Which airline flew the first scheduled Constellation flight?

The Constellation was conceived as a commercial aircraft for TWA, but World War II initially turned it into the C-69 military transport. After the war ended, all C-69s except three were sold to civilian operators and redesignated L-049, allowing airlines to put the aircraft into use quickly. The first civilian examples were certified for air transport on December 1, 1945.

The first airline to put it into scheduled service was Pan American, which opened the route between New York and Bermuda with it on February 3, 1946. With this entry into service, the Constellation became the second long-range passenger aircraft with a pressurized and air-conditioned cabin, after the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, of which only ten examples had been built between 1938 and 1940. The pressurized cabin allowed it to fly higher, above much of the bad weather, with greater comfort for passengers.

The first months were not easy. On June 18, 1946, one of the engines on a Pan Am Constellation caught fire and detached in flight; the crew managed an emergency landing without casualties. Problems with the Wright R-3350 engine, which was prone to overheating, and other accidents that year led to the aircraft's certification being temporarily suspended until Lockheed modified the design. After overcoming this setback came the versions designed from the outset for civilian use: the first was the L-649, which flew on October 19, 1946.