The good old days of aviation were times to be cherished.
Airlines catered to passengers with the best quality services.
Among them was Eastern Air Lines, one of America's oldest defunct airlines that focused on its sense of class
and once one of the largest airlines in the world.
This is the brief version of their rise and downfall.
Eastern started out as Pitcairn Aviation in 1926 flying government airmail contracts.
They were one of the big four airlines that held a monopoly on airmail routes in the 1930s
flying along the east coast of America from New York to Atlanta and onto Miami.
After the air mail contracts were shattered in 1934,
Pitcairn aviation became Eastern Air Transport and they began focusing more on passenger services.
While other airlines focused on flying transcontinental routes,
Eastern focused expanding their route network along the east coast almost creating a monopoly.
Their route strategy proved to be successful and with eastern attracting a lot of vacationers to Florida,
they became the fourth largest airline in the world.
When the United States entered WWII, Eastern did its part helping the US Military Transport Services.
Once the war was over, Eastern emerged more profitable than ever even without government subsidies.
They were able to buy Colonial airlines in 1956
expanding into Canada and then later increasing its southern services into Mexico.
As Eastern entered the jet age, jets slowly took over services on popular routes.
The services on the airline with the new jets were considered to be top notch,
with full meals being provided and the crew taking care of passengers every need.
Around the same time,
they inaugurated a shuttle service between big cities on the east coast
a form of air travel that focused on convenience instead of luxury.
A revolutionary type of service that was ahead of its time.
Later, Eastern became the first airline to fly the Boeing 727
and would eventually make this aircraft the flagship of the shuttle service.
Eastern also used some of its new jets to expand their services further into the Caribbean eating a few airlines along the way.
In the 1970s,
Eastern became the launch customer for the Lockheed L-1011: the flagship of its modernizing fleet.
They were also the first US airline to operate the Airbus A300,
practically saving the new airplane manufacturer from failure.
Eastern then became the official airline of the newly built Disney World in 1971, Sponsoring a ride at the theme park.
Being Disney's official airline, Eastern bragged about having the most flights to Florida,
a market presence it would need if it was going to succeed in the partnership with Disney.
Going into the 80s, Eastern was one of the largest airlines in the world,
but it had a lot of problems to deal with.
It was facing hard competition from no frills budget airlines like PeoplExpress and New York Air that were offering lower prices.
Eastern tried to emphasize quality over price,
but the changing economy led many passengers to purchase less expensive tickets on other carriers.
In an attempt to cut operating costs, Eastern introduced the Boeing 757 in 1983 as the types launch customer.
However, rising fuel costs combined with Eastern's previous wide-body aircraft orders further pushed the airline into debt.
The airline had so much debt that at one point they were paying
$700,000 a day in interest before a flight even took off.
Unable to keep pace with the competition, Eastern sold to Texas Air in 1986
which was led by Frank Lorenzo.
This was the beginning of the end, and the sale of Eastern to Texas Air marked the start of their final downfall.
Thousands of layoffs proceeded in the coming years
following major labor disputes with unionized workers and cuts to Eastern's route network.
Eastern Air Lines Shuttle was sold to Donald Trump in 1989 for some extra cash, but the money didn't last long.
To further cut costs, Lorenzo slashed benefits and salaries
which caused eastern's unionized employees to lead a strike against the airline
resulting in millions of dollars worth of lost revenue.
The combined events of the labor strikes and Lorenzo shifting Eastern's assets over the Continental
caused Eastern to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 9, 1989.
This allowed eastern to lay off employees to save money on labor
and the airline continued to operate with non-unionized workers.
However, US courts saw Eastern's path to bankruptcy as mismanagement by Texas Air
and removed Eastern from Texas Air's control.
Eastern tried to operate independently continuing to emphasize quality over price,
but they failed to correct their cash flow after rising jet fuel prices ruined any chance for Eastern to succeed.
At midnight January 19, 1991,
Eastern Air Lines ceased all operations
voiding thousands of future tickets and unfortunately, putting many aviation workers out of a job.
Looking back, the downfall of Eastern was a messy one, as employee strikes,
accumulation of debt, competition from other airlines, a poor route structure,
and failure to adapt to the changing market during its final years
all greatly contributed to Eastern's downfall.
Many of the struggles that Eastern faced resemble issues that many airlines have faced in the past.
But all these issues just goes to show how delicate running an airline can be.
If even one component of the market changes, an airline will have to adequately adapt to the situation.
Failure to do so may result in a temporary loss of profits or in worse cases, lead companies down a road to bankruptcy.
For Eastern, a combination of unfortunate circumstances and bad timing of events
led to the failure of what was one of the largest airlines in the world.
Eastern was however, able to set some future trends for the industry.
Their frequent shuttle services in the northeastern US
helped inspire other airlines to create similar route structures, which we still see today.
Eastern also had major influence in supporting successful aircraft in their development stages
such as the 727, the 757, and the L-1011.
In addition, their orders for the A300 after their free trial gave airbus much needed support for the airliner,
as it's possible the company could have become a failure if it wasn't for Eastern.
But this isn't the end of eastern's legacy.
In 2011, a group bought the trademarks an intellectual property of Eastern,
and formed the Eastern Airlines Group in 2014.
The airline specialized in charter and wet lease flights with 737s painted in Eastern's "hockey stick" livery.
In 2018, the company sold the Swift Air
who then passed on the brand to Dynamic Airways.
Dynamic used Eastern's trademarks to rebrand itself during a bankruptcy restructuring
and relaunched as Eastern Airlines LLC.
The airline currently operates a fleet of nine 767s and one 777 from their hub at JFK.
Some notable things the airline has done in recent years
include the addition of scheduled services to South America to complement its charter operations,
and the rescuing of thousands of stranded US citizens from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eastern had plans to acquire more 777s and expand further into South America and China,
but with the global pandemic creating challenges for the entire industry,
we'll just have to wait and see what the airline does next.
Thanks for watching everyone! I know the history of the old eastern was really short and brief,
but I wanted this video to focus more on the downfall of the airline and what's happened going forward.
If any of you guys watching have ever flown the new or the old Eastern and would like to share your experiences,
please feel free to let us know down in the comments below!
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And as always, stay safe and have a wonderful day everyone!