Defunctland: The Downfall of Disney's Official Airline, Eastern Airlines

on December 17th and 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright made four flights in there powered flying machine with the final pass of the day lasting a record 59 seconds the brothers had been experimenting with flight for over four years and to say that their fine machine successful run would change the world would be an understatement the years immediately following the brothers flight would see the most innovative minds and the most powerful government scrambling to create a machine capable of controlled engine powered flight whereas it was now known as in airplane innovation would improve the machines functionality as well as lead to several different designs and models the conflict of World War one would fuel the development of the airplane further and mail delivered by air showed commercial promise airships led to the creation of the first airline in 1909 and the first commercial airplane took flight on January 1st 1914 between st. Petersburg and Tampa Florida with a single passenger the former mayor of st. Petersburg paying the $400 ticket which would be just under $10,000 today after World War one the United States Postal Service created an elaborate network of flights for airmail and it offered contracts to a few independent companies to fulfill the services on these routes these airlines would develop into some of today's most recognizable names in commercial aviation including Delta Airlines American Airlines and United Airlines however there was one company that came out of the airline bube that travelers no longer see at the terminal but is immediately recognizable to many especially those traveling to Orlando Florida to visit a brand-new vacation destination in the early 70s this is your cabin where you been clearing her [ __ ] be flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet [Music] [Music] eddie vernon rickenbacker was born on October 8 1890 he was raised in Columbus Ohio by his parents two Swiss immigrants along with his seven siblings the family lived in poverty with his father working construction and odd jobs his father who was especially strict on the often mischievous Eddie instilled in his son a love for machines and tinkering and he would be repeatedly told that a machine has to have a purpose a mantra that Eddie would take to heart tragically Eddie's father was killed in a construction accident when Eddie was only 12 were seeing him to drop out of school and support his family he continued his love for machinery and took engineering classes on the side he was particularly fascinated with automobiles and in 1906 he would get a job with a race car driver named Lee frere who took Eddie under his wing this would spark a lifelong love for racing after his stint with frere and he would become a car salesman for the Columbus buggy company and begin racing on his own in the following years he would participate in the Indianapolis 500 multiple times and set a world speed record at Daytona before a race in California in November 1916 and he would have the chance to fly in an aircraft with aviation pioneer Glenn Martin it would be a flight that would change his life after World War one broke out Eddie expressed interest in fighting for the Allies and in 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany Eddie would have his chance he was among the first group of men to be shipped overseas given preferred treatment for the fame he had acquired as a race car driver World War one was the first major war to see air combat in the new landscape of machinery fascinated Eddie after claiming he was 25 instead of his actual age of 27 in order to qualify for flight training he was enlisted into one of the air combat units his skills in the air would result in multiple promotions eventually being named commander of a squadron he would also receive the Medal of Honor and would set many records during the war including most victories with a total of 26 his service would give him nationwide acclaim and he would be treated as a celebrity and the most recognizable aviator in the country in honor he would hold until Charles Lindbergh solo non-stop transatlantic flight in 1927 in 1923 Rickenbacker and two of his business partners an airline named Florida Airways Rickenbacker's Fame allowed him to draw major investors such as Anne Morgan Percy Rockefeller and Henry Ford Florida Airways was able to secure an airmail contract with the US Postal Service Rickenbacker's airline would only last until the summer of 1927 passenger revenue was lower than expected possibly due to the high ticket price a one-way ticket from Miami to Jacksonville cost $60 or just over $800 today all of the commercial airlines of the time relied heavily on the revenue from the airmail contracts and turnover was high for the routes with many companies dissolving or being absorbed into others for instance just two months after Florida Airways ceased operations a man named Harold Pitcairn would take over Florida Airways mail route with his airline Pitcairn aviation just two years after that a man named Clement Keyes would purchase Pitcairn Aviation and absolve it into his company North American Aviation Keys would change the company's name from Pitcairn aviation to Eastern Air Transport as all of the airline's routes of the time were on the east coast of the United States General Motors would purchase North American Aviation and therefore Eastern Air Transport in 1933 this was under the guidance of none other than Eddie Rickenbacker who would as a result become Easterns general manager in 1933 he will combine his remaining assets from Florida Airways with Eastern Air Transport to create Eastern Airlines five years later in 1938 Rickenbacker and other investors would buy Eastern from General