Jetpixx From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 811 posts, RR: 2 Posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1724 times:
I was scanning through old timetables for Eastern Airlines and noticed they had flights from CLE to BDL, DTW, CLT, IAH, MIA, MCO, TPA and even PIT.
It was odd to me that STL seemed to be a pretty substantial hub back in the early 1980's, with non-stops, on what I assume were 727s, to PDX and SEA, among others.
Others that were interesting to me:
TPA to SRQ
TPA to MLB
MLB to JAX
JAX to ORD
JAX to DAB
PIT to YYZ
FLL to MIA
SYR to PHL
7e72004 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3586 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1636 times:
weren't the MIA-FLL flights mostly for positioning?
The next generation of aircraft is just around the corner!
Gr8SlvrFlt From United States of America, joined Jan 2002, 1583 posts, RR: 16 Reply 2, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1634 times:
Others I remember: LAX-SFO, PHX-TUS, TUS-SAN, DEN-SLC, LAS-RNO, ELP-ABQ, SDF-EVV, BUF-YYZ, LGA-YUL. Back then there were many more multi-stop flights; rare now except fo WN.
Sidishus From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 519 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1616 times:
I took the PNS-BHM many times on Eastern
the truth: first it is ridiculed second it is violently opposed finally it is accepted as self-evident
PanAm747 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 10 Reply 4, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1602 times:
I know we're not supposed to do promos for websites, but this one is just fantastic. Visit the whole site, and e-mail Chris how much you enjoy the site!!
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
Tan flyr From United States of America, joined Aug 2000, 1854 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1602 times:
As I recall EA also had a daily MIA-TPA-IND flight thru the 70's and maybe into the early eighties. They also ran a MSP-IND flight (maybe 2??) daily. It seems that that flight continued on but cannot recall where to if in fact it did.
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1550 times:
In the early 80s, Eastern was in terms of passenger traffic the largest airline in the free world. Considering they only had one true large hub, Atlanta (I'm not including large focus cities, mini-hubs and the Miami gateway which focused on more point to point flights than connecting opportunities) the bulk of their operations were point to point. They had large operations at several airports that were not conventional "Eastern cities." Among them is St Louis, though those operations shifted to Kansas City, a previously non Eastern served city in late 1983. Chicago also had lots and lots of Eastern point to point flights. Tampa was one of Eastern's larger stations throughout its existence. I have timetables of several airlines from the late 70s and early 80s (United, Braniff, Pan Am/National, Delta, Eastern, Northwest, American, TWA and Republic) and based solely on looking at the timetables it seems Eastern was much larger than all of those airlines with the exception of United at one point. EA offered more flights and greater frequency of flights at the time than just about anyone.
From the March 2, 1984 EA timetable, the largest Eastern operations in terms of daily flights were: (This includes Mainline service and the Air Shuttle only- no Eastern Express routes are factored in)
Atlanta 303
(Delta had about the same amount of daily departures at ATL)
Miami 106
(Eastern's Hometown- was at the time Miami's largest airline beating Pan Am easily. As Miami's largest airline and Fort Lauderdale's co-largest with Delta, EA was South Florida's #1 choice)
LaGuardia 77
(Includes Air Shuttle- nonstops to several cities up and down the east coast)
Charlotte 53
(An Eastern mini hub, used connecting banks unlike most EA cities save Atlanta)
Washington National 52
(Eastern was DCAs largest operator at the time)
Boston 48
(I believe Delta may have been larger at Logan at the time, but maybe not)
Houston (IAH) 47
(Was a normal Eastern connecting city- this was before the moonlight special which started about a year later)
Tampa 44
(Always a very large and important EA city)
Philadelphia 35
(Philadelphia became a more important city in the Eastern system in the mid 80s- this is prior to the PHL buildup)
Orlando 34
(Eastern was inconsistent in Orlando operations throughout the decade. Flights were started and then cut and started again- this represents one of the low points for MCO which at times had as many as 55 daily departures)
Kansas City 33
(Had just come online as a connecting city- eventually after the Texas Air buyout the IAH operation was dismantled and MCI had as many as 70 daily departures)
Fort Lauderdale 31
(Eastern actually had over 40 departures a day from FLL throughout much of the early 80s, but pulled back slightly in 1983/84. In 1985 daily departures again were built up close to 40)
Newark 30
(Lots and lots of flights to Florida)
JFK 26
(Not just international routes but also some service to cities on the east coast, some of which like Jacksonville did not have LaGuardia service)
CLT18R From United States of America, joined Nov 2004, 81 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1520 times:
Yeah, I was about to say. I remember CLT being an Eastern mini-hub from when I was a kid and my mom worked for EA. I even got to go onto the flight deck of an L-1011 at the old CLT terminal.
Ei2ksea From Ireland, joined Jul 2004, 573 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1501 times:
I had a look at that site, quite interesting, i think theres a very interesting trend; Other than the European routes, The city network of Eastern in 1991 is identical to the route network of US Airways today! Very heavy in the 'rural' east (i.e. PA, NC, VA ) and virtually none in the West from Chicago. Just an observation. Both also had/have HR "difficulties".
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1449 times:
Eastern had somehigher yielding routes than US Air, but yes the route structure is painfully similar.
Chrisjake From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 843 posts, RR: 1 Reply 10, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 5 days ago) and read 1428 times:
i remember Eastern running a 727 MIA-CAK-CLE and back. now that i think of it...it may not have been MIA but it WAS from a city in Fla. it was flight 726. i guess CAK didn't work out 'cuz it was eventually switched to PIT instead
chris
Well nothing's dead down here, just a little tired
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1361 times:
Some interesting Eastern stand alone flights from the March 1984 timetable
Eastern's point to point structure was well developed and complimented the Atlanta hub. Unfortunetly perhaps there was too much flying over the ATL hub and from many city pairs there were also connecting possibilities via CLT.
