Fly the trijet twice, losing late season contests to the San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants.
Largely due to retrenchment and effects of the PATCO air traffic controllers’ strike and ATC restrictions, traffic drops 14.2% to 10,494,000 while cargo plunges down by 43.2% to 127.39 million FTKs. Simultaneously, revenues decline 17.9% to $1.18 billion and although the new management’s activities cut costs 17.43%, expenses still total $1.29 billion. A $94.8-million operating loss is posted and a monstrous $156.49 million loss is sustained.
Humor precedes corporate disaster in 1982. On February 1, President Putnam covertly tape records a conversation with American Airlines President Robert L. Crandall in which the latter suggests coordinating fares out of Dallas (DFW). Putnam turns the tape over to the Justice Department, which begins an embarrassing investigation of the rival.
A man wanting to hijack a Braniff jetliner, but who does not know how to fly, boards an empty B-727-227 on February 13 at Amarillo, Texas, and, after discovering his error, locks himself inside the cockpit where he remains until Federal agents can talk him into surrendering some hours later. Upon examination, the man will be found to be mentally unstable and sent to a psychiatric institution.
In March, the CAB begins an investigation into Braniff charges that American Airlines has been employing “dirty tricks” against it in Dallas; Braniff brings its own civil suit on similar charges.
During the first week of May, a deal is made to lease the company’s South American routes to Eastern Air Lines, but by this time the company is out of cash and can neither complete the deal or operate. Unable to pay either principal or interest on its debts since mid-1980 and following two successive $100 million-plus loss years, Braniff International Airways, $733 million in debt, files for Chapter XI bankruptcy on May 12.
The next day, all aircraft are ordered back to Dallas from wherever they might be in order to prevent their seizure. By the day it closes its doors, the carrier-first to fail under deregulation—has flown 3,918,000 passengers (down 62.7%) and 34.74 million FTKs (off 72.7%) for the year. It has generated $380.22 million in revenues and has $427.58 million in expenses. The final bottom lines read: minus $67.35 million (operating) and minus $65.1 million (net). More important for the travelers who have been caught by surprise, hundreds of consumers are left with worthless tickets that no other airline will honor.
Once out of business, almost all of the company’s South American routes are acquired on June 1 by Eastern Air Lines, while its domestic slots are divided up by other air transport companies. Among the latter is Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), which files a plan to use its slots plus aircraft leased from Braniff’s assets to start a joint venture Texas division at the ex-major’s Dallas (DFW) base. The move is opposed by American Airlines, which now declares the Texas airport its principal hub.
In the spring of 1983, a U. S. Court of Appeals judge rules against the Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) initiative. At this point, 20 B-727-227s are sold and a B-747-127 is leased to PEOPLExpress. In July, the “dirty tricks” suit initiated against American Airlines is settled out-ofcourt when the surviving major pays $20 million to takeover Braniff’s Dallas (DFW) gate leases in exchange for a dropping of all charges.
The story of the airline’s last years is covered from two different perspectives in books written after its failure. Former Chairman Putnam, with Gene Busnar, recalls the period in The Wings of Turbulence: A CEO's Reflections on Surviving and Thriving on the Cutting Edge of Corporate Crisis (New York: HarperBusiness, 1991). Earlier, an ex-Braniff pilot, now ABC News consultant, John J. Nance, had written Splash of Colors: The Self-Destruction of Braniff International (New York: William Morrow, 1984).
There is an unofficial website on Braniff that is maintained by Bill Jackson located at Http://users. acl. com. dispatcher/private/bnf. html.
BRANSON AIRLINES: United States (1993-1994). Branson Airlines is established by Nick Herbst at Branson, Missouri, during the summer of 1993 to serve the country music and tour group attractions of the city.
Daily lightplane roundtrips are initiated to Kansas City, St. Louis, Little Rock, and Memphis.
As the result of low demand, the service to St. Louis and Kansas City is cancelled on November 15. Unable to survive until the following tourist season, the company goes out of business in early 1994.
World History
