June February November April July October January January 2. December March One state that was inundated with the start-up of these small local service carriers was California. With the major urban centers of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the use of small commuter type airlines was necessary to bridge the gap of smaller, remote communities with the larger metropolitan areas.
As the number of start-up airlines increased, so did the number of ultimate failures and for the few left remaining the best way to starve of the competition was to consolidate and merge, and for a few choice airlines, the resultant product would be one of the largest commuter airlines in the United States; Golden West Airlines.
The airline operated a small fleet of nine-passenger Grumman Goose aircraft which operated on services from Long Beach to Avalon Bay at Catalina Island just off the coast of Southern California. Due to financial difficulties Catalina Air Lines ceased operations and was purchased by a new local air service carrier established at Long Beach known as Aero Commuter in December of Service to Catalina Island remained and Aero Commuter decided to continue to market its Catalina flights under the old Catalina Airways name due to the positive recognition and niche market appeal.
Based at Ontario Airport, early flights used Beech 18 and Cessna aircraft, until the airline placed a rather substantial order for twelve new de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. By late , Cable Commuter was operating fourteen DHC-6 Twin Otters, flying over flights a week and had become one of the largest commuters operating in the United States. Within a few months however the airline started to suffer financially and would terminate operations in March Flying hundreds of flights a week, Skymark with a few years had established itself as a reliable commuter airline for northern California shuttling passengers from across the northern and central portions of California into the San Francisco Bay area.
Seeing an opportunity for a large, combined commuter airline in California, San Diego financier, C. Arnholt Smith purchased the assets of Cable Commuter, Skymark Airlines and Aero Commuter and consolidated the three carriers into one to be known collectively as Aero Commuter in March of This new mega commuter became known collectively as Golden West Airlines in May , taking the name of the earlier carrier realizing the name reflected the true spirit of the services being provided in California.