Upsmd11 From United States of America, joined May 2003, 799 posts, RR: 4 Reply 12, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 1319 times:
I can remember flying the SDF-EVV-ATL route back in the 80's. I had just turned 21 so I was able to deplane, have a cocktail and get back on before departure. The old EVV airport just had airstairs and was pretty cool.
Lockheed1011 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 156 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1313 times:
Back in the 1976 I flew from SJU-MCO on a L1011 brand new. I felt in love with that plane as you can tell, that is my Username. It was the best!!!!!!!
It was the official airline of Walt Disney and everything inside the aircraft including the napkins had the Disney Theme. After flying the L1011, we flew SJU-EWR in a 727 and I hated it!! Big down-grade.... but Eastern had a hub in SJU and it was the best airline to fly until AA took over.
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1314 times:
This is a similar city by city look of Eastern’s route structure from the July 2, 1986 timetable. Texas Air had just taken over the airline. Let me preface everything by saying I am strictly neutral in the labor/Frank Lorenzo dispute. I am a near lifelong South Floridian who suffered by Eastern’s demise and just wish everything had worked out differently. The shots I take at Lorenzo below are not an indictment of everything he did at Eastern but just commentary on how much of Eastern’s cream ended up with Continental.
Atlanta 317 Daily Departures
Nonstop service to Ontario and San Jose, CA began in late 1984 and continued into the early Texas Air period
Miami 116 Daily Departures
This is perhaps the last timetable before MIA-LGW service was transferred to Continental. Increased service to Central America highlighted this period from MIA as well as non-stops to Buenos Aires.
LaGuardia 74 Daily Departures
Many of the cities served from LGA had changed since 1984 but the daily flight level remained about constant
Kansas City 71 Daily Departures
3 connecting banks highlight a booming Midwestern Hub for EA. This hub was always if I recollect a money loser for EA though.
Washington (National) 54 Daily Departures
An odd nonstop route to Knoxville highlights the service.
Boston 49 Daily Departures
Consistent flight levels from 1984
Charlotte 47 Daily Departures
By year’s end competition from Piedmont would end this hub’s run.
Orlando 47 Daily Departures
New non-stops to Norfolk and Cleveland highlight the increased service from 1984
Tampa 43 Daily Departures
Consistent flight schedule
Philadelphia 43 Daily Departures
Increased service from PHL to various northeastern cities such as Boston and Hartford
Newark 37 Daily Departures
This flight level would tail off quickly as Eastern maintaining its bread and butter Florida- Newark routes was a threat to Continental. EA maintained some level of service from EWR till the end, but never this high level again. An interesting route from EWR to Sarasota/Bradenton is included.
Fort Lauderdale 36 Daily Departures
Includes two daily non-stops to Islip that began in late 1984 and more service to Philadelphia- Eastern had a bad habit of starting and stopping FLL-BOS non-stops every few months. At this point the flight was on and being flown twice a day.
JFK 30 Daily Departures
Service to Mexico City would be shifted to Continental shortly after this timetable.
Houston (IAH) 23 Daily Departures
The Moonlight Special was still running, using IAH as a hub. The operation would soon be dismantled and for a time all Eastern service was shifted to Hobby in order to avoid competition with CO.
San Juan 21 Daily Departures
Includes the seasonal service to Orlando that ran every summer- Otherwise the flights are identical to 1984.
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 1278 times:
Air Tran's route map is looking more and more like EA's old map. Routes out of ATL, PHL and MCO are similar. BWI serves roughly the same cities that EA flew from DCA. Perhaps Air Tran plans for DFW to be what IAH was for EA and MDW to be what STL and then MCI were. Very similar, and somewhat scary!
7E72004 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 3586 posts, RR: 1 Reply 17, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1212 times:
It seems like that there were A LOT of those "weird" routes that we don't see anymore. How did the airlines make money on those routes...for example, a how many passengers would actually fly from Omaha to South bend (not that they had that route but that was an example)
The next generation of aircraft is just around the corner!
September11 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 3623 posts, RR: 23 Reply 18, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1200 times:
Air Tran's Joseph Leonard -- he was operations boss at EA, so he knows the Air Tran plan
Kkfla737 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1033 posts, RR: 1 Reply 19, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 1149 times:
When Eastern converted itself into a LCC that almost survived in 1990 they dropped many of these point to point routes and focused on transporting passengers via Atlanta. I often wondered what the point of Eastern's megahub in Atlanta was unless you were flying from a tier 2 or 3 city to another tier 2 or 3 city. Especially from Florida, EA seemed to offer at least one nonstop flight from major cities to other popular destinations and thus allowed people to avoid Atlanta. Air Tran seems to be doing a great deal of the same now. You're probably right- it's Joe Leonard replicating EA in every way except the name. (Right now Air Tran's name has a good reputation in the industry, so that's why contrary to some posters wishes, Air Tran will NOT be renamed Eastern)..
Dayflyer From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 3807 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (8 years 6 months 1 week 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 1125 times:
Air Tran's Joseph Leonard -- he was operations boss at EA, so he knows the Air Tran plan
Cool, I never knew that. Perhaps EA is still in the air after all. I remember a recent post about this subject a few weeks ago. I thought I was begining to see a resemblance to the old EA network. Perhaps, just perhaps FL will evolve into the old EA.
I wonder how many flights they had out of BUF.....my first ride in an airplane was on an L1011 from BUF to ATL, then a 727 to SAN.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 811 posts, 
From Ireland, joined Jul 2004, 573 posts, 
From Puerto Rico, joined Mar 2004, 125 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
