Eastern Airlines

Research Paper #1

Eastern Airlines

Managing Information Technology

For my first research paper I am choosing to do my study on Eastern Airlines. I chose this company because I have indirect experience with this company as my father was a pilot for Eastern. Eastern was a powerful company and considered one of the ‘Big 4’ of the major US airline companies. This paper will go over briefly the beginnings of the company and then the events that would lead to the eventual bankruptcy and dissolution of the company.

Eastern Airlines started is days back in early 1929. A gentleman by the name of Clement Keys, a former financial editor for the Wall Street Journal and a promoter of aviation corporations, purchased a small Philadelphia-based airline known as Pitcairn Aviation, Inc. that had only been formed 2 years’ prior on September 15th, 1927. On January 17th 1930 Pitcairn’s name was changed to Eastern Air Transport (EAT), Inc., and expanded its routes to Atlanta, Miami, Richmond VA, and Boston, mainly commercial air mail services. EAT was one of few airlines that was favored by the Post Master General. At this time WWI ace pilot by the name of Eddie Rickenbacker served as the general manager of EAT. During WWII Eastern established a Military Transport Division that carried cargo to military personnel in such locations as Miami, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and West Africa.

During postwar years Eastern remained at the peak of prosperity and power while other airlines struggled after WWII. However, the prosperity was not long lived as Delta Airlines was was gaining ground on their success, mostly due to the particular aircrafts that Delta chose to add to their fleet. Another issue that posed a problem for Eastern was the U.S. governments requirement for a three man cockpit crew.

Delta seemed to handle the regulation change in a more logical way than Eastern. Eastern used flight engineers to fill the 3rd seat, Delta used used pilots who were trained as flight...