Motors for 3.5 million dollars Rickenbacker would invest heavily in the company's employees offering benefits and improving work conditions this would lead to a rapid expansion for Eastern with Rickenbacker finally finding a solid business venture after years of failures unfortunately it seemed that Eddie's Luck was short-lived On February 26 1941 Rickenbacker boarded an Eastern Airlines flight to Brownsville Texas with multiple stops in between the plane was heading for Atlanta's Airport around midnight but began to rapidly lose altitude in the heavy rain the plane slammed into a tree line and crashed into the ground rolling several times and ejecting some of the passengers five passengers and three crew members were killed and reports said that Rickenbacker was among them however the veteran miraculously survived pinned under the wreckage other passengers attempting to signal oncoming planes suggested lighting a flare a Rickenbacker through his intense pain warned that it could ignite the spilled gasoline luckily a dog spotted the surviving passengers and guided them to a nearby house Rickenbacker was in critical condition and was given a 50/50 chance to live by his doctors the crash had resulted in him suffering a fractured skull fractured hip shattered left elbow paralyzed left hand a broken pelvis broken ribs broken left knee a dislocated eye and more amazingly Eddie would be brought back from the brink of death and would return to his position at Eastern later that year the United States entered World War two Rickenbacker and Eastern helped with the war efforts using the company to support military flights which in turn added new routes the expanded eastern thrived in the years following the war and the company purchased colonial Airlines in 1956 adding a network of flights to Canada however Rickenbacker's refusal to invest in jet planes resulted in his ousting from CEO on October 1st 1959 though he would stay on as director and chairman of the board Eastern implemented its first Jets the following year in 1963 Rickenbacker vacated his positions at Eastern Airlines ending his three decades at the company eastern continued its innovation and expansion through the 60s new Boeing 727 jet in the tail assembly that's one reason it's so quiet the passengers are always riding ahead of the sound why does it fly - I don't know it flies north you can hightail it on Easterns new 727 jetliner to Washington Philadelphia and Boston and the unique new dining service is worth writing home about choose from a selection of superb entrees like lobster Newburg filet mignon with Bordelaise sauce prepared as you like it Eastern 727 jet quiet as a library the smartest way to leave town come fly with Eastern [Music] in 1964 they were the first airline to fly the Boeing 727 the expansion allowed for more and more people to have the ability to fly regardless of economic status in 1967 Eastern purchased another airline Mackie Airlines and also expanded their international flights further in 1970 Eastern adopted the slogan the wings of man their previous slogans first and on-time dependability see how much better an airline can be we want everyone to fly and number one to the Sun had been short lived and had done little to boost the airlines marketing wings a man however restored a sense of class to the airline in issue most airlines were struggling with as they reduced rates and increased availability on September 23rd 1970 it was announced that Eastern Airlines would be the official airline of the Walt Disney World Resort set to open the following year Eastern claimed to have more flights going to Florida every day than all the other airlines combined this allowed for double promotion of both the airline and the new vacation destination [Music] do you know the way to the Magic Kingdom sure you can fly to Walt Disney World in Florida on Eastern the airline of Walt Disney words the wings of man Eastern began offering vacation packages for trips to the resort and children flying Eastern to Orlando were given a fun flight back inside was Mickey and Minnie hand puppets a paper Mickey mask Magic Kingdom themed games and puzzles a DIY book dust cover and other cereal box caliber items the largest obligation for Easterns end of the contract was to sponsor an attraction at the Magic Kingdom their ride if you had wings would open in Tomorrowland on June 5th 1972 less than a year after the park opened this Omni movie ride took guests through different scenes of Easterns premiere travel destinations such as Mexico Puerto Rico and the Bahamas I'll showcase with simple sets and projectors the most unique part of the ride was the speed road a tunnel with a film projection that wrapped around an inclined lift this gave the illusion that you were taking off in a plane with fans blowing to simulate the experience the most memorable part of the ride was the theme song written by Disney composer Buddy Baker which is either sweet or slightly sinister sounding depending on the viewer but it is no doubt catchy [Music] once guess exited the ride they were greeted by an Eastern Airlines travel agent willing to book their next vacation with the airline this is similar to the design of Chevrolet's test track sponsorship today eastern sponsorship with Disney prompted them to purchase more planes and add new flights to Orlando by this point Eastman was one of the biggest airlines in the country in 1975 retired astronaut Frank Borman became CEO of Eastern Airlines he replaced the wings of man campaign with a new campaign starring himself along with a new slogan in 1977 Borman would make Eastern the first US airline to fly the Airbus a300 jet they would also launch the Boeing 757 in 1982 however these purchases combined with high oil prices would put Eastern deep in debt they had difficulty competing with