Question: What defunct Dallas-based airline built the world’s first fully automated monorail transit system in 1970?
Answer: Braniff International Airways. The $2 million Jet Rail gondolas at Dallas Love Field transported passengers from a parking lot to the main terminal a mile away in about four minutes. Each climate-controlled gondola could carry 10 passengers, and passengers received their luggage at their vehicles when they returned from their trips.
When Jet Rail was introduced, a Braniff vice president predicted that every airport in the world would have a similar system by 1975. However, Braniff stopped using the gondolas in 1974 after the company relocated to the newly opened Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The system was completely dismantled in 1978. During the four years Jet Rail was in operation, it transported 10 million passengers.
