Grand Canyon Airlines, the direct descendant of Scenic Airways, began the first sight seeing flights of the Grand Canyon in 1927, and acquired its first of several Ford Tri-Motors from the Ford Motor Company in May of 1928. Later that fall the company set up operations in Phoenix, Arizona by purchasing five adjacent cotton farms from which it carved out an airport and named it Sky Harbor. On November 18, 1928, the first commercial flight from Sky Harbor was aboard the Ford Tri-Motor with the Rocky Point Fishing Club bound for Mexico. Company founder, Parker Van Zandt began an industry that now provides the sightseeing experience of Grand Canyon air tours to nearly 800,000 visitors a year, and Sky Harbor is one of the largest international airports in the United States with over 545,000 take-offs and landings a year with an annual economic impact of over 24 billion dollars.
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