US Airlines Historybased on “Hard Landing” book

Part 1. Air Mail

1903 - Wright brothers

Charles Lindbergh

Air mail

Privatisation

Boeing - Chicago to SF —> United Airlines

Rickenbacker - Atlanta to Miami —> Eastern Air

Trippe & Lindbergh - St. Louis to Chicago, NY to Boston —> Pan Am

First Rule of Airline Economics

If a plan is going to take off anyway — any paying passenger or payload is almost pure profit

World’s busiest airport in 1930 - Tulsa, OK

Airmail reform - Pay per distance & volume,

not weight

Walter Folger Brown

Big Four3 routes from NYC to CA

United —> northern route

TWA —> center route

American —> southern route

Eastern —> north to south on East Coast

Part 2. Government regulation

Eastern vs Braniff

$0,00001907378 bid

C. R. Smith

Birth of CAB

Cost-based pricing

Part 3. Jet Age

Boeing 707

Half-empty planes

Service, food & booze wars

John Robson comes…

Part 4. Southwest

Herb Kelleher

Pacific Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines

Elements

Veteran pilots

Retired American Airlines flight attendants (<32 year policy)

Three 737s

DFW

Dallas Love Field

Love Campaign

Love Attendants

1972 crisis at LUV

Sold a plane (4 planes at the moment)

10 min turnaround

Pilots and supervisors helped with baggage

Tickets collected onboard

Food & drinks restocked thought the rear door while passengers deplaning through the front

Flight attendants removed trash

Off-peak rate - 10$

Second Rule of Airline Economics

Giving the expense-account customer something for free that he could take home instead of to the office - in short, kickback, won his undying loyalty

Part 5. Wall Street meets Airlines

Frank Lorenzo

Don Burr

Key events

Jet Capital & $1.5M raise

Texas International & youngest president in commercial aviation

Peanuts fares and 600% increase in 7 days

Part 6. Network wars

Bob Crandall, American Airlines

Manual Reservation —> 20 separate communications for 1 passenger

traveling on 2 connecting airlines

Mechanical System

OAG & “listing bias”

Birth of SABRE

Richard Ferris, United Airlines

American Society of Travel Agents meeting

Screen bias

To be continued…