Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

Mainline FLUFs: United Boeing 737-222s

16/1/2020

The success of the 737 has been immense but at the time of its development it had a mountain to climb. It would be United Airlines, more than any other, that Boeing has to thank for getting the type past its rough early years to where it is today and the ‘Fat Little Ugly Fella’ i.e. FLUF certainly put in the hard yards over the years for United.

Jumbo Stopgap: Eastern's 747s

3/1/2020

At the end of the 60s the age of the widebody was fast approaching and all the major US airlines were on a new equipment binge. The 747 was the first new widebody and everyone felt they had to have some or suffer the consequences of being left behind. In fact all the trunk airlines operated Jumbos (except for Northeast and Western) although, considering only Pan Am, Northwest and TWA had international routes, they mostly lacked sensible ways to utilise them. Eastern, unusually, went down a more considered path than everyone else but still ended up with 747s for a time.

Skystars: Australian A320s in the 1990s

21/12/2019

The A320 recently became the most produced family of jet airliners in history, however the type had a slightly rocky start in Australia. Initially it looked like both TAA and Ansett would purchase the new Airbus but in the end Ansett were the only one of the two big domestics to take the plunge.

Take It Easy: The Rise of easyJet

7/12/2019

Nothing has changed the face of aviation in the last 25 years as much as the advent of low-cost carriers. Pioneered in the US, with PSA and Southwest, it wasn’t until the advent of the internet that the premise could really take-off. Combined with deregulation of the EU area it has been Europe that has led the transformation, and of course it is Ryanair and Easyjet that have dominated the continent.

Parrot Jumbo: Air Gabon’s 747

1/12/2019

The history of African flag carriers is something I always find interesting. Not only are they exotic but they often had lovely liveries and tended to operate small numbers of widebodies, making them rare visitors to select European locations. Plus of course, on the less impressive but just as interesting side, they often have histories rife with state interference, graft and civil war. Air Gabon certainly ticks many of these boxes.

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).

Block's Third Way: Air Holland

7/10/2019

Nowadays the charter market is undersiege from low cost airlines, and customers empowered by the internet to create their own holidays, however during the 1980s this wasn’t the case and the charter market was still thriving. Even so that didn’t mean Martinair and Transavia thought there was room for a 3rd Dutch charter airline. That airline was Air Holland.

Karnali & Gandaki: The Nepalese 757s

28/9/2019

Few nations are as dependent on air travel as Nepal. Not only has it no access to the sea but is also extremely mountainous with a poorly developed road network. For many years Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation was the primary mover, both inside the country and internationally, for getting to Nepal and from 1987 its primary equipment included a pair of 757s, one of which was truly unique.

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.

Rise of the Jetset: Air 2000's First Decade

11/9/2019

The UK charter airline scene has always been ultra-competitive and highly susceptible to economic downturns, which disproportionally impact spending on luxuries like package holidays. For that reason, the creation and cessation of charter airline activity was common during the heyday of IT charters. Few names managed any long-term success but one of those that made its mark was a relative latecomer – Air 2000.

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.