It’s a shame that Disney mishandled the Star Wars film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, because it’s a pretty good science fiction movie. I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old grandson that loves the movie and wants to watch it over and over again. As a movie it does what its supposed to, it inspires young people to think about complicated engineering and physics problems while they are still conceptual kids framing their entire lives in front of them. Big colorful movies like that particular Star Wars film are great as change agents in our culture for positive outlooks. The movie is by far one of the best Star Wars films in general but unfortunately it looks like it will be the last one. By reading the many articles on a year in review for 2018 Solo: A Star Wars Story was considered a financial bomb by current analytical standards but what I see is a huge campaign by a bunch of screwy Disney executives to save their jobs because it was they who screwed up the movie in the short run. But in the context of history Solo: A Star Wars Story will be one of the better ones and will be remembered for many years to come. Disney if they were smart would make more of them while they can still get the actors.
Problem number one is that movies now are based on international box office results, which means many communist and socialist countries have a say in whether movies do well or not. I would argue that none of the original Star Wars movies or Indiana Jones films for that matter would have done well in a market that considered international box office as a driver of success. To do that a film has to represent all the people of the world in some way, and that isn’t easy to do. It’s an unrealistic expectation for a company like Disney to do it over and over again. In their titles that are directed specifically to children, all children of the world want the same kinds of things, so billion-dollar money makers are more obtainable. But a Star Wars film with mature content in them is a different story. I think the world would have eventually accepted Solo: A Star Wars Story but the ideas of Han Solo are not universally global, they are specifically American—so international markets have a difficult time relating. Disney should have had a longer view of what Solo was and not expected it to perform well on a first run in international markets.
The other thing is that Disney screwed up the Star Wars fan base. First they put out the new films not consistent with the books that fans grew up with—which was a real problem. Then they released The Last Jedi before Solo: A Star Wars Story. If they were going to mess with the formula of Star Wars, they should have given fans the traditional Star Wars story before changing the game on them with The Last Jedi. When Solo: A Star Wars Story came out 6 months after The Last Jedi people were still very angry at the trilogy film that embarked on the further journeys of Rey, Finn and Kylo Ryn. The direction of that film was too drastic, unsatisfying, and way too politically progressive. Not even my two-year-old grandson likes that movie. I have tried to show it to him, but its slow, the action scenes aren’t often enough, and it just has a heavy hand thematically. It’s not light on its feet the way Star Wars movies are supposed to be and it hurts the film. I personally think it’s a pretty good movie with ambitious ideas, but these movies have to realize that it is children who are their target audience, and to stick with it.
A huge mistake that was made in connection to the sequencing of releases was that Disney should not have tried to rush Solo: A Star Wars Story to theaters for a summer release. They should have waited until Christmas. Disney for whatever reason thought that a Mary Poppins sequel was going to be really successful. But as of the turn of the year the film has only made around $100 million domestically. Around $170 million internationally. Those are actually really bad numbers considering Disney wanted to clear the slate for Mary Poppins to do well over the holiday season. Auquaman didn’t do much better which was the other big release. These films aren’t exactly lighting it up at the box office and these are the best that studios are putting out. Disney should have put Solo out over Christmas and the numbers would have been much better. They needed time to repair the Star Wars brand after The Last Jedi and to take away the summer competition which had a lot of really good films to compete with including an Avengers film which soaked up the box office in the previous weekends then had another Jurassic World film hitting a few weeks after Solo. Too many movies and not enough dollars to spend on them all. In a world of such tight competition, people weren’t sure they were ready to see someone besides Harrison Ford play Han Solo, so they went to see other films instead. But that people weren’t ready doesn’t mean the movie was bad, it was just going to take some time to get used to.
I know there are some high-level Disney execs who read here and are curious as to what happened to them in 2018. I tried to tell you guys—don’t make movies at the back of the train, get to the front. Solo was a good movie and you should do more of them. Cut the budget to half what you had in the first film and just let the movies do their thing. Movies like that are change agents which set the industry standards. They don’t always have it built-in where they can make a market splash within two weeks on their way toward a billion dollars. Sometimes it takes people time to figure out that they love a movie and those are the ones that stick around. If you are going to make Star Wars movies look to change the rules of box office acquisition, don’t try to follow them. While we wait for more Star Wars films, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have more movies with Han and Chewie to fill story gaps that will still be fun to watch thirty years from now. Just don’t spend a fortune on them and keep them lean on the business end and let them do their thing. I think Disney would find them to be enormously successful. Just don’t listen to the media critics, they don’t know what they are talking about. Show the films to 2-year olds and if they want to watch them over and over again, then you can know you have a good Star Wars movie. It’s not really any more complicated than that. So don’t make it that way. But you should do it quickly because those actors are getting old, and there are still some great fun stories about Han Chewie and the Millennium Falcon that need to be told.
Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?
So what was wrong with Roseanne Barr saying about the Obama administration activist Valerie Jarrett if “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj?” For that Tweet ABC owned by the Disney Company cancelled the top-rated show. I’m not seeing the problem with the hard-hitting comedian saying such a thing, Valerie Jarrett isn’t a black woman or anything—she’s fair game in the public realm, she was born after all in Shiraz, Iran. Many other comedians, even those employed by Disney in some way or another have said much worse about President Trump and white men in general. So why isn’t there allowed a banter back and forth—because in the context of things, that’s all Roseanne was doing.
I watched The Black Panther the other day not knowing much about the character or the movie other than it did very good business and I was shocked at some of the lines by the characters which were obvious put downs toward the white actors. Was that supposed to be funny? What if the white characters said something like, “you black people are all alike,” or something to that effect, how would that have gone over? Likely there would have been riots in the streets and massive protests at the box office. Even though I am pulling for Disney to do well with the new Solo Star Wars movie I couldn’t help but notice the political activism in the film, the very deliberate white guy kissing a black girl, or Han Solo arguing with an Imperial officer that they were attacking the home world of their enemy and that they were in the wrong. Does every movie these days have to have some kind of social commentary?
So it’s “racist” to make this comparison if a conservative does it, but when the left does it they get a complete pass? I can’t be the only one who sees past this selective outrage and hypocrisy…. #RosanneBarr#Roseanne@therealroseannepic.twitter.com/xMyJydoAz0
Can’t people just tell a story? Largely the film is good fun and avoids some of the political pitfalls that have contaminated the other three Star Wars films from the Disney era, but when you do see it the radicalism is quite jarring. At the end of the Black Panther the heroes go to the United Nations and agree to share their awesome technology with the rest of the world. That’s fine for a fantasy story, but there is nothing politically factual about the story of the Kingdom of Wakanda having all this technical power. And the United Nations is not a governing body of any influence, so much of the premise of The Black Panther is purely political, in that they are trying to create a philosophic reality by tossing out the facts of the matter.
I enjoyed The Black Panther mostly, and I root for Disney to do well most of the time. I like Star Wars, I enjoy their theme parks, I’m even looking forward to the new Incredibles 2 coming up. But they are just entertainment options at best these days, and nothing to take too seriously, until they make themselves political. And Disney is certainly guilty of that. I understand they are a company with globalist aims because that’s where the new markets are, but in doing so they are spitting in the eye of Walt Disney himself who was a very stout American patriot. If Disney were alive today he’d be a Trump supporter and likely a leader in the Tea Party movement. Bob Iger on the other hand thinks serious of being a Democratic nominee for President of the United States—is not the same type of person. Iger is pushing liberal politics into the Disney brand, and that has worked for a while so long as they didn’t cross the line. But over the last four or five years the line is being crossed constantly and the only way they’ve managed to get away with it is because there are no other media platforms out there who can really compete with them.
Obviously, the Disney Company was looking for the first opportunity to get Roseanne’s show off the air. While it was making a lot of money for the company the profits from Infinity War alone nearly erase the losses from cancelling Roseanne’s show, and for Bob Iger, feeding the political platform of the other side was something he couldn’t let happen on his watch. The message couldn’t be clearer, it is alright if liberals make fun of conservatives even crossing the lines of racism calling Trump a monkey and all types of terrible names. But if someone calls a liberal a name—especially if she’s female, then all hell will break loose. That is if people care about the Hell that is breaking loose. Honestly for me, I can take it or leave it. I watched one episode of the new Roseanne Barr show and couldn’t handle it. It was just too slow and stuck for me. It certainly wasn’t a conservative show as it was being sold. I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, so I didn’t watch another episode. They were all too negative to me, so it’s no skin off my back for the show to be cancelled. I’ll cheer for Star Wars to do well, and I like the efforts of the Marvel movies, but more and more Disney is losing people like me to their radicalism—and in the long-term, they are making a mistake because its people like me who will support them in the future. Not Valarie Jarrett, who is a well-known progressive radical who invited some rebuke from someone with enough guts to do it—because that’s the nature of the world we are living in today.
