Eastern Airlines
Cole Donat
Middle Tennessee State University
Try to think of the world without air travel. Can you imagine what it would be like? Would things be different than they are today? Airlines have not been around forever and in the reality of things, air travel has only been around for a few decades. Air travel has changed the way people live their lives, how companies operate, and even how our country operates on a daily basis. As of today, there are more than fifteen major airlines in the United States, but it wasn’t always that way. The industry had to begin somewhere, and that’s where Eastern Airlines earned its name. Before the 1920’s, the world …show more content…
Many believed that air travel was for the wealthy and executives only. However, that changed during the 1920’s. There were four major airlines that included: American, Delta, United, and Eastern. Eastern Airlines was originally founded when a financial editor named Clement Keys purchased a small airline known as Pitcairn Aviation. The small airline was based out of Philadelphia which was originally formed in the late twenties. Keys, whom was a shareholder, sold Pitcairn Aviation to North American Aviation. A few years later, the name was changed to Eastern Air Transport. Soon after the changing of the name, Eastern expanded routes which would include Atlanta, Miami, Boston, and Richmond. Operating only a few flights a week was due to the airline’s fleet size. At the time it consisted of three Ford Trimotors and …show more content…
Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer, had tried to make it into the U.S. for many years unsuccessfully. They offered Eastern an incredible deal and made a deal for twenty three jets in 1978. This allowed Airbus to get their name and product into the U.S. potentially created future deals. Under the new CEO, Frank Borman, Eastern Air Lines suffered tremendously from the disagreements between management and labor unions. Aside from that, they were in extreme debt from the aircraft purchases made in the late seventies. They continued to struggle through the mid-eighties until their total debt hit three and a half billion dollars. With many of their major investor group’s attention, Borman needed to compromise with the trade unions. Failing doing so, Texas Air bought Eastern for over six hundred million dollars in March of 1986. Due to the large number of airplanes they own, Texas Air was forced to lay employees off and sell many aircraft. The airline was forced to file bankruptcy when the unions struck in the late eighties giving them a break to try to figure everything out. The airline was quickly running out of operating cash however, the court was willing to let them use more of their escrowed funds to provide for day-to-day operations. This was running smoothly until the first Gulf War
Cole Donat
Middle Tennessee State University
Try to think of the world without air travel. Can you imagine what it would be like? Would things be different than they are today? Airlines have not been around forever and in the reality of things, air travel has only been around for a few decades. Air travel has changed the way people live their lives, how companies operate, and even how our country operates on a daily basis. As of today, there are more than fifteen major airlines in the United States, but it wasn’t always that way. The industry had to begin somewhere, and that’s where Eastern Airlines earned its name. Before the 1920’s, the world …show more content…
Many believed that air travel was for the wealthy and executives only. However, that changed during the 1920’s. There were four major airlines that included: American, Delta, United, and Eastern. Eastern Airlines was originally founded when a financial editor named Clement Keys purchased a small airline known as Pitcairn Aviation. The small airline was based out of Philadelphia which was originally formed in the late twenties. Keys, whom was a shareholder, sold Pitcairn Aviation to North American Aviation. A few years later, the name was changed to Eastern Air Transport. Soon after the changing of the name, Eastern expanded routes which would include Atlanta, Miami, Boston, and Richmond. Operating only a few flights a week was due to the airline’s fleet size. At the time it consisted of three Ford Trimotors and …show more content…
Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer, had tried to make it into the U.S. for many years unsuccessfully. They offered Eastern an incredible deal and made a deal for twenty three jets in 1978. This allowed Airbus to get their name and product into the U.S. potentially created future deals. Under the new CEO, Frank Borman, Eastern Air Lines suffered tremendously from the disagreements between management and labor unions. Aside from that, they were in extreme debt from the aircraft purchases made in the late seventies. They continued to struggle through the mid-eighties until their total debt hit three and a half billion dollars. With many of their major investor group’s attention, Borman needed to compromise with the trade unions. Failing doing so, Texas Air bought Eastern for over six hundred million dollars in March of 1986. Due to the large number of airplanes they own, Texas Air was forced to lay employees off and sell many aircraft. The airline was forced to file bankruptcy when the unions struck in the late eighties giving them a break to try to figure everything out. The airline was quickly running out of operating cash however, the court was willing to let them use more of their escrowed funds to provide for day-to-day operations. This was running smoothly until the first Gulf War