Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

Talofa: The Rise, Fall & Rise of Polynesian Airlines

17/11/2019

The Pacific islands have a proud history of colourful flag carriers, however the majority of the region’s airlines have struggled with their remoteness, the limited investment capability of their home nations and competition from Australia and New Zealand. Polynesian Airlines’ history illustrates all three aspects during its history.

Premier Pacific: Hawaiian's Long-haul Adventure

10/11/2019

Hawaiian Airlines was faced with the same range of challenges in the deregulated 1980s as other legacy carriers - increased competition, deflated prices and the loss of its protected status. It responded with an unprecedented expansion, hoping to open up Honolulu as a transit hub on the one hand and a major charter player on the other. The strategy was far from a success but the airline just about survived.

Hope & Despair: Air Congo's Struggle

21/10/2019

European colonialism has left a bitter legacy in many African nations, but probably none has been so disgraceful and damaging as the Belgian influence in what has become the Democratic Republic of Congo. Independence did not bring the new chapter the Congolese wanted and instead the next 50 years have been as bad or worse than what went before. Nevertheless throughout this period a veneer of normalcy was provided by the national carrier Air Congo (later Air Zaire).

Persistence over Performance: Qantas Comet IVs

23/9/2019

Qantas had always been a well-run flag carrier and as such had shown little interest in Britain’s reborn Comet 4. Instead, despite some political pressure, it pragmatically turned towards the United States when it came to looking at its first jet equipment. Even so despite the acquisition of Boeing 707s Qantas would operate the British Comet albeit as part of a lease agreement with the British flag carrier BOAC.

The First DC-8: Ship One N8008D

28/8/2019

In the long-run the Douglas DC-8 may have lost the jet-race against the Boeing 707, but it was certainly far from a failure, and in fact with the Super 60 series was able to surpass the 707 in terms of capability and development. The prototype DC-8 led a somewhat nomadic lifestyle but it is a crying shame that it was never preserved. This is its story.

Eastern Bloc Boeings Pt2: Hungarian & Bulgarian 767s

20/8/2019

As we saw in part 1 LOT, the Polish flag carrier, chose Boeing 767s when it was finally able to access Western aircraft. Interflug chose the competing A310 which still left the flag carriers of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania to play for. The split would in the end be effectively even between the Boeing and Airbus products.

Eastern Bloc Boeings Pt1: Polish 767s

11/8/2019

The gradual, and then sudden, changes that Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost brought to Eastern Europe provided both a series of challenges and opportunities to the airlines of the Warsaw Pact nations in Eastern Europe. In the long term some of the airlines would not survive the experience, however one of the first challenges was modernisation of their inefficient Soviet-era fleets.

Lan Tens: DC-10s in Chile

3/7/2019

The 1980s were a time of crisis and transition at Chile's national airline Lan Chile. During that period the airline acquired its first widebodies and although the DC-10s were ultimately just a temporary addition five aircraft served at times across a six year period. Here's the story of Lan's long-haul ambitions.

The First Flying Dream: Gutelman’s TEA

19/6/2019

Prior to European Open Skies several airlines attempted to get around restrictive regulations by creating a Pan-European airline grouping, albeit with little success. These were usually charter airlines emboldened by their success operating inclusive tour (IT) charters. Trans European Airways, as its name suggests, was one of these airlines, whose ambition ultimately led to its demise.

TACA: El Centromericano One-Elevens

12/6/2019

TACA had a complicated series of owners throughout its history, however these rarely stopped it from achieving and it was something of a trendsetter during the 50s and 60s as it introduced both the first prop-jets and true-jets in Central America. Its BAC One-Elevens would have long careers with it and form the backbone of its survival and success into the 1980s.

Constant Crisis: AVENSA 1994-2004

7/5/2019

Nowadays Venezuela is in a sorry state, wracked by economic collapse, hyper-inflation and a dictatorial regime. The pathway to this has been long and complex and has gradually taken a toll of the airline’s once rich aviation scene, so that only a handful of airlines survive and connections with international destinations are sporadic. One of the highest profile failures was that of AVENSA who had started operations in 1943.

Eastern A300s: A Marriage Made In Heaven

23/4/2019

By the 1970s it had been years since the US majors had bought any foreign aircraft and the new Airbus consortium was struggling to sell its A300 to anybody, let alone the Americans. Eastern, cash-strapped and inefficient, needed a new aircraft and it was Frank Borman's airline that would give Airbus the opportunity that perhaps more than any allowed it to be taken seriously on the world stage.

Killed by Debt: Air Florida 1982-1984

9/4/2019

The loss of Ed Acker to Air Florida’s greatest rival Pan Am in September 1981 was undoubtedly a serious blow to Air Florida, however not necessarily because of the benefits he had brought to the airline. Indeed the mountains of Acker created debt the carrier was under may well have been enough to kill it alone without a series of other issues that saw the airline gradually contract until it collapsed.

Air Florida Across the Atlantic: Palm DC-10s

6/4/2019

Air Florida was, thanks to its President Ed Acker, one of the darlings of the first years of deregulation and exploded out of Florida with low fares and cheeky service in late 1978. Acker’s expansionist dreams would never be satisfied with just the USA and as well as trying to buy a selection of much larger airlines Air Florida also positioned itself for the long-haul. This is the story of their push across the Atlantic.

Escape from Dar: Kenya Airways Birth

23/3/2019

The main trio of East African nations, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have a long history of co-operation but also rivalry. This has seen various organisations oversee the joint relationship and historically the sharing of a national airline in East African Airways Corporation. Unfortunately, the failing partnership would lead to the collapse of EAAC and some drastic measures being taken to enable the birth of Kenya Airways from the ashes.