Airlines offering lower fares and campaign distress quality overpriced did little to sway consumers on top of this most of the airline's workforce were unionized making it difficult to compete with other Airlines employee non-union workers such as people Express Easterns attempt to cut wages against the will of the Union resulted in massive strikes among the workforce both sides began to sabotage the other we started at 7:30 this engine is basically done as soon as the electrician gets done right iron hand I can go in and pull the maintenance manual out and there's a manual in there that thick to change this engine I can take two days to change this engine right so basically that's what we were doing I was one of the people that was more said we say aggressive and because I was protected I know in other words I was like old groundhog vegan in his hole I was protecting my home the issues piled on and Borman had no choice but to sell the airline in 1986 this would result in the beginning of Easterns descent Eastern Airlines was sold to Frank Lorenzo for just six hundred and fifteen million dollars Lorenzo was one of the most infamous Union Buster's of his time his deregulation strategies were aggressive and many described them as heartless and cruel in 1972 Lorenzo had acquired the struggling Texas International Airlines he and his business partner Robert Carney were able to save the airline by offering cheaper fares and restructuring the routes Lorenzo then attempted to take over both national airlines and Transworld airlines but failed to do both Lorenzo instead restructured Texas International Airlines into Texas Air and New York Air completed in 1980 the formation of the latter allowed Lorenzo to hire non-union employees for in some cases half the price angering the current employees of Texas Air New York air also became a major competitor for Eastern Airlines forcing them to lower fares and putting them in debt as Eastern was not able to break their labor contracts or get around them the same way that Lorenzo did the next year Lorenzo aggressively pursued the purchase of Continental Airlines which was strongly opposed by Alvin Feldman the president of the airline Feldman attempted to dilute Lorenzo's shares by giving his employees a majority stock in the company but the plan failed when the bank's pulled out after a lengthy battle Lorenzo won and Feldman overcome with depression over what would be the loss of his company on top of the personal struggle of losing his wife to cancer the year before tragically took his own life Lorenzo's takeover at Continental was poorly timed as the company in the nation's economy were in dire straits Continentals unions who had opposed Lorenzo from the start to not back down and they would go on strike in 1983 all of this gave Lorenzo the opportunity to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection allowing him to layoff a majority of the workforce and void union contracts the company began hiring more employees at lower wages cutting pilot wages in half and the company was able to turn a profit the following year Eastern took notice of the tactics and management suggested that if the union did not offer concessions that a similar course of action to lorenzo's might be taken in a video message from Borman to his employees he made his case we are really approaching a a fundamental decision as a as a family here at Eastern and without saying I told you so you know and I'm quite convinced that many of you think I've been have been predicting too many dire circumstances in issuing too many warnings but let me just go back and tell you we we predicted what was going to happen with the regulation and we're living it now I simply urge you to select the proposal that we have offered and I want you to understand with all of the honesty that I can muster in your eyes that in my estimation he will be voting on your jobs this of course angered the Union even more after an attempt at a compromise in which the employees would take a stake in the company was foiled by a recession in late 1985 the battles between the management and employees returned during the chaos Lorenzo expressed interest in acquiring Eastern Boorman and other management offered an ultimatum to the union's either offer concessions or be sold to Lorenzo the union's offered a 15% reduction in wages if Borman resigned Orman agreed but the board rejected the offer and Lorenzo acquired the company that same year Lorenzo would acquire people Express which had acquired Frontier Airlines this resulted in Lorenzo through Texas air owning around 20% of the u.s. as airline industry the union's offered to negotiate new contracts with Lorenzo but he did not respond to the requests within a few months over 2,000 employees were laid off and pay cuts were threatened in order to keep Eastern afloat although many analysts claim that even with the most drastic pay cuts Eastern would still be losing money the Department of Transportation conducted a safety investigation on Eastern finding no major issues but officially warned the airline that the cost-cutting would result in safety concerns this prompted many to choose other airlines in 1987 Eastern would their sponsorship with Disney and no longer be Walt Disney World's official airline if you had wings was closed for five days and stripped of any references to the sponsorship the ride reopened as if you could fly on June 6 to 1987 mainly the same without the sponsorship or its signature theme song Delta would soon replace Eastern as the official airline of Walt Disney World and they would open their own ride and if you could fly splays on June 26th 1989 called Delta dream flight utilizing the same layout as the previous version of the ride the attraction now took guests through the history of flight Delta would not make the