What is really going on with Disney and liberals in general with this whole two-faced duality they have going on is that as liberals they want to believe that there is a Wakanda out there, which is an obvious rip off from Ayn Rand’s classic novel Atlas Shrugged. But also as liberals, they have no way of knowing how to get there. They just say that it exists and expect audiences to accept that reality without understanding the foundation of the philosophy. They associate liberalism with skin color and advanced technology and everyone is just supposed to go along with it until someone like Roseanne comes along and makes them look at the world of Donald Trump that they are so desperate to ignore.
Back to the Han Solo reference from Solo: A Star Wars Story, Donald Trump is probably the least war hungry President America has ever had. By the end of his term many of the wars around the world will be coming to an end and that should make Disney and the liberals behind the company very happy. Donald Trump literally is like Han Solo in the new film asking why America is in all these foreign wars. He wants out. But liberals can’t handle that reality, so they choose to ignore it, and when someone like Roseanne gives them an excuse to turn away from the truth, they are more than willing to do it—even if it cuts off their own noses to spite their face.
I wouldn’t have called Valarie Jarrett an ape from the Muslim brotherhood because I have a lot more descriptive terminology to use because I have an extensive vocabulary to draw from, but many people I know of all shapes sizes, sexes and races think the same way about Valerie Jarrett, they just don’t have the intellectual means to express it beyond frustrated terminology, which is why Roseanne had a number one show. Disney can turn their eyes away from that reality, but they can’t outrun the truth. While they are doing well as a company presently, that won’t last forever. There are only so many Infinity War movies out there that they can make as they are quickly turning off conservatives in America with their radicalism. I’ve been one of their biggest fans over the years and they are turning me off, especially after watching The Black Panther. The political activism couldn’t be more obvious. And not having Roseanne on the air won’t have any impact on how people feel. It just means that they go deeper into hiding making them a phantom menace toward future political endeavors. Democrats can’t win by ignoring the facts—they have to come to terms with reality and that is obviously something they aren’t willing to do.
The situation is so bad that I had to send Ron Howard a Tweet today reminding him to keep his liberal mouth shut so that he didn’t further hurt Solo: A Star Wars Story in a very critical week where the film can make some money. I’m not interested in helping Ron Howard, Kathy Kennedy or Bob Iger and their political ideologies, I’m trying to help Star Wars. The American domestic market is still half of all box office totals and it’s not smart to only try to appeal to half the American nation. Like it or not, half the nation voted for Donald Trump and his approval ratings show it. Wasn’t it Michael Jordon who famously said, “Republicans buy tennis shoes too.” The old Star Wars movies didn’t have roots in current politics, so they were films that spoke to higher concepts. They were obviously anti-Nazi, but that was about it. The big problem with liberals is that they are participating this activism in an attempt to erase their own history with radicalism, because it was liberals who were the racists supporting slavery, and it was liberals who took over the German political machine and invented the Nazi. It wasn’t conservatives. So they hope that by overreacting to every little thing, like Roseanne Barr Tweeting about Valarie Jarrett in the same way that other comedians from the political left do toward Republicans like Trump—that they can erase history. But guess what, they can’t. Most of America knows the truth and pandering to demographic groups like Disney has been doing cannot justify liberalism as it is. Because what it always was have been the source of racism and terror. Just like the secret city of Wakanda in The Black Panther Disney can’t just say something is good without showing how, what, why, when and where, and when they attempt to history is always there with a grim reminder that it’s not on their side. Valerie Jarrett is not one of the good people, she’s at best a villain—she will never be a Disney princess. And cancelling Roseanne won’t erase that factual reality.
