Editing Trans World Airlines (section)

===1980s===
[[File:Boeing 747-131, Trans World Airlines - TWA AN1826865.jpg|left|thumb|TWA [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-100]] at [[Heathrow Airport]] in 1983]]
Facing the pressures of [[Airline deregulation#In the United States|deregulation]], the airline consolidated its route system around a domestic hub in St. Louis, aided by its purchase of [[Ozark Air Lines]] in 1986, and an international gateway in New York. It was able to remain profitable during this time because of its good route positioning and the relatively low costs of adapting its operations.

In 1983, [[Trans World Corporation]] spun off the airline.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1983-12-29|title=Spinoff Approved At Trans World Shareholders of the Trans World Corporation voted overwhelmingly in favor of proposals that will spin off Trans World Airlines from the company. Under one proposal, the 81 percent holding of the parent company in the airline will be distributed to Trans World stockholders at the rate of about 0.93 share of T.W.A. stock for each Trans World share. Under a second proposal, the incentive compensation plans of the two companies were separated.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/29/business/spinoff-approved-trans-world-shareholders-trans-world-corporation-voted.html|access-date=2021-04-14|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414164519/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/29/business/spinoff-approved-trans-world-shareholders-trans-world-corporation-voted.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1985, TWA's board agreed to sell the airline to [[Frank Lorenzo]]'s [[Texas Air Corporation]]. Due to Texas Air's ownership of non-union carriers [[Continental Airlines]] and [[New York Air]], as well as Lorenzo's reputation of being a '[[Union busting|union buster]]', TWA's unions objected to the sale,<ref>{{Cite web|date=1985-06-26|title=TWA Unions Hang Together Against Lorenzo|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-26-fi-1176-story.html|access-date=2021-04-14|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415175759/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-26-fi-1176-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and instead supported a takeover deal from [[Carl Icahn]] by offering concessions on condition that Icahn's deal be accepted by the board.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1985-07-03|title=T.W.A. PILOTS IN PACT WITH ICAHN ON CONCESSIONS|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/03/business/twa-pilots-in-pact-with-icahn-on-concessions.html|access-date=2021-04-14|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2021-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414164522/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/03/business/twa-pilots-in-pact-with-icahn-on-concessions.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Directors subsequently agreed, and the Texas Air deal was scrapped. Following the sale, Icahn appointed himself as chairman of the airline.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dallos|first1=Robert E.|title=Icahn Acquires Majority of TWA's Stock|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-24-fi-26300-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=24 August 1985|archive-date=2024-12-04|access-date=2024-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204100029/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-24-fi-26300-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also in 1985, TWA closed its hub at [[Pittsburgh International Airport]] after nearly 20 years as a hub. The following year, TWA acquired [[Ozark Air Lines]], a regional carrier based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, for $250 million.<ref>{{cite news|title=Twa To Buy Ozark For $250 Million|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/02/28/twa-to-buy-ozark-for-250-million/|access-date=25 April 2014|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=28 February 1986}}</ref> This transaction increased TWA's share of enplanements in St. Louis from 56.6% to 82%.<ref>{{cite web|title=RCED-88-217BR Airline Competition: Fare and Service Changes at St. Louis Since the TWA–Ozark Merger |publisher=United States General Accounting Office |date=1988-09-21 |url=http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?RCED-88-217BR |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804194841/http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?RCED-88-217BR |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-08-04 |access-date=2016-09-18 }}</ref>

TWA had pilot bases in many European cities such as [[Berlin]], [[Frankfurt]], [[Zürich]], [[Rome]], and [[Athens]]. These bases were used to provide crews for the Boeing 727s which TWA operated in its European route network. Its Boeing 727 aircraft served [[Cairo]], [[Athens]], [[Rome]], [[London]], [[Paris]], [[Geneva]], Berlin, Frankfurt, [[Hamburg]], [[Stuttgart]], Zürich, [[Amsterdam]], [[Oslo]], [[Vienna]], and [[Istanbul]].

In 1987, Icahn moved the company's main offices from Manhattan<ref>"World Airline Directory". ''Flight International''. March 30, 1985. [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1985/1985%20-%200988.html 128] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308183008/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1985/1985%20-%200988.html |date=2012-03-08 }}." Retrieved on June 17, 2009.</ref> to office buildings he owned in [[Mount Kisco, New York|Mount Kisco]].<ref>{{cite news|work=The New York Times|date=1987-07-19|access-date=2009-01-05|title=Mount Kisco Awaits Arrival of T.W.A.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6DF173AF93AA25754C0A961948260|first=Betsy|last=Brown}}</ref>

TWA earned a profit of $106.2 million in 1987. In September 1988, TWA stockholders approved a plan to take the company private, winning Icahn $469 million in personal profit, but adding $539.7 million in debt to TWA.<ref name=Karash/>{{rp|64}}

[[File:Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1011-385-1-15 TriStar 100 Marmet.jpg|thumb|TWA operated the L-1011 TriStar [[wide-body]] jetliner]]
TWA's zenith as an international carrier occurred in the summer of 1988, when, for the only time, the airline carried more than 50 percent of all transatlantic passengers.<ref>The table in ''Air Transport World'' for June 1989 says in 1988 TWA had fewer "Atlantic" passenger miles than Pan Am alone.</ref> Every day, Boeing 747, [[Lockheed L-1011]], and [[Boeing 767]] aircraft departed to more than 30 cities in Europe, fed by a small but effective domestic operation focused on moving U.S. passengers to New York or other gateway cities for [[Wide-body aircraft|wide-body]] service across the Atlantic, while a similar inter-European operation shuttled non-U.S. passengers to TWA's European gateways—London, Paris (which was even considered a European hub by TWA), and [[Frankfurt]]—for travel to the United States.

In 1989, TWA decided to replace its fleet of Boeing 727 Series 100 aircraft with the former [[Ozark Airlines]] [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9|DC-9s]]. This decision was based on the economics of operating three-crew airplanes (727s) with three engines, versus operating two-crew airplanes (DC-9s) with two engines. Both airplanes had about the same passenger and cargo capacity, so it was decided to replace the Boeing fleet. To prepare for this transition, TWA positioned several million dollars worth of spare parts for the DC-9s in Germany. This was a requirement dictated by the German government. If TWA wanted to use DC-9s in the service of the German population, then TWA had to provide readily available spare parts for its fleet. The airline also sent its senior DC-9 pilots (known as Check Airmen) to Europe to observe the operations in preparation for the changeover of the crews that were to follow. Shortly before the DC-9 airplanes began arriving in Germany, however, the entire plan was cancelled because the leasing contracts that Carl Icahn had created for the former Ozark DC-9s specifically forbade any operations outside the continental limits of the United States.{{Citation needed|date=September 2016}}