Viewpoints

Sometimes it's hard to keep a good airline, or, in this case, its name, down "for the count".  What I'm referring to is the February 13, 2012 announcement that an airline named PeoplExpress plans to take to the skies again, albeit headquartered in Newport News, Virginia instead of Newark, New Jersey, the home of the original version.  While a first for this former airline, reincarnation of historic airline names has been tried on a number of occasions.  What's the track record look like, in terms of success or failure?

Today, flight numbers are often four digits. Earlier in the industry's history, lower numbers were used, and even single digits were not uncommon. Most airlines referred to them as "flights", although Braniff, for one, used the alternative term "trip". And in the piston era, it also was not unusual for at least some flights in a carrier's timetable to also carry a name.

In the last installment, we discussed some of the characteristics of U.S. domestic "Shuttles" in terms of traffic and capacity.  While Eastern's became the most prominent, it was not the first.  Honors in that department go to the Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo Ponte Aérea, or "Air-Bridge" in Brazil. Established in 1959, it preceded Eastern's service by two years. 

To paraphrase the American General, Douglas MacArthur, some older airports that are being replaced with new ones not only don't die; they don't fade away, either.  Recent evidence of this was the announcement by ANA of Japan (a country General MacArthur had some experience with, by the way) that the airline was considering utilizing its new Boeing 787s on international routes from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and not Narita, following initial domestic services with the aircraft type.