I find it baffling that you are going political again while there is still a good box office week to make some money for Solo. Don’t throw in the towel yet. Don’t you guys see that these political divisions are costing Star Wars? https://t.co/t8GqtF8o7O
Sea World did not set up its park in Orlando on its own. It went there because of the success of Disney World. Universal Studios did not set up in Orlando with their two parks, Universals Studios and Islands of Adventure on their own. They went there because of Disney World. All the interesting restaurants, hotels and shopping establishments on International in Orlando and Kissimmee all are there because of Disney World.
For the mind to wrap itself around just how important Walt Disney World in Orlando is to not just the state of Florida, but the entire United States have a look at these numbers from source article at the link, a majority of the text is below however:
When you read this, think for just a second of all the companies that exist just to supply Walt Disney World with material, whether it be food, wrappers, steel for construction, concrete, you name it.
30,500 acres or 43 square miles of property is what is considered the original area centrally located in Florida and is considered the largest of its kind in the world.
1965 is when the public was told about the Walt Disney World Resort Plans
52 months of construction were needed to build Walt Disney World back in 1971.
8 million cubic yards of earth were moved to build Walt Disney World.
2,000 acres remain open for development by the Walt Disney World Company.
$180 an acres was a great price for the Florida land, until Disney was named the person buying the land then the price went to $1000 an acre.
27,258 acres of land were purchased for WDW
$5,018, 770 was the cost of the 27,258 acres
18 months of moving dirt were used to just prepare the Magic Kingdom site to be built.
8 million cubic yards of earth were moved to build the Magic Kingdom.
2,600,000 chocolate covered Mickey Mouse ice cream bars are sold every year at Walt Disney World (WDW)
4 colors make up the official colors of WDW, lagoon blue, mint green, pumpkin orange, lavender.
450 acre area is Bay Lake and located near the Magic Kingdom.
4.5 miles of beach line the Seven Seas lagoon and Bay Lake
2.385 billion gallons make up the volume of water that is Bay Lake and the adjoining Seven Seas Lagoon.
3.8 million pens are purchased by WDW each year.
600 tons of steel helps make up Cinderella’s Castle, and not a single stone.
4 inches is the distance the driver of the armored car has between the door and the wall of the Utilidors, which is the only gas-powered vehicle allowed in the Tunnel.
9 acres of tunnel are under the Magic Kingdom.
14 feet below ground are the 9 acres of tunnels servicing the Magic Kingdom.
2 times a month the horse shaped hitching posts on Main Street, USA are scraped and painted.
20 minutes is all it takes to fill Splash Mountain and 5 Minutes to drain it.
47 square miles is the original property size that was purchased for Walt Disney World.
7,500 acres were set aside as Conversation area in 1970 and developed a system of more than 43 miles of canals and 22 miles of levees to control the water level.
70,000 fingerling bass were originally stocked in Bay lake when WDW first opened.
4 trains are part of the WDW railroad; each train has 5 cars and can hold approximately 360 Guests and 2 wheelchairs. The train names are: Walter E. Disney (red), Lilly Belle (green),Roger E. Broggie (yellow),Roy O. Disney (blue).
10 miles per hour is the touring speed of the WDW railroad trains travel at while taking you on your scenic journey around the park.
3,000,000 are how many passengers the WDW railroad carries each year.
100,000 guests is the max capacity for the Magic Kingdom. The parking lot closes at 75,000 to allow room for Hotel resort guests arriving on buses, boats and monorail.
11,000 firework shows per year makes WDW the largest consumer of fireworks in North America.
2,300 wedding are estimated to take place at WDW in a year.
15,000 weddings have taken place at WDW since September 1991.
7 million hamburgers are sold in the park each year
5 million hotdogs are consumed each year in the park
1.4 million barbecued turkey legs are consumed each year at Walt Disney World
58,000 employees are employed by Walt Disney world as of 2006, spending more than $1.1 billion on payroll and $478 million in benefits each year
5,000 employees are dedicated to the maintenance and engineering at WDW including 750 horticulturists and 600 painters.
$100 million is spent each year to maintain the Magic Kingdom.
10 of the 12 trains can be stored in the maintenance shop on its upper level (the bottom level houses the four steam locomotives that circle the Magic Kingdom). On any given night, two Mark VI trains are parked outside the gate of the Magic Kingdom. No train will ever be left outside two nights in a row.
150 truckloads of holiday decorations adorn the Walt Disney World Resort and 300,000 yards of ribbon and bows drape over 1,500 Christmas trees during the yuletide season.
