Airline History Blog - Yesterday's Airlines

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.

Bad Luck Blues: Braniff's Dallas Cowboys Jet

25/7/2017

By late 1981 Braniff International was in severe trouble. Braniff’s President and Chairman Harding Lawrence had believed that airline deregulation would not be a success and decided that Braniff’s response would be to grow aggressively and build marketshare before re-regulation. The result was Braniff spent money like water on unprofitable expansion whilst at the same time being taken to the cleaners by its Dallas neighbour American Airlines. Add in a major economic downturn and things were not looking good. Even so Braniff still had time for its hometown football team.

Flying Colors of the USA: The Sneaky Snake

1/3/2016

The philosophical and literal union (they married) between Mary Wells of the marketing firm Wells Rich Greene and Harding Lawrence, leader of Braniff International, powered the airline's transformation through the 1960s and 70s. The artistic apogee of this union was the special Calder schemes one of which celebrated the 1976 US Bicentennial.

Braniff's Flying Colors 727s

28/2/2016

Harding Lawrence had taken over the leadership of Braniff in 1965 and changed not only the airline but also the industry as a whole with his marketing heavy image makeover. It had worked and Braniff had increased its profitability whilst making moves, like the takeover of Panagra, which strengthened its position. Fleet rationalisation was a key pillar of this strategy also. Lawrence wanted rid of the Electras and One-Elevens and to that end was building up his fleet of 727s.

El' Inter Americano vs El'Dorado: Panagra & Braniff 7s

14/2/2016

By mid-1950 Braniff had acquired permission from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to compete head to head with Pan Am and the Grace Shipping Company's airline Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) on long-haul services to destinations as far south as Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. This direct competition was far cry from the sedate anti-competitive nature of domestic US services and necessitated the best levels of service and equipment. At the same time it also created serious enmity between the two airlines.

Braniff Jellybeans Pt6 - Beige, Ochre & Turquoise

21/6/2015

Probably the most obscure of the primary colours used in the Jellybean era are Beige, Ochre and Turquoise. The funny thing is that both beige and ochre were actually two of the commonest of the colours used and lasted beyond the H&G colour switch of 1967 - the only original Jellybeans to do so.

Braniff Jellybeans Pt5: Yellows

19/6/2015

As with the oranges the yellow Jellybeans made a particularly attractive aircraft combination and also like the oranges two shades were used over the 1965-1971 Jellybean era. In addition like the oranges the two shades, though similar, did look different in service and can be told apart if you know what to look for.

Braniff Jellybeans Pt4: Oranges

18/6/2015

Orange is perhaps one of the signature Braniff Jellybean colours, though frankly I think you'd have to be a genius to be able to distinguish between the two different orange shades that were used - at least if you are using only old photos anyway! It's just as well that John Evanich III (JEE3) has done the hard work for us. It's certainly a personal favourite of mine amongst the Braniff fleet.

Braniff Jellybean Pt3: Red

16/6/2015

In comparison to the greens and blues red is an easy Jellybean colour since there was only one version used. In fact red didn't even feature as a 'End of the Plain Plane' shade until the 1967 H&G refresh. All the earlier 7 shades were much more pastelly. Despite this late start red would go on to be one of the most popular of the colours used and I must say it does look superb.

Braniff Jellybeans Pt2: The Blues

15/6/2015

Braniff's brilliant Alexander Girard designed Jellybeans were loud and proud but for the colour-blind aviation enthusiast sitting in 2015 it isn't half difficult to work out which shades were which. Nowhere is this more difficult than with the blues, since there were no less than four different shades throughout the Jellybean era. Fortunately John Evanich III (JEE3) over at www.airlinercafe.com's forum has done a quite astounding job of sorting it all out. Looking at my Braniff blues it appears that Aeroclassics could have done with checking out his work!

Braniff Jellybeans Pt1: The Greens

14/6/2015

In 1965 Harding Lawrence was appointed to the Presidency of Braniff International. Up till then it had been a well run but relatively small trunk airline. Lawrence had other ideas and the wild ride that characterised his tenure would change Braniff from an also ran to a colourful and vibrant airline. Unfortunately Lawrence would also prove to be the downfall of Braniff but that wasn't until 1982. First there was the 'End of the Plain Plane' era.

Latin American Ultras: Braniff DC-8-62s Pt2

22/4/2015

Unlike all the other trunk airlines Braniff was alone in not opting for trijet widebodies during the 1970s and indeed it even kept its 747 fleet mercifully small. This meant that the DC-8-62s continued to operate the South American network and in fact were joined in the fleet by four DC-8-51s in 1973. As with the 727-200s the DC-8-62s were able to operate in all of the Harding Lawrence liveries: End of the Plain Plane / Flying Colors / Ultra and of course the Calder scheme.

Latin American Jellybeans: Braniff DC-8-62s Pt1

21/4/2015

The Super 60 DC-8 series was a great success for Douglas and revived the moribund DC-8 production line. The series 62 followed the 707-138 method of range improvement (i.e. shrinking the fuselage - a line followed later by the 747SP and L-1011-500) but also included a modified wing and new engine pylon mounts. Together this combination produced an aircraft with excellent range perfectly suited to Braniff and, its rival, Panagra's long thin, hot and high routes to South America.

Jellybean Roos: Braniff 707-138Bs

18/4/2015

Following on from my recent posts about the 707-138B G-AVZZ here and here I have a few other 707-138Bs in my collection. Braniff was the largest recipient of second-hand 707-138Bs from Qantas, gaining four aircraft in 1969. The 10ft reduction in fuselage length over the 707-120 (and the 220 which Braniff alone operated) gave the 138s great range and made them suitable for many of Braniff's long thin routes.