and New Orleans. Some Eastern flights continued to Atlanta; Newark, Boston, Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Delta Air Lines began Convair 440 service in the 1950s flying a Houston Hobby Airport, TX - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Shreveport, LA - Little Rock, AR - Memphis, TN - St. Louis, MO - Chicago Midway Airport, IL routing. Delta inherited the Houston - Chicago route when it merged with Chicago & Southern Airlines, which flew Douglas DC-3s to Beaumont starting in 1947. Six airlines have flown jets to BPT. Trans-Texas Airways (which subsequently changed its name to Texas International Airlines) flew Douglas DC-9-10 jets as well as Convair 600 turboprops to Houston and Dallas. According to the February 1, 1976 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Texas International was operating direct DC-9 jet service from Los Angeles (LAX) to Beaumont/Port Arthur via five stops en route in Albuquerque, Roswell, Midland/Odessa, Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. Texas International merged into Continental Airlines which continued jet service from the airport. In 1979, Southwest Airlines was operating four Boeing 737-200 flights a day nonstop to Dallas Love Field. In July 1983, Continental was flying Boeing 727-100s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s nonstop to Houston (IAH). Delta Air Lines flew Boeing 727-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s nonstop to Houston (IAH) and Shreveport as well as direct to Atlanta. Delta Connection, operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), flew Canadair CRJ-200s to Atlanta and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias to Dallas/Ft. Worth, with the latter service ending when Delta closed their DFW hub in early 2005. ExpressJet operating as Continental Express flew Embraer ERJ-145s to Houston (IAH). American Eagle also served the airport with Convair 580s followed by Saab 340s nonstop to Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) for American Airlines. USAir Express Beechcraft 1900Cs flew nonstop to New Orleans for USAir. Commuter airlines serving Beaumont/Port Arthur included Metro Airlines with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and Short 330s nonstop to Houston (IAH) and Short 330s nonstop to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Royale Airlines Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes nonstop to Houston (IAH) and direct to New Orleans, Air Texana with nonstop Beechcrafts to Houston Hobby Airport (HOU) and Dallas Love Field (DAL) and nonstop Douglas DC-3s to New Orleans, and Conquest Airlines Beechcraft 1900Cs and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners nonstop to Austin and Dallas Love Field. Conquest Airlines was based in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area before moving its headquarters to Austin where it started a hub. In early 1985, the Jack