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For the Chinese airline, see China Eastern Airlines.
Eastern Air Lines was a United States airline company that existed from the late 1920s until 1991.
History
Eastern Air Lines pioneered many practices later adopted in air travel around the world.
Precursors
Eastern Air Lines was a composite of assorted air travel corporations, including Pitcairn Aviation, established on April 19, 1926, and Florida Air Ways.Transporting air mail
Pitcairn won a government contract to fly the U.S. Mail between New York City and Atlanta, Georgia, operating Mailwing single-engine aircraft. In 1929 Clement Keys, the owner of North American Aviation, purchased Pitcairn. In 1930 he changed the name to Eastern Air Transport, and it would soon be known as Eastern Air Lines.
Rickenbacker leadership
In 1938, the airline was purchased by World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker pushed Eastern into a period of prodigious growth and innovation.Supporting World War II
During the beginnings of World War II, military aviation equipment had not been produced. The United States war effort required civilian resources. Due to the efforts of Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Air Lines provided the United States with aircraft and personnel.
Developing air transportation systems
Throughout the 1940s, competitors were acquired, more advanced planes were purchased and international routes were opened.
Prominence in the industry
By the 1950s, Eastern's propellers were very prominent up and down the East Coast of the United States.
Improving technology: jet aircraft
In 1960 Eastern's first jets, Douglas DC-8s arrived, allowing Eastern to open non-stop service from New York City's Idlewild International Airport to LAX. The DC-8s were joined in 1962 by the Boeing 720, then in 1964 by a regional airliner, the Boeing 727. Around this time, Eastern started changing their plane's livery colors to include the dark blue hockey stick design, iconic in the airline industry.
Eastern Shuttle
In 1961 Eastern inaugurated the Eastern Air Shuttle, featuring hourly flights of Lockheed Constellations and Electras between New York-LaGuardia, Washington, D.C.-National, and Boston-Logan airports.
The groundbreaking service emphasized convenience and simplicity—revolutionary in an era when air travel was both considered and expected to be a luxury. Not only were seat reservations not required, seat assignments were not given, and initially no check-in was required and no boarding passes were issued. Eastern guaranteed availability, however, and planes flew hourly whether empty or full. In the event of a full flight, Eastern simply added another aircraft. Jets were added in 1967 and the shuttle became all-jet in 1978 with a fleet of dedicated Boeing 727s.
The shuttle proved one of Eastern's most successful ventures. Other airlines, including Pan American World Airways, eventually set up competing services.
New leadership, corporate changes
The 1970s brought dramatic changes in the configuration of Eastern Air Lines. Rickenbacker left his position at the helm.Expanded routes and service
Internationalization began as Eastern opened routes to new markets such as Madrid, Mexico City, Santo Domingo, Nassau, Bahamas and London. Services from San Juan, Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport were expanded.
Larger equipment
Eastern bought the Lockheed L-1011 jet, which would become known in the Caribbean as El Grandote (the huge one). Boeing 747s, leased from Pan Am, were also introduced for a short time during that period.
Deregulation and troubles at Eastern
The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 aggravated its position, forcing Eastern into a competitive low-fare environment in which its high cost of operation put the airline at a decided disadvantage.Head to head with Delta
Eastern's all-important Atlanta hub placed it in direct competition with Delta Air Lines, a more profitable company that avoided labor wars and built a far-reaching route system through the acquisition of other carriers.
Frank Borman in charge
When the 1980s started, Eastern operated under its new president, former astronaut Frank Borman.Expansion and growth
In 1980, a Caribbean hub was inaugurated at San Juan, Puerto Rico (then still named Isla Verde International Airport). In 1982, Eastern acquired Braniff International Airways' South American route network.
Divided branding and livery
During this era, Eastern's fleet was split between their "silver-colored hockey stick" livery (the lack of paint reduced weight by 100 pounds) and their "white-colored hockey stick" livery (on its Airbus-manufactured planes, the metallurgy of which required paint to cover the aircraft's composite skin panels).
The efficient Boeing 757
In 1983, Eastern became the launch customer of Boeing's new aircraft, the Boeing 757. Its low cost of operation would make it an invaluable asset to the airline in the years to come.
Subsidiary operations
In that same year, Eastern reintroduced service to Ponce, Puerto Rico, using Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner planes under the name Eastern Metro Express. The Eastern Metro Express operation wasn't limited to Ponce, however, as, under that name, Eastern began services from its San Juan hub to Mayagüez and several other smaller Caribbean communities, from John F. Kennedy International Airport to several northeastern cities, and from Miami to many cities around the south.
Competition: quality versus price
Eastern began losing money as it faced competition from no-frills airlines, such as People Express, which offered drastically reduced air fares. In an attempt to differentiate itself from its bargain competitors, Eastern began a marketing campaign stressing its quality of service and its rank of highly experienced pilots. The public, however, just wanted cheap fares.
Sale and decline
Unable to keep up, in 1986, Borman sold the airline to Frank Lorenzo.
Labor relations: strikes and cancelled service
Under Lorenzo's tenure, Eastern was crippled by severe labor unrest. Asked to accept deep cuts in benefits, Eastern's machinists went on strike. The machinists were soon joined on the picket line by the pilots. Due to the strike, flights were cancelled, resulting in lost revenue for the airline.
Dismantling the airline
Lorenzo sold Eastern's shuttle service to real estate magnate Donald Trump in 1989, under whom it became the Trump Shuttle, while selling other parts of Eastern to his Texas Air holding company and its major subsidiary, Continental Airlines, on disadvantageous terms to Eastern.
