Eastern Airlines may be back!!!

Before someone says that I may have flipped my lid, gone off the reservation [see the movie 'Major League' for this Bob Ueckerism] and maybe smoking rope, it seems that there is a rumour going around that Eastern Airlines may be making a comeback.



http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/06/companies-that-vanished-eastern-air-lines-grounded-by-deregulat


Yes, of all things Eastern.....the same Eastern that:

- was one of two launch customers for the Boeing 727, which was soon renamed 'Whisperjets' because the engines were in the rear of the plane, hence the cabins were quieter. Not by much, but they were.

- created the Washington to Boston Air Shuttle with flights every hour from DC, LaGuardia and Logan. This became the favorite means of travel of the Washington elite and businessmen alike.

- was the same company that made former astronaut Frank Borman a corporate titan by naming him the president of this company. Not that he was not already a star because of Gemini 7 [co-piloted with Jim Lovell, later of Apollo's 8 and 13] and Apollo 8 where he commanded the first manned flight to the moon.

- one of the first to fly the Lockheed L1011 [which sadly became a legend due to the early 70's crash of Flight 401 which missed the run way at Miami International and crashed in the Florida Everglades]

- the launch customer for another European invasion. That being Airbus, which Eastern was the proud launch customer of the A300 [made before fly-by-wire technology was all the rage and was actually improved upon by Airbus Industrie. Sorry, Boeing]

- was the same firm whose customer service was so bad at one time they were parodied on 'Saturday Night Live' as having helped to create the 'Island of Lost Luggage'

- and was the same airline that as a slick and sneaky revenue creator actually sold coast to coast, no-frill passenger tickets [$55 in fact, first come first serve...no food, etc] on their overnight freight flights called 'The Moonlight Special' [everybody, sing it now...'Let the Moonlight Special shine a light on me, Let the Moonlight Special shine its ever loving light on me!!'].


If these rumours are true.....and there is no reason to believe they are not, this will be a welcome sight back on the runways. After all, if Eastern did not exist, everyone would have to pick on Jet Blue. Only kidding...but if they live up to their old reputation of being just this side of being strange and weird....the word fun could be re-applied to flying in the US. And right now, we can use that when we travel, after all why should all the constructively sick people work for either Southwest or Jet Blue.