Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

Con Job: Braniff Mk III

7/3/2019

The third incarnation of Braniff International is as good a reason as you are ever likely to find for letting classic airline names rest in peace rather than resurrecting them so they can be dragged through the mud and bankruptcy courts yet again. In fact, Braniff Mk3 is about as low as you can go in terms of the characters that ran it, both of whom ended up in prison partly for their involvement with the airline.

Desert Sun: Fokker 70s in the America West

27/2/2019

In the early 90s, just prior to the Regional jet revolution, Fokker's line of twinjets were rather squeezed in at the lower end of mainline fleets. This suited the larger F100 more than its smaller, and later, family member the F70. In fact despite its seeming ideal fit the F70 only ever acquired two orders within the vast US market operating for a small regional connected with a much larger one.

Eastern Cross the Atlantic: New Mark 10s

24/1/2019

Towards the end of the 1970s Eastern Airlines was in a period of cautious expansion and with deregulation upon the US market was free to try and expand its overseas network. One target was the route from Miami – London but initially it managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory and it was only in 1985 that it was finally able to go transatlantic.

National Goes International: MIA-LHR 1970

15/12/2018

During the regulated era of US aviation the realm of long-haul international flights was primarily the domain of Pan Am and TWA. Braniff had a strong South American operation and Northwest reached across into the Pacific but for flights to Europe and beyond to Asia and Africa it was PA or TW all the way, until that is out of nowhere National won the route award for Miami to London Heathrow.

Three Swallows Pt2: Go Getters Go Ozark

28/11/2018

During its first 20 years of operation Ozark had fulfilled exactly the promise that the local service airlines had been created for. It had started and proved a wide range of feeder services and grown demand to the point that it could sustain not just prop-jets but pure jets as well. Even better it had done so profitably and begun to wean itself off of subsidy and pick-up longer routes that the trunk airlines no longer wanted. All in all it found itself in good position to grow into the 1970s and face the challenges of deregulation to come.

Three Swallows Pt1: Get Up & Go Ozark

26/11/2018

Ozark was St Louis's hometown airline and as with many of the local service airlines was a true pioneer of service for the regional customer. A well run and well equipped airline that proudly wore its three swallows for forty years. Its story started in 1943 when four local businessmen (two bus line operators and two attorneys) from the Ozark region of mid-west America came together to try and acquire one of the new licenses being offered by the CAB for feeder airline services.

Golden Light: Pan Am’s Interchange DC-8-62

20/10/2018

Usually interchange services did not outwardly impact the operations of the airlines taking part in them, since although aircraft were shared across the entire route the airlines were comfortable leaving the paint scheme of the planes involved as standard. Since the aircraft were not dedicated to the service this made sense as it enabled them to easily move back onto normal services. Occasionally however the interchange concept enabled the creation of a unique combination of aircraft and airline.

Interchanges: Through Plane Service in the Regulated Era

16/10/2018

Nowadays if you are an airline operating within the US domestic market and you wish to serve a route pair you simply do just that, after relatively little fuss and bother, but prior to 1978, when the US market was regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Bureau (CAB), starting new routes was a marathon process. Indeed, most of the time getting permission to start a new route, especially if there was any competition involved, was a non-starter. Whence the regulated period threw up a selection of idiosyncratic practices that made sense then but look a bit weird today. One of these was the concept of interchange services.

The Elegance Campaign: Braniff’s Ultra Look

21/7/2018

The rise and fall of Harding Lawrence’s Braniff International is so well known that in aviation it has become something of a byword for mismanagement and a case study for the impact of deregulation. In many ways it was a harbinger of the bloodbath that the 1980s would become for US carriers however in others it was unique. Nonetheless back in 1978 everything seemed rosy at Braniff and the airline would celebrate its Golden anniversary with the introduction of a new look.

Project Omaha: Piedmont’s Florida Shuttle

19/6/2018

After initially being against deregulation Piedmont grabbed the opportunity with both hands. They had already turned Charlotte into a major hub, built secondary hub operations at Dayton and Baltimore and begun to build partnerships with various regional airlines, but ever curious for new opportunities Piedmont looked towards Florida to try something new for the airline and the industry.

Air West Pt1: The Airline That Had to Happen

21/3/2018

As the 1960s drew to a close the CAB in the USA was looking for ways to wean the local service airlines off of subsidies. This meant a gradual movement away from serving local communities and instead using economies of scale to serve wider regions. The result was mergers, including the unique tri-merger that created 'The airline that had to happen' - Air West!

Western to World: Seaboard's Golden Sixties

27/2/2018

By 1960 Seaboard and Western had seen both the highs and lows. It had grown from a charter airline to the USA's selected scheduled freight airline across the Atlantic, a market that it dominated. Unfortunately however it was also in a perilous financial state. Fortunately under new leadership the 1960s would prove to be a prosperous time for the carrier, which constantly led the field in all freight operations.

Eights to the Orient: Northwest DC-8s

19/1/2018

By the late 1950s Northwest had solidified its place as a prime mover across the Pacific Ocean, but the landscape was changing and to keep its place it needed to select equipment to take it out of the piston age and into the jet age. Few were surprised when it looked towards Douglas for its first jets, however they would wear the red tail for less than four years.

Transcon Luxury: Northwest’s Unique Strats

22/12/2017

Boeing delivered only 55 Stratocruisers, and the civilian programme was always a footnote compared to the almost 900 KC-97 tanker transports, however the mighty Strat was the last word in luxury during the 1950s even if not the last word in economics. Northwest’s Strats were especially unique both in terms of their look and how they were utilised.

Independence Pt2: The Atlanta Bicentennials

6/12/2017

As far as I'm aware none of the other US airlines went as far as ONA and Braniff to paint fleet members for the 1976 US Bicentennial celebrations and only three others applied any outward signs of participation at all. Which airlines were these? Interestingly all 3 were southerners including the 2 giants from Atlanta. I assume it was no coincidence that both of them decided to celebrate in style.