Bankrupt
As a result of the strike, weakened airline structure, inability to compete after deregulation and other financial problems, Eastern filed for bankruptcy protection on March 9, 1989.
Dissolution
The coup de grace for Eastern, it can be said, was the 1990 Gulf War. At a nice profit, Eastern sold its Central and South American route network to American Airlines and its transatlantic route network to Continental Airlines. With the higher oil prices and the public's fear of flying at the time, Eastern's sales kept suffering, and Eastern had its last flight in January 1991, officially shutting down on January 18.Attempts at revival
An airline entrepreneur, Martin Shugrue, considered reviving Eastern in 1995, but the decision was made to revive Pan Am instead.
Accidents
Eastern weathered crashes over the years of varying damage to the company and passengers. Some of the crashes contributed to the future safety of American air transportation, such as Eastern's first accident caused by the construction of temporary utility poles at the end of a runway.
Rickenbacker's catastrophic accident
In 1941, an Eastern Air Lines flight famously crashed near Atlanta, almost killing Eddie Rickenbacker, who was traveling on airline business. His recovery in the hospital received broad press coverage, and during his initial recovery, several news reports claimed that he had died.Flight 375
On October 4, 1960, Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 (a Lockheed L-188 Electra) departing Boston's Logan International Airport for Philadelphia crashed on takeoff after striking a flock of birds. Sixty-two of the 72 passengers and crew were killed.Flight 512
On November 30, 1962, Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 (a Douglas DC-7) crashed during a go around after failing to land due to fog at Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York City. Out of the 51 passengers and crew on board, 25 were fatally injured.Flight 304
On February 25, 1964, Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 (a Douglas DC-8) flying from New Orleans International Airport to Washington-National Airport crashed enroute due to "degradation of aircraft stability characteristics in turbulence, because of abnormal longitudinal trim component positions." All 51 passengers and 7 crew were killed.Flight 663
On February 8, 1965, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663, a Douglas DC-7 departing from New York City to Richmond, Virginia, crashed at Jones Beach State Park after takeoff from JFK when it was forced to evade inbound Pan Am Flight 212. All 84 onboard died. The evasive action was blamed for leaving the plane out of control.Flight 401
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a brand new Lockheed L-1011) was preparing to land in Miami, Florida, on December 29, 1972, when the flight crew became distracted by a non-functioning gear light. While pre-occupied with fixing the light, the autopilot was inadvertently disengaged, allowing the plane to drift far below its planned flight path. The flight crashed in the Everglades, near the same site of the ValuJet Flight 592 DC-9 crash 23 years later. In Eastern's Flight 401 case, it was rumored that the ghost of the pilot who flew that night was later seen on some Eastern planes that carried parts of the doomed plane. While this was an unproven legend, it was the subject of the movie The Ghost of Flight 401.Flight 212
On the morning of September 11, 1974, Eastern Air Lines Flight 212, a DC-9-31 carrying 78 passengers and 4 crew operating as a scheduled flight from Charleston, South Carolina, to Chicago, Illinois, with an intermediate stop in Charlotte, North Carolina, crashed while conducting an instrument approach in dense ground fog at Douglas Municipal Airport (now called Charlotte/Douglas International Airport). The aircraft crashed just short of the runway, killing 71 of the occupants. One of the 11 initial survivors died of injuries 29 days after the accident. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and resulting post-crash fire.Flight 66
On June 24, 1975, Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 (a Boeing 727) crashed on landing at JFK in New York City, killing 113 people. The official cause of the accident was wind shear, a phenomenon that affects the lifting capacity of an airplane's wing, and that can occur in severe weather conditions.Flight 980
On January 1, 1985, Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 (a Boeing 727) struck Mount Illimani on a flight from Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción, Paraguay, to El Alto International Airport in La Paz, Bolivia. All 19 passengers and 10 crew were killed on impact.Other facts and quotes of interest
- Boeing assigned Eastern Air Lines the customer number 25 for all aircraft produced by the company.
- Eastern used to be the main sponsor of Puerto Rican basketball team Cariduros de Fajardo, a team that carried Eastern's logo on its jerseys.
- Eastern became the official airline of Walt Disney World. Eastern's official ride at Disney's Magic Kingdom park was If You Had Wings.
- Boxer Wilfredo Gomez was pictured by El Vocero photographers inside an Eastern Air Lines L-1011 TriStar jet before taking off for his bout with Lupe Pintor in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- "Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell." -Frank Borman, former CEO of Eastern Air Lines in 1986, five years before Eastern declared bankruptcy.
- After Eastern Air Lines ceased opperations, some of their pilots and managers went on to purchase part of the fleet of airplanes, and on September 21, 1992, they formed Kiwi International Air Lines.
- Eastern's demise has often been used as a major example of labor unions going too far, as their workers were reportedly some of the highest paid in the industry (it had been rumored that some baggage handlers were making over $70,000 a year) and completely refused any concessions to save the airline.
- When Eastern was the official airline of Walt Disney World, they began a San Juan, Puerto Rico (TJSJ) – Orlando, Florida (KMCO) non-stop flight using the Airbus A300.
References
- Rickenbacker: An Autobiography. Edward V. Rickenbacker, Prentice Hall, 1967.
External links
- Eastern Virtual Airlines A virtual airline community of Flight Simulator on the web
- Aviation Safety Network list of Eastern Air Lines accidents from 1943 to 1990
1930 establishments | 1991 disestablishments | Defunct airlines of the United States
Eastern Airlines | Eastern Air Lines | イースタン航空 | Eastern Airlines
"Eastern Air Lines"