Ummmm No or something...
Do a little research into the history of this business.Pan Am and TWA were in the 50's, 60's and 70's what American and United are today.
The Beatles didn't fly American into Idlewild did they? :blink:
Do your own research, sir.
AA has been around longer, and also flew to Europe before TWA did.
Unshakeable fact #1: Lindberg flew for AA before TW even existed.
Unshakeable fact #2: TULE opened in 1946.
Unshakeable fact #3: American Export Airways (separate company from AA at the time) started flying NYC-Ireland in 1942, and eventually merged with AA in Nov 1945, becoming American Overseas Airlines, a division of AA.
Unshakeable fact #4: TWA's entry into Europe wasn't until 1946.
Unshakeable fact #5: TWA went bankrupt three times. They should have gone bankrupt several times before that, and would have had Hughes not stepped up to the plate with money from ToolCo or his own pocket.
AOA was sold to Pan Am in 1950, which is one of the reasons TWA was what it was in the 1950's and 1960's. Hughes was absolutely hated in Washington, and had AOA and Pan Am remained in competion with each other, TWA would have probably remained locked out of the transatlantic market.
TWA may have had more visibility over the years, without going back to check annual reports from the 50's and 60's, I believe AA has alway been larger.