Ft. Worth, TX 1930-Current

American Airways, which was a subsidiary of the AMR Corp., was developed from a conglomeration of 82 small airlines through acquisitions in 1930s. Initially, American Airways was a common brand by a number of independent carriers. These included Southern Air Transport in Texas, Southern Air Fast Express (SAFE) in the western US, Universal Aviation in the Midwest, Thompson Aeronautical Services and Colonial Air Transport in the Northeast. In 1934, American Airways Company was acquired by E.L. Cord, who renamed it "American Air Lines". Cord hired Texas businessman C.R. Smith to run the company. After World War II, American acquired American Export Airlines, renaming it as American Overseas Airways to serve Europe. AOA was sold to Pan Am in 1950. American launched another subsidiary, NEAS (Areas Americanas de Mexico S.A.), to fly to Mexico. The airline moved it headquarters to Ft. Worth from NYC in 1979. In 1987, American purchased Air Cal. In April, 2001, the airline negotiated the purchase of the near bankrupt Trans World Airlines. On November 29, 2011 AMR Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. December 9, 2013 was a two fold day of importance to American. On that day, the airline came out of bankruptcy and the merger of American and USAir was approved by the U.S. government formally and the corporate name changed to American Airlines Group. The airline would retain the name American Airlines and the top management would be USAir personal. In 2011, due to a downturn in the airline industry, American Airlines and AME Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection. In 2013, US Airways and American Airlines merged. Eventually operations were merged under one operating certificate to create the largest United States airline which kept the American Airlines brand name. Heaquarters is to remain at Ft. Worth, Texas.