On Board With Design

TWA began as Transcontinental and Western Airlines, reflecting the names of the companies that merged to form the airline in 1930. When TWA began operating transatlantic service in 1946, breaking into a market in which only Pan Am had previously been legally allowed to operate, the airline was renamed “the Trans World Airline,” and later, “Trans World Airlines” in 1950 under owner Howard Hughes.

TWA’s twin globe logo was designed by Raymond Loewy in 1959, adding abstracted gold globes to the corporate symbol that had been in use for some time: the airline’s initials in a windswept red typeface. 1962 saw the opening of the airline’s terminal at JFK International Airport (at the time Idlewild Airport), designed by architect Eero Saarinen and one of the airline’s great design legacies, which Loewy contributed to with the design of the airport’s Union News coffee shop. His globe logo was visible throughout TWA’s corporate identity, including on the 1978 ticket envelope, part of a series done by illustrator Bob Peak for the airline, shown below.

Items in the exhibit are housed at Northwestern University’s Transportation Library. Email transportationlibrary@northwestern.edu with questions, or to schedule an appointment.