same attempt at in-flight experiences that Eastern did and their sponsorship with the resort would only last until 1995 in 1996 Disney removed all Delta branding from the attraction renaming it to simply dream flight before renaming it again a few months later to take flight two years later take flight would be replaced with the spaces current resident the shooting dark ride Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spent the original track layout and speed tunnel still remain in the attraction from if you had wings and a futuristic instrumental of the attractions theme song can still be heard in the Tomorrowland area music loop Disney has gone without an official airline ever since Delta ended their sponsorship although it does have a few themed planes with the Canadian airline WestJet and with a few other Airlines as well Lorenzo continued his war on Easterns employees selling off in restructuring profitable parts of the company in order to force union concessions in 1989 Lorenzo sold Eastern shuttle service to Donald Trump who transformed the assets into Trump shuttle he also moved assets around within Texas Air and his other companies destroying Easterns ability to succeed this eventually resulted in Easterns filing for bankruptcy on March 9th 1989 in an attempt to once again hire non-union workers just a year later however Eastern was removed from Texas airs management by court order due to its mismanagement and business tactics martinsia grew an executive who had a good relationship with labor unions was appointed the head of Eastern in 1990 he would attempt to save the company by facing his well-known issues head-on [Music] this great new proud company we are running a very good airline here today the problem is that a lot of potential customers out there don't know it yes we have a large deep hole to climb out of it so what we're going to do is we're going to impose a very noticeable timeframe on ourself for the next hundred days you're going to see these Eastern Airlines get a little bit better every day is we're not going to promise the moon because you and I both know we can't deliver it and I don't ask that you agree with everything I have to say but let's get the dialogue going and later well let's let's go who wants to start yes sir in the back come up here and grab the mic so we can no disagree this worked for a short period of time but after conflicts in the Middle East caused jet fuel prices to rapidly increase any chance the airline had a recovery and was gone around this time she grew argued to the court to increase a salary from 425 thousand to six hundred thousand his audacity baffled many finally on January 19th 1991 Eastern Airlines stopped fine many customers had already booked flights past the state and five thousand employees were immediately laid off its assets were sold and Eastern Airlines wants one of the biggest airlines in the United States was no more eighteen years later in 2009 a group purchased the intellectual property of Eastern Airlines in an attempt to revive the brand their attempt would be short-lived as the airline would only last until September 2017 the corporate culture that eventually led to the downfall of Eastern Airlines had been tense almost since its inception this could be the fault of Rickenbacker whose militaristic approach to his employees turned off many and would prompt the first of many strikes in the airline's history the struggle between workers and management was and is not unique to Eastern and that same fight continues to rage on today however the absolute transparency on both sides of the eastern debacle provide a fascinating look at the inner workings of a corporate conflict that a more reserved company like Disney would never allow but that doesn't mean that similar conflicts don't exist behind closed doors it could be utter chaos while the consumer might see is an employee selling them soft drinks at a theme park or a mechanic fixing their flying machine when the dust settles when the Sun sets there is one big question with which we are left what after all is the meaning and purpose of the American corporation is it just a bundle of financial assets to be moved around to their highest and best use or is a corporation a network of mutual obligations mutual responsibilities a compact between people to produce wealth in the future can we have it both ways the eastern story suggests no [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 1,952,671

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, eastern airlines, walt disney world, disney airline, disney world airline, disney airplane, eastern airlines history, history of airlines, defunct airlines, extinct airlines, eddie rickenbacker, disney world history, disneyland history

Id: Wpg95rJWAIs

Length: 21min 38sec (1298 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 05 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/tsamesands]

love defunctland

[u/_VexHelElEldZodEth_]

Kevin upped his game immensely over the past year or so. The videos are always the highest quality and the research is thorough and always super interesting. I’m always pumped when he drops a new video. Defunctland and Criminally Listed are two of my favorite documentary style channels.

[u/lukel1127]

One of the best series on YouTube. I hope Defunctland becomes a reality one day.

[u/[deleted]]

So crazy. I went to highschool with this guy and now I see him all over the place.

[u/stickyourshtick]

lol what a horrible business choice trump made... is anyone surprised though?

[u/journeyman369]

Remember flying Eastern Airlines. Must have three or four at the time.

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks for this also love Fisher Disney Mania

[u/AmpleSnacks]

Oh god I thought from the name this was gonna be another Banksy theme park