Western Air Express was incorporated in 1925. It applied for, and was awarded, the route from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. In April 1926, Western's first flight took place. It began offering passenger services a month later. Then, in 1930, WAE purchased Standard Airlines. In June 1928, Western Air Express took over the operations of Pacific Marine Airways. In 1930, Western Air Express's abruptly stopped operations when Postmaster General William Folger Brown forced it to merge with Transcontinental Air Transport. The resultant Transcontinental and Western Airlines, also known as TWA, took over most of Western's old routes and equipment. However, Western Air Express was able to maintain a separate corporate existence, but with only the Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake City and Cheyenne-to-Colorado Springs routes. In 1934, Western Air Express was severed from TWA and briefly changed its name to General Air Lines, returning to the name Western Air Express after several months. In 1937, the airline expanded, purchasing National Park Airways and later Inland Air. In 1941 Western Air Express changed its name to Western Air Lines (WAL), which was later altered to Western Airlines. In 1967 WAL merged with Pacific Northern Airlines. On 9 September 1986 Western Airlines and Delta Airines entered into an agreement and plan of merger. The merger agreement was approved by the DOT on December 11, 1986. On December 16, 1986, shareholder approval of the merger was conferred and Western Airlines became a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta. The Western brand was discontinued and the employee work forces were fully merged on 1 April 1987.