Turner Airlines inaugurated service over Air Mail Route 88 on November 12 & 14, 1949 via Segment 1 which operated between Indianapolis and Grand Rapids, via Kokomo, South Bend, and Kalamazoo. Due to unfavorable weather conditions and limited equipment, considerable difficulty was encountered. The first flight was the November 12 northbound flight from Indianapolis which operated only as far as Kokomo and was cancelled out on account of weather; turned around and operated south back to Indianapolis. Later in the day, the same crew departed Indianapolis and advanced as far north as Kalamazoo, one stop short of Grand Rapids, again cancelled out and returned south again to Indianapolis.
This cover was carried on the inaugural Air Mail Route 88 flight from Indianapolis, Indiana to Grand Rapids, Michigan (where it was backstamped) and is listed in the Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) Section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 88N5.
During September 1950, the airline was renamed Lake Central Airlines.
Effective July 1, 1968, Lake Central Airlines merged with Allegheny Airlines. Accordingly, Air Mail Route 88 was combined with Allegheny's Air Mail Route 97 and the entire system designated as Air Mail Route 97.
A Civil Aeronautics Board order, effective June 11, 1979, authorized the corporate title “Allegheny Airlines” to be changed to “USAir, Inc.” The name change reflected the carrier’s geographic expansion and increased airline status.
In early 1997 USAir changed its name to US Airways and introduced a new corporate identity.
On February 14, 2013, US Airways Group and AMR Corporation announced that the two companies would merge to form the largest airline in the world. The combined airline carries the American Airlines name.