Conquistadors del Cielo: A Secret Club for Airline Executives; Does It Still Exists?

Conquistadors del Cielo? The said to be "secret club" of the top aviation officers meeting twice a year until now remains as a big mystery. It is said that the group gathers in secret locations around the country, where top secret deals of the aviation is being discussed.

According to the View From The Wing Boarding Area, the secret group is said to have operated in rituals while big time deals are also talked about and closed during the group sessions. The first reported gathering of Conquistadors del Cielo members was held in 1937 in an Arizona ranch. In attendance were TWA President Jack Frye and Vice President John Walker. The following year, Conquistadors del Cielo was recognized as a non-profit corporation with 91 members coming from space travel, engine manufacturers, parts suppliers and airlines.

According to FlyerTalk Forum, one participant commented in 2009 that the group was an organization that was dissolved earlier because of Security and Exchange Commissions rules violations. It is said that an aeronautical avionics official told to two other executives of a possible merger of his company to another that led to the three executives expulsion from the secret group.

The three officials were said to be dismissed from the Conquistadors del Cielo due to their violation of their no#1 rule, "Leave Your Swords at the Door." The group forbids talking of business matters in private. With this incident, the SEC intervened and disbanded the group. Since then, no official meetings are said to be recognized by the former groups. However, words have it that some members still gather together playing golf once a year.

Former members of Conquistadors del Cielo were invited to join the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. Their meeting place remains a top secret, but it is said that it is happening in undisclosed locations around the U.S. Once there was a report that American Airlines CEO Tom Horton and US Airways CEO Doug Parker had a discussion of a possible merger of their companies in at the A Bar A Ranch, a 100,000-acre retreat in southern Wyoming. It is said that the their discussion happened during the meeting of the Conquistadors del Cielo or the conquerors of the skies, Front Burner d Magazine reports.

"I said to Doug, standing by the river, I think there could be the potential for value creation in a combination," Horton recalled. "I made that pitch. We nodded heads to one another."

Up to now, there are no clear details about Conquistadors del Cielo and who are its members. The said discussion of Horton and Parker remains vague up to this point. Do you think the secret group is true?