Did You Know: Pasco’s Tiny Airport Moment That Helped Create United Airlines

The Pasco airport is celebrating 100 years in the Columbia Basin this week, and did you know that Pasco had a big part in helping create United Airlines?

A Century of Connection: Tri-Cities Airport Turns 100

In a posting from the Pasco Airport, the 100-year celebration includes the fact that the Tri-Cities airport (now Pasco Airport) was the site of the first airmail contract flight between Elko, Nevada, and Pasco, Washington.

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Tri-Cities Airport Celebrates 100 Years of Aviation History

Varney Airlines, which was based in Boise, Idaho, won the contract that led to the creation of United Airlines.

Here are the details from the Wikipedia Page:

On February 2, 1925, US President Coolidge had signed into law, after passage by the Congress, HR 7064, "An Act to Encourage Commercial Aviation and to Authorize the Postmaster General to Contract for Air Mail Service", more commonly known as The Kelly Act, which directed the US Post Office Department to contract with private airlines to carry the mail over designated routes many of which connected with the Government operated Transcontinental Air Mail route between New York and San Francisco.

 

Varney won the contract for CAM-5 as the only bidder. Its first flight under contract with the USPOD was from Pasco, Washington to Elko, Nevada with an intermediate stop in Boise. That air freight contract grew into the birth of one of the world's biggest airlines.

 

READ MORE: 7 Epic Facts That You Didn't Know About Pasco's Moore Mansion

So as the Pasco airport celebrates its 100th birthday, it's pretty amazing that one little airport in the Columbia Basin played a big part in launching one of the biggest airlines in the world.

You can read more about the Pasco Airport's 100th birthday below: