Monarch Air Lines was an American local service airline based in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, that began its scheduled air service on November 27, 1946, with a flight from Denver to

Durango, Colorado Durango is the home rule city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis College ...

, using a

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

. It was formed by F.W. Bonfils of ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'' family and Ray M. Wilson, who operated a Denver flying school. Other services started to

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

and Grand Junction. Monarch pioneered all-weather operations in its service area by installing its own navigational system. By 1948, the airline was sharing several functions with Challenger Airlines, such as maintenance and sales at Denver. Monarch bought a controlling interest in Challenger in December 1949. Monarch merged with

Arizona Airways Arizona Airways was an Arizona intrastate airline that operated 1946–1948, making substantial losses. About the time it ceased operations, it was federally certificated as a local service carrier to fly smaller routes in Arizona, New Mexico an ...

and Challenger Airlines on June 1, 1950, to form Frontier Airlines. Monarch's President, Hal S. Darr, became President of the new airline. Ray Wilson became V.P. Operations and Maintenance of the new company and Monarch's Treasurer, C.A. Myhre, became Executive Vice President and later President of Frontier. Monarch operated five

aircraft at the time of the merger: NC64421, NC64422, NC64423, NC64424, and NC66610. They became Frontier "Sunliners" named ''Arizona, New Mexico, Royal Gorge, Mesa Verde'' and ''Utah''.

Destinations during the late 1940s

Monarch was serving the following destinations on a daily basis with

aircraft during the late 1940s:Additional reference: http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/fl47/fl47-3.jpg *

Albuquerque, NM Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County. Founded in 1706 as ' by Santa Fe de Nuevo México gover ...

Canon City, CO Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Colorado Springs, CO Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

* Cortez, CO *

Denver, CO Denver ( ) is a consolidated city and county, the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Western United States, in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains east of ...

- ''company headquarters'' *

Durango, CO Durango is the home rule city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis College. ...

* Farmington, NM * Gallup, NM *

Grand Junction, CO Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States census, making it the most populous city in western C ...

Monte Vista, CO The City of Monte Vista is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Rio Grande County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 4,247 at the 2020 Census. History Monte Vista was laid out in 1884. The site ...

- '' Alamosa, CO was served via Monte Vista'' *

Price, UT Price is a city in the U.S. state of Utah and the county seat of Carbon County. The city is home to Utah State University Eastern, as well as the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum. Price is located within short distances of both Nine Mile Canyon ...

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References

*Lamkins, Jake "Monarch Air Lines website". http://Jakeroo.tripod.com/Monarch.html

External links

Old Frontier Airlines
a website about the history of the old Frontier Airlines and its predecessor airlines. Defunct airlines of the United States Companies based in Denver Airlines established in 1946 Defunct companies based in Colorado 1946 establishments in Colorado Airlines disestablished in 1950 1950 disestablishments in Colorado 1950 mergers and acquisitions Airlines based in Colorado {{US-airline-stub

Destinations during the late 1940s

See also

References

External links