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Eastern Airlines once flew high over Miami. Then came the day it was grounded forever
Eastern Airlines, a Miami mainstay in the air and on the ground, changed forever 30 years ago. On March 9, 1989, the airline filed for bankruptcy. At the time, it was South Florida’s second largest employer. The popular Northeast shuttle route was sold to Donald Trump. What was left of Eastern limped along for another two years before it stopped flying in 1991. A startup airlines with the same name and logo of the old Eastern Airlines began service in 2015 and ceased independent operations two… (www.miamiherald.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
You can still sort of see the dark blue/light blue remnants of their logo on some of the Park and Fly places in ATL and FLL and a few other places...
i lived through the frank borman/charlie briant kamakazi "lets destroy an airline" show in the late 80's. At the time i wondered what would be left after these two scorpions in a bottle finished their dance. The answer- nothing, thousands of jobs gone for no good reason.
eastern was Miami's good home, town airline, gone along with National and Pan Am. I flew on them all and each died badly.
eastern was Miami's good home, town airline, gone along with National and Pan Am. I flew on them all and each died badly.
Was there ever an airline that died well?
Morris Air exited well. Due to owner's terminal condition, sold it lock-stock & barrel to Southwest. It didn't hurt that June Morris had patterned the company after Southwest, including the fleet of 737s.
I was in SJO awaiting an EAL flight to MIA. The agents apologized - sent us over to PanAm, closed the gates and went to bar
I was on an Eastern flight from KLGA to KDCA on the last day of the airline’s existence. A mostly empty plane, with the FAs trying to put on a good face given their uncertain personal futures. Though the days of turbulence were ending for Eastern, it was a smooth ride down to DC.
I remember being on an Eastern flight ATL-Tallahassee in 1976, diverting to Gainesville after holding for an hour due to T-storms. A passenger stood up and started yelling at the FA because we were diverting. She hit him with a rolled up in-flight magazine and told him to sit down and shut up. He did. Another great moment in aviation history...