made his fortune selling insurance in boomtown Oklahoma City. In 1927 he financed an airline from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, 120 miles away. From the day it acquired its first Stinson cabin plane, the line lost money. Soon airline, plane and deficit were taken over by Backer Braniff, in fee simple.

Tom Braniff searched the air transport industry for good men, sent his gangling Braniff Airways north to tap the rich traffic at Kansas City, Chicago and Denver. A businessman with a hawk eye for facts & figures, Braniff watched his operating costs, held losses at a minimum.

In 1938 Braniff Airways broke into the clear, earned $28,000 profit. Last year earnings were a good $773,000.

Imperialism without a Sting. Braniff planned his first foreign venture with care. Too many U.S. businessmen, he thought, have gone into foreign companies, exploited them to the last penny of profit, and pulled out. His own plan: to organize a Mexican company, operated by Mexicans, and paying more than lip service to the Mexican economy. For himself he asked for a fair return on his investment, a traffic hookup between his two airlines. This brand of Yankee business easily won Mexican favor, plus route privileges to Tampico, Merida, Vera Cruz, etc.

When new planes are available, Aerovias has ambitious plans for expansion. In addition to more routes in Mexico, the Mexican flag line expects to push south to Panama. It will also ask the Civil Aeronautics Board for permission to land at Miami and Los Angeles. How much more Braniff will get in its own country, to add to its well-fed inland service, Braniff Airways, Inc. could predict no more accurately than the dozens of other U.S. lines ascramble for new routes. But one thing was certain: Braniff’s Mexican cousin had its start, was in competition in Mexico with big-league Pan American and American Airlines. Braniff had become an international system, too.