Final Approach

There is an interesting story on the AOL website about companies that don’t exist anymore. Three of the twenty-five companies they profile are airlines.

During the early years of older Boomers, air travel was still a luxury most people couldn’t afford. So many of us didn’t take our first plane flights till we were in our 20s or 30s and some of the iconic airline companies we may have flown then no longer exist.

Pan American World Airways, Pan Am for short, flew from 1927 till 1991. According to the AOL article, their name and logo became synonymous with luxury travel. Boomers might remember Pan Am as the airline of choice for the Beatles in their early days. Sadly, Pan Am is also remembered for a terrorist hijacking in 1986 and the terrorist bombed Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.



Trans World Airlines was another one of the early airline companies, founded in 1930. For many decades, they seemed to be the only airline. The letters TWA often appear in movies and documentaries.
During the “hostile takeover” era of the mid 80s, they were taken over and reorganized a couple of times. American Airlines eventually picked up what was left of the company and TWA officially ceased operations shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Eastern Airlines was one of the top four airlines at one time. It began as a regional carrier in the 1950s, grew to prominence over the next few decades, then struggled in the 80s and went bankrupt in 1989.

So many airlines are in jeopardy these days that it’s hard to remember which are still in the air. And as you probably know, significant jet fuel price increases have led to staggering air fare increases, which may eventually lead to decreases in passenger numbers. I wonder how many of today’s airliners will still be flying at this time next year.