72,000 ticket holders at the FedEx Orange Bowl National Championship game in Miami each receive a surprise free ticket to any Disney theme park in the world. The largest Disney theme park ticket give-away ever was part of the launch of the Happiest Celebration on Earth, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Disneyland and Disney theme parks.
50,000th child to have a Disney theme park wish granted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Disney. This event took place on October 6, 2005.
2,500 different Cast Member costume designs make up a working wardrobe of about 1.8 million pieces. Approximately 13,000 costume pieces are manufactured each year at Walt Disney World.
15 million miles are driven by the Walt Disney World bus fleet each year.
3,421,399 (approximately)famous “Mouse Ear” hats sold each year at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando to cover the head of every man, woman and child in Portland, Oregon.
30th year anniversary for Walt Disney World was celebrated October 1, 2001. Happy Anniversary !
392,040 square feet of space under the Magic Kingdom creates the Utilidors and are bustling with action. Beside navigation information the walls are covered with motivational information, such as the 7 rules of a Cast Member.
750 watercraft makes Walt Disney World the 5th largest fleet of watercraft in the world.
14 feet deep is the Seven Sea lagoon, but Bay lake is only 12 feet deep.
2.5 million garments(pieces) exist in Walt Disney World costuming department.
150,000 gallons of paint were purchased in 2004 enough to cover 7,500 average size homes.
263 buses are in service at Walt Disney World.
50 million soft drinks are sold annually at WDW.
9 million pounds of French Fries are sold annually at WDW.
194,871 miles of toilet tissue are used annually at WDW.
24,409 miles of paper towels are used annually at WDW.
319,353 lbs. of chocolate are used annually at WDW.
1.2 million pounds of watermelon are used annually at WDW.
741,150 pounds of sugar are used annually at WDW.
1.8 million pounds of flour are used annually at WDW.
245,000 pounds of fruit filling are used annually at WDW.
38,000 pounds of white icing glaze are used annually at WDW.
2.9 million pounds of eggs are used annually at WDW.
606,000 pounds of bananas are used annually at WDW.
510,000 of grapes are used annually at WDW.
1.5 million soft pretzels are served annually at WDW.
639,000 pounds of macaroni and cheese are served at WDW.
337,000 pencils are purchased annually to use at WDW.
148 million sheets of recycled copier paper are used annually at WDW.
730,102 gallons of bleach are used annually at WDW.
214,000 bandages were provided to guests during the year 2004 at WDW.
20,000 different colors of paint used in Walt Disney World.
14.25 pound largemouth bass is the largest ever caught on Bay Lake, but we’ll never know since it is catch and release fishing.
3 circle vision films play at WDW. n the Magic Kingdom, take a trip through time in Tomorrowland’s “The Timekeeper.” The other two films using the Circle-Vision technology are both found in Epcot’s World Showcase. They are O Canada!, and the Wonders of China.
175 different outfits are in Mickey’s wardrobe closet, including a scuba suit and a tuxedo.
200 different outfits are in Minnie’s wardrobe closet, including a cheerleader costume and various evening gowns.
15 million gallons of water are used each day at WDW.
5,000 plus performers, (not counting the 500 doves that were released), joined in the Grand Opening Celebration of Walt Disney World at the Magic Kingdom on October 25, 1971.
1,076-piece band (including 76 trombones) was led by “Music man” Meredith Wilson as part of the Grand opening parade up Main Street, USA.
51,000 employees work at WDW, this number changes with the seasons and peak park seasons.
11 miles of garland, 3,000 wreaths and 1,500 Christmas trees are spread around during the holiday season. The tallest is a 70-foot tree in Disney’s Contemporary Resort. In addition, trees, which range in height from 45 to 70 feet, are placed in prominent positions in the theme parks.
500,000 character watches are sold annually mainly Mickey watches, are slipped onto wrists from Walt Disney World gift shops each year. At any given time, there are more than 200 different varieties of character watches. The most popular timepiece: a gold-tone relief of Mickey Mouse.
100 pairs of sunglasses are turned in at the Magic Kingdom lost and found alone. There have been enough “shades” submitted each year in the Magic Kingdom to outfit every resident of Sun City, Arizona; Sun City, California; and Sun City, Florida. Since 1971, an estimated 1.5 million pairs of glasses have found their way into the “lost” bin.
