Eastern Airlines Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Eastern Airlines was a United States airline company that existed from the late 1920s to 1991.
In 1927 Pitcairn Aviation, a tiny carrier owned by Harold F. Pitcairn, received government contracts to carry airmail along an "eastern route" that connected New York to Florida via Atlanta. In 1929 Clement Keys, the owner of North American Aviation, purchased Pitcairn, and in 1930 he changed the name to Eastern Air Transport, and would soon be known as Eastern Airlines. In 1938, the airline would be purchased by World War I flying ace, Eddie Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker pushed Eastern into a period of prodigious growth. Throughout the 1940s, competitors were acquired, more advanced planes were purchased and international routes were opened.
By the 1950s, Eastern's propellers were very prominent up and down the East coast of the United States.
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 Los Angeles, California. The DC-8s were joined in 1962 by a brand new sister, the Boeing 727. Around this time, Eastern started changing their plane's livery colors to include the dark blue hockey stick design that is now famous in the airline industry.
The 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; planes flew hourly whether empty or full and promised in the event of a full flight to simply add another aircraft. Jets were added in 1967 and the shuttle became all-jet in 1978.
The shuttle proved one of Eastern's most successful ventures. Other airlines, including Pan American World Airways, eventually set up competing services. In 1989, financially struggling Eastern sold the operation to real estate magnate Donald Trump, who rebranded it the Trump Shuttle.
The 1970s brought dramatic changes in the configuration of Eastern Airlines. Internationalization was begun, and Eastern opened routes to new markets such as Madrid, Mexico City, Santo Domingo, Nassau and London. Services from San Juan's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport were expanded, and Eastern bought the Lockheed L-1011 jet, which would become known in the Caribbean as El Grandote (the huge one).
Boeing 747s were also introduced for a short time during that period, and Eastern became the official airline of Walt Disney World. Eastern's official ride at Disney's Magic Kingdom park was If You Had Wings.
During the 1970s, Eastern Airlines suffered a few crashes, one of which became a subject for a Hollywood movie. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 had landing in Miami, Florida in 1972, when the pilots became distracted by a non-functioning gear light. 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 largely an unproven legend, it was the subject of the movie The Ghost Of Flight 401.
The airline deregulation law 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. Its 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. Eastern was rolling along when the 1980s started, under its new president, former astronaut Frank Borman. Eastern began losing money as it faced competition from no-frills airlines, such as People's Express, which offered drastically reduced 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. Unable to keep up, in 1986, Borman sold the airline to Frank Lorenzo, whose ownership proved disastrous. The aviation empire wouldn't last long. Lorenzo sold Eastern's shuttle service to real estate magnate Donald Trump in 1989. 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. As a result of the strike and other financial problems, Eastern filed for bankruptcy protection on March 9.
The coup de grace for Eastern, it can be said, was the 1990 Gulf War. With the higher oil prices and the public's fear of flying at the time, Eastern's sales kept suffering, and Eastern had their last flight in January 1991, officially shutting down on January 18. Lorenzo had suffered the same luck he suffered as chairman of the board in his previous airline company, Texas International.
An airline entrepreneur, Martin Shugrue, considered reviving Eastern in 1995, but the decision was made to instead revive Pan Am.
This is an Article on Eastern Airlines. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Eastern Airlines Early history
The 1960s
Eastern Shuttle
In 1961 Eastern inaugurated the Eastern Air Shuttle, featuring hourly flights of Lockheed_Constellations and Electrass between New York-LaGuardia, Washington, DC-National, and Boston-Logan Airports. The 1970s
Downturn
Attempts at revival
IATA Code
Eastern Airlines used the IATA designator code EA.ICAO Code
Eastern Airlines uses the ICAO designator code EAL.Other facts of interest