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PEOPLExpress Airlines (1981-1987). Here’s how Homer Simpson put it: “It all happened during the magical summer of 1985. A maturing Joe Piscopo left Saturday Night Live to conquer Hollywood; PEOPLExpress introduced a generation of hicks to plane travel; and I was in a barbershop quartet.”
A no-frills carrier, PEOPLExpress charged you $3.00 per checked bag and catered to the masses. That is, until they’d taken on so much debt they couldn’t survive on what the masses were willing to pay. By 1985, through many mergers, PEOPLExpress was the United States’ fifth-largest airline, and even offered a flight to Brussels. A First Class cabin was added, a frequent-flyer program was started, and a more traditional pricing model was adopted. This didn’t work out. Continental absorbed PEOPLExpress operations on February 1, 1987.
Freelandia Air Travel Club (1973-74). The brainchild of Ken Moss, a 31-year-old Syracuse dropout, Freelandia enticed passengers with promises of low-cost travel, natural food, an in-flight waterbed, and a hopeful slogan (”Not-For-Profit”).
For an initial membership fee of $50, you were eligible for too-good-to-be-true fares. After Moss appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, membership quadrupled, to 8,000. The members grew frustrated by Freelandia’s staggering performance record: 85% of flights were canceled. And they only ever had two planes. The Air Travel Club was grounded for good before its first birthday.
Trump Shuttle (1989-1992). In 1988, Eastern Airlines sold its northeastern routes to Donald Trump for $365 million. Trump did as Trump does — classed up the place with fancy chrome seatbelt latches and gold bathroom fixtures. They offered laptop rentals to passengers and were among the first to allow self-service check-in at kiosks.
But this was not a great time to be in the airline business. The run-up to the first Gulf War sent fuel costs soaring, and the U.S. was in the midst of a recession. Trump Shuttle could never turn a profit, defaulted on its loans, and ceased to exist in April 1992. Its routes were served by USAir Shuttle, whose parent company purchased a 40% stake in what was left.
Other airlines I learned about while writing this post: U-Land Airways (Taiwan), Wizz Air (Hungary), Flybaboo (Switzerland), and Buddha Air (Nepal). If you’ve got a story about a defunct or oddly named airline, I’d love to hear it.
Comments (9)
Comment
85% cancellation! That’s insane!
On another note, Icaro airlines (think Icarus) based out of Ecuador, has a logo of Icarus flying up towards the sun…Maybe it’s just me, but this does not exactly engeder feelings of trust… :)
posted by natlynn on 6-18-2007 at 12:16 pm
“engender” not “engeder”…silly me…
posted by natlynn on 6-18-2007 at 12:25 pm
Anybody remember ValuJet? Thhey lasted a couple of years using planes that were so obsolete and had so many miles on them even other budget airlines had turned the planes down. I remember them working on one at the Birmingham Airport and, I kid you not, a wing fell off after ony two bolts had been loosened. You may argue, “Maybe the others weretaken off before you got there,” but I tell you the maintanance guys looked freaked.
posted by lee on 6-20-2007 at 1:24 pm
My favorite airline would be the “Grace L. Ferguson Airline And Screen Door Company.”
but it’s a fictional company from a Bob Newhart comedy routine.
posted by Tdave on 6-21-2007 at 4:09 am
We all still see remnants of ValuJet; it’s today’s AirTran. Funny how little things have changed.. Don’t forget adding Jet America, American International, the Braniff incarnations etc. to your list.
posted by viajero on 11-1-2007 at 9:28 am
Wizz Air still flies, and is a pretty cheap way to get around Europe. I lived in Budapest for a couple of years and flew Wizz a few times. If one has a flexible schedule, it can be pretty darn cheap (under a couple hundred bucks to London, for example).
MPO
posted by MPOlsen on 11-1-2007 at 10:41 am
I remember riding Hughes Air West as a kid, from San Francisco to Eureka, CA. At the time (late 70’s) it was the only airline that served the Eureka/Arcata Airport (located in McKinnleyville). Owned by gazillionaire Howard Hughes, Hughes Air West had planes that were painted all yellow, like a giant banana, and I thought that was cool. I know my brother got to ride on a propeller plane, but I had a DC-9 jet a couple times. Incidently, you could still (as a kid) get a tour of the cockpit back then, and (as an adult) have a cigarette in the smoking section. Wow…I’m old. ;-)
posted by Steve on 11-1-2007 at 10:43 am
Does anyone remember Air Atlanta from the ’80’s? . . . leather seats . . . gourmet meals . . . fine china . . . and primarily service between Atlanta and New York.
posted by Harry on 11-1-2007 at 2:04 pm
So many to choose from…so little space! I’ll add the vast majority of the small and regional African airlines into the topic. With some exceptions (SAA, Ethopian Air, and even Air Ghana), any flier suddenly realizes their life, courage, and stomach contents could be in a sudden lurch in a second! There was a rule of thumb I followed when I had to fly the airlines of doom - if the airline logo even slightly resembles some kind of animal that normally doesn’t fly (like some look like goats with wings), you’re guaranteed a story to tell everyone when/if you make it back home. Memories!
Stateside, I fondly remember a startup in the late-90’s named Eastwind. I remember what was supposed to be a short flight between Philadelphia and Charlotte…and they decided while we were in the air…and this was not on the ticket…to suddenly stop in Trenton, NJ (all of maybe 30-40 miles from PHL) and then make other stops before finally landing in Greensboro. With surprises like that, no wonder they didn’t make it.
posted by Aaron on 11-1-2007 at 8:51 pm