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Featured Map for 11 February 2025:
United Airlines and the L-1011 TriStar

 

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Today marks the 39th anniversary of United Airlines' takeover of Pan Am's Pacific Division on 11 February 1986, culminating a $750-million transaction which had been announced on 22 April 1985. That transition commenced United's brief fling with Lockheed's L-1011 TriStar, six aircraft (in addition to 11 Boeing 747SPs and a DC-10-30). The TriStars' Pan Am titles and logos were quickly replaced with United titles and United's Saul Bass-designed tulip logo, but Pan Am's blue cheatline lingered until there was time for a full repaint. (This time has a personal connection due to a visit to San Francisco in March 1986 with many sightings of mixed-livery aircraft.)

United's first schedule with the new routes was effective 15 February 1986 and included two L-1011 trips: UA 809 Los Angeles to San Francisco and to Osaka, returning as UA 810, plus UA 817 from SFO to Tokyo and beyond as a "starburst" flight with multiple destinations which varied depending on the day of the week: UA 817 (which returned as UA 818), continued to Manila on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday; on Monday and Wednesday, it continued to Taipei and then on to Seoul, and on Saturday it continued to Seoul without stops.

The schedule effective 3 September 1986 added new L-1011 routes from Tokyo to Beijing, both non-stop and via Shanghai each way.

By the 31 January 1987 schedule, United's L-1011 routes included San Francisco to Honolulu and on to Hong Kong plus Osaka to Manila. (The SFO-HNL segments plus earlier SFO-LAX tags appear to be United's only scheduled domestic use of the L-1011.)

Today's Featured Map shows United's initial L-1011 routes in Pan Am's blue, with the added September routes in orange and the early 1987 additions in grey. By the end of 1988, five of the L-1011s had been sold to Delta with the sixth sold to LTU.

References and additional information:

• Departed Flights
  • Departed Flights
  • Departed Flights 2
  • Facebook post (1 February 2025)
• United Airlines

 

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