Seaboard World Airlines was an international all-cargo airline based in the United States. Originally an irregular air carrier, the airline was certificated as the first US transatlantic scheduled cargo airline in 1955 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct federal agency that, from 1938 to 1978, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. Seaboard's headquarters were on the grounds of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
In the United States, a legacy carrier is an airline that was once economically regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) during the period of airline regulation 1938–1978 or can trace its origin to one that did. The CAB was a now defunct federal agency that tightly controlled almost all US commercial air transport during that period. As related below, many features associated with the legacy airline business model were actually developed not during the regulated era, but instead in the first decade or so of the deregulated era, as legacy carriers adapted to an unfamiliar competitive environment.
While the term "legacy carrier" is most often used in a US context, it is possible to speak of legacy carriers elsewhere, since tight airline regulation was once the global norm and following US airline deregulation, many other countries went through some kind of airline deregulation. Non-US carriers with origins that precede liberalization can be viewed as legacy carriers. For instance, in Europe, flag carriers such as British Airways, Air France, KLM, Iberia, and Lufthansa, (with origins well before the liberalized era) can be viewed as legacy carriers in contrast to airlines such as Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizz Air, and so forth.
The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents.
In 1934, the Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce, to reflect the growing importance of commercial flying. It was subsequently divided into two authorities: the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), concerned with air traffic control, and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), concerned with safety regulations and accident investigation. Under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the CAA's powers were transferred to a new independent body, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In the same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created after the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite.The accident investigation powers of the CAB were transferred to the new National Transportation Safety Board in 1967, at the same time that the United States Department of Transportation was created.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 421 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, that crashed on 29 August 1948. The Martin 2-0-2 aircraft, operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, suffered structural failure in its left wing and crashed approximately 4.1 miles (6.6Â km) northwest of Winona, Minnesota, about 95 miles (153Â km) southeast of Minneapolis. A Civil Aeronautics Board investigation determined that the crash was caused by fatigue cracks in the wings of the aircraft, and recommended lower speeds and frequent inspections of all Martin 2-0-2 aircraft. All 33 passengers and 4 crew members on board were killed. The crash was the first loss of a Martin 2-0-2, and remains the worst accident involving a Martin 2-0-2, as well as the worst aviation accident in Wisconsin.