6,000 different types of food are served at WDW.
350 or more chefs are employed at WDW
150 semi trucks of decorations are used to decorate WDW during the Christmas season.
15 miles of garland are to decorate at WDW during Christmas season.
300,000 yards of ribbon are used for decorating at Christmas.
1,500 Christmas trees are used all around the WDW property for decorating.
8 million lights are used to decorate the 4 parks for Christmas.
18 towers are on Cinderella’s Castle.
2 times the size of Manhattan Island is the property of Walt Disney World.
200 feet is the maximum building height in Florida, so the building does not have a red light installed for aircraft.
1st guest entered Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971
50,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on March 2,1976
100,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on October 22, 1979
150,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on April 7, 1983
200,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on July 20, 1985
300,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on June 21, 1989
400,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on August 5,1992
500,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on October 13, 1995
600,000,000 guest entered Walt Disney World on June 24, 1998
4 million guests of Walt Disney World Resort hotels have used Disney’s Magical Express since the airport shuttle, luggage delivery and airline check-in service launched May 5, 2005
250,000 Guests at the Walt Disney World Resort ride the Various forms of “mass transit” every day, which include monorails, ferryboats, bus services and water taxis.
100,000 to 200,000 photos of guests are taken each day by Disney’s PhotoPass photographers
4 % percent of all amateur photography is estimated to be taken at Walt Disney World and Disneyland
3 times the park has been closed, once resort wide in September 1999 for Hurricane Floyd; resort wide on September 11th, 2001 due to the terror attacks on America; and Epcot only on July 17th, 2002 due to a power outage.
72,000 individual AudioAnimatronic functions per second are controlled by the Digital Animation Control System (DACS)
800 different variety of trees had been acquired, moved and acclimated and transplanted at WDW as it was reported in 1970
2.2 million travelers were bused from Orlando International Airport to either a WDW resort hotels or cruise ships in 2008, That works out to about $1.6 million a year in payments to the airport
80,000 high school seniors will celebrate graduation during the annual Grad Nite party at Walt Disney World Resort. Disney has hosted the event for 36 years with a variety of acts from KC and the Sunshine Band to Jessica Simpson.
In 1939, at the urging of Jack Frye, president of TWA, Hughes quietly purchased a majority share of TWA stock for nearly US$7 million and took control of the airline. Upon assuming ownership, Hughes was prohibited by federal law from building his own aircraft. Seeking an aircraft that would perform better than TWA’s fleet of Boeing 307 Stratoliners, Hughes approached Boeing’s competitor, Lockheed. Hughes had a good relationship with Lockheed since they had built the aircraft he used in his record flight around the world in 1938. Lockheed agreed to Hughes’s request that the new aircraft be built-in secrecy. The result was the revolutionary Constellation and TWA purchased the first 40 of the new airliners off the production line. It was Hughes control of TWA that intercontinental airline travel began, the world became suddenly smaller and it was because Hughes pushed to have better planes built.
As the major airlines continued to compete over various routes through the 1940s, TWA gained a reputation for banking its future on the most advanced aircraft available. For example, as United and American began using the DC-6 aircraft, TWA responded by introducing the Lockheed L.1049 Super Constellation on September 10, 1952. The new aircraft had a 35 percent greater passenger carrying capacity than its predecessor. TWA was the first airline to inaugurate regularly scheduled nonstop transcontinental service between Los Angeles and New York on October 19, 1953.
TWA also entered the international market. At the end of World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the organization that distributed routes for U.S. airlines, decided to allow other airlines to share in Pan American’s monopoly of international routes. TWA was one of the airlines granted this right, with permission to fly to Europe and India. TWA began regular New York-to-Paris service in February 1946. This route was later extended to Cairo, Egypt. TWA battled hard with Pan American for various international routes, but it initially failed to exploit its key advantage of being able to connect international flights with domestic ones, a handicap for Pan Am, which did not fly any domestic routes. TWA was also late in introducing jet service internationally, preferring instead to focus on domestic jet services. TWA’s first regularly scheduled jet flight took place on November 23, 1959—a New York-London-Frankfurt flight – a year after its main rivals. It took several years for the airline to regain its competitive advantage lost because of this delay.