Eastern Airlines starting againin in US?

[Smoknjoe]

Just curious about a persistant rumor in the US.
The rumor is that someone has aquired the rights to the Eastern name and logo etc and is planning to start operations using an excisting operating certificate.
Plans are to use about 30 A320 series aircraft to start, mainly out of MIA.
Any idea as to what operating certificate might be available for this?

Any substantial info would be appreciated.
Take care.
Joe.

[silverstreak]

Eastern were a great outfit in their day. Flew on their L1011s a few times
They had an agreement with Disney at the time (early 80s) and as a kid, remember the crew telling us on one particular flight we were flying on 'Pluto'... My sister was over the moon (She was only 8 years old) :)

[Smoknjoe]

Well...I suppose that IF there is anything to this rumor we should hope they choose to run the Airline so their employees feel like conveying that kind of spirit.

Take care.
Joe.

[muduckace]

I watched Pan Am sell their name a couple of times. In both cases it came down to a budget airline with a business plan based on a name and name only. If the "new Eastern" does get it off the ground, don't expect sucess unless they have an agressive plan to claim a stake in a market where most fail.

If they come close to threatening a legacy, or SWA, Air Tran or even Jet Blue's pocket book they better have a lot of cash to hold out as these airlines slash prices on their routes.

[Airbubba]

Another legacy of Eastern is Randy Babbitt, an FO who was elected head of ALPA after the airline went out of business (they sent me the magazine for six months after my ALPA airline tanked).

Randy is now Obama's nominee to be head of the FAA.

[Earl]

Well with anything to do with obama this company is doomed from the start.
Before long we will see him on TV quoting stats such as MEL and FDT limitations,
Maybe Frank Lorenzo is on his staff now.

[PaperTiger]

I watched Pan Am sell their name a couple of times. In both cases it came down to a budget airline with a business plan based on a name and name only.And is now to be seen only on railroad locomotives :(

[DMahon]

Has anyone heard this rumor? I've heard rumblings but today was the first time anyone had names, and any substantial details of this rumor that made me sit up and listen. Word has it a group of investors are looking to buy the Eastern name, and take USA3000's cert. For those who don't know who USA3000 is they are owned by Apple Vacations, and the actual airline is Brendan Airways but go by the moniker of USA3000.

[non iron]

Are you talking Eastern as in Eastern Airways ?

Their name was lent to a bunch of pykies allegedly setting up a J41 operation in Romania. After 3 months, it stopped on account of non-delivery of aircraft. Others spoke of EU grants being available.
Others spoke of Albanians moving into the EU via Romania to cash in on EU grants.
This is all supposition.
l know what l think.

ps. we are being fecked over again.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

No, he is talking about Eastern Airlines (USA).

[HZ123]

There were 2 x A319 / 320 parked @ ORD last week with engine covers on front and back and my colleague from that airport said they had been parked for a couple of weeks. Are they not very busy?

[DMahon]

USA3000 has A319's, supposedly they gave 2 back or are leasing them out to another company to use in their slow season.

[Smoknjoe]

USA3000 only has A320's. They returned 2 A/C end of april and 2 more at the end of august. The lease rates on those are higher than what you can get now so rumor is they MIGHT get those back or repleasements. Nobody knows for sure right now, but they did furlough about 40 guys with no recall date.

Regarding the Eastern rumor, see my post "eastern airlines starting in US". I posted it in the rumor section and north american section. The on in rumor section got some responces and then was pulled for a few days. When i asked why i got some silly answer about no responces so it was pulled. IT HAD BEEN ABOUT 24 HOURS!!!
It later reappeared in this section where everything gets buried in 2 hours. So you can scroll down and find it.
I thought the whole thing was very odd. Im just hoping PPRUNE got an e-mail from the legal dept at this new venture trying to hush it down, since that would mean its true.
I am currently on furlough from USA3000 so it would mean i will be going back sooner rather than later.
BTW, where did you hear this rumor? There has also been talk about this on flight info.com and airliners.net

Here is the link to the one in this section
http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/372276-eastern-airlines-starting-againin-us.html

And here is the link to the one in the N american section
http://www.pprune.org/north-america/372278-eastern-airlines-starting-us.html

On Airliners.net.
Rumor: USA 3000....the Next "Eastern?" — Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4402884/)

On Flightinfo.com.
Flightinfo.com Hangar (http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=121423)


Take care.
Joe.

[Smoknjoe]

Here is a few links about this topic in other sections and some other boards.

http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airports-routes/373155-rumor-du-jour-investors-buying-eastern-name-usa3000-airways-certificate.html

Rumor: USA 3000....the Next "Eastern?" — Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4402884/)

Flightinfo.com Hangar (http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=121423)

Take care.
Joe.

[NEDude]

Here is the deal gathered from news reports:

Eastern Airlines sole remaining employee, Ronald T Bevins Jr, who is the steward of the last remaining assets and trademarks of the original company, signed a deal with airline industry veteran Edward Wegel (Mesa, Chautauqua, Atlantic Coast, BWIA) to sell the Eastern name and logo to a group controlled by Wegel. There was a short lived lawsuit brought by a company in Pennsylvania which claimed to have the rights to the name, but Wegel's group won that. Now Wegel is trying to get Eastern flying again. That much is fact from several news reports - you can do a google search on "New Eastern Airlines" or "Edward Wegel" and get that info.

Now the rumor is that Wegel has been in talks with the Apple Vacations group about investing in USA 3000 Airlines, Apple's wholly owned subsidiary. From what I have heard, it would be a 51% investment. Wegel would then change the marketing name to Eastern Airlines and start operations out of Miami with 25-30 A320s. Apple, being a minority investor, would use Eastern as its primary airline for Apple Vacations packages.

Advantages for Apple - still the ability to have some control over its air travel product - the original reason for starting USA 3000 - without having to shoulder the entire risk of running an airline that it cannot support on a year round basis.

Advantages for Wegel - a turnkey airline complete with certificate, crews, dispatchers and aircraft. He could paint over the USA 3000 logo and start flying 11 airplanes tomorrow if he wanted. Also has guaranteed passengers from Apple providing approximately 30% of its passenger load right off the bat, before having to advertise, sell tickets, or competing with any other carrier.

[DMahon]

Yeah, sorry typo I didn't mean to type "319's", been a long nite. I'm just hearing it in the aviation circles. It kind of stuck out to me, because I started in aviation at an airline that had a similar rebirth, Pan Am (3rd version). The Guillford Railroad/Tim Mellon bought he Pan Am name, brought it up to New Hampshire, completely stamped out any legacy or decency Pan Am might have had in the process. Of course I don't expect the people who might resurrect Eastern to be so incompetent as the Pan Am 3 people were, just referring to the resurrection of a legendary airline. Makes so much sense to do so, the name is a true brand name.

[Smoknjoe]

Hi, How are you. Did you also fly for boston/maine before that? Do you know Mike DuncXXXX?
Where did you hear this rumor? Sinse I am furloughed I have time on my hands, was just trying to find any substance behind this story.
Thanx.

Take care.
Joe.