By Warren and Carolyn Wright at Norman Wells in 1994 to offer charter passenger and cargo flights in the northern area of the country. Revenue flights commence with a fleet that includes 1 each Beech 99A, Beech King Air 90, Cessna 185, Cessna 337C, de Havilland Canada DHC-6-100 Twin Otter, Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2 Islander, Piper PA-23-250 Aztec, and 2 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains.
Operations continue apace in 1995-1996, during which years a second Cessna 337C is acquired. Heavy emphasis is placed on the provision of transport to bush locations for hunters, hikers, and fisherman. Additionally, an Arctic Flight Training school is established.
The company is reformed in January 1997 and renamed North Wright Airways, Ltd. The original North Wright Air becomes the charter division and flies the Pipers, Cessnas, and Islander.
NORTH WRIGHT AIRWAYS, LTD.: Bag 2200, Norman Wells, Northwest Territories X0E 0V0, Canada; Phone (403) 587-2288; Fax (403) 587-2962; Http://www. north-wrightairways. com; Code HW; Year Founded 1997. Warren and Carolyn Wright reform their North Wright Air, Ltd. in January 1997, renaming it to emphasize its commuter airline activities. Scheduled revenue flights are initiated with 1 each Beech 99A, Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, and de Havilland Canada DHC-6-100 Twin Otter. A number of lightplanes previously employed are dispatched as part of the North Wright Air charter division. Satellite bases are set up in Deline and Fort Good Hope. Aircraft maintenance, expediting, and other services are provided at all company locations.
During the remainder of the year and in the next two, daily scheduled frequencies are undertaken to and between Yellowknife, Deline, Fort Norman, Norman Wells, Fort Good Hope, Colville Lake, and Inuvik. In addition, the company continues to operate an Arctic Flight Training School at Norman Wells.
Airline employment totals 30 at the beginning of 2000. The combined fleet for both the scheduled and charter divisions includes 2 Beech 99s, 1 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, 2 Cessna 206s, 3 Cessna 207As, 1 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, 2 Cessna 337s, 2 Twin Otters, 2 Helio Couriers, 3 Pilatus PC-6Ts, and 2 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains.
Destinations visited include Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Invuik, Fort Norman, What Ti, and Yellowknife.
NORTHCOAST EXECUTIVE AIRLINES: United States (19901991). Northcoast Executive is founded at Dayton, Ohio, in early 1990 by Calvin Humphrey and other former officials of Jetstream International Airlines. Employing a fleet of 3 Fairchild Metro IIIs, President Humphrey’s small regional inaugurates scheduled services on March 7 between General Airport and Detroit City Airport and Flint. Four-times-a-weekday frequencies are opened in October from Dayton to Chicago (MDW) as the result of a new code-sharing agreement with Midway Airlines.
Although a fourth Metroliner is acquired in early 1991, the company is unable to maintain its viability in the face of recession and the Gulf War and consequently shuts its doors on January 23. President Humphrey immediately signs on as vice president-aircraft sales with Fairchild Aircraft in San Antonio, Texas.
NORTHEAST AIRLINES (1): United States (1940-1972). Northeast Airlines is born on November 19, 1940 when the railroad owners of Boston-Maine/Central-Vermont Airways, in a preparatory move for a forthcoming public stock offering, elect to change their airline’s corporate identity by adopting a new name, logo (the Happy Pilgrim), aircraft livery, and uniforms. The fleet comprises 2 Stinson SM-6000Bs and 4 Lockheed Model 10AElectras and many on the board, including Eugene Vidal, remain.
The inherited multistop route system, roughly in the shape of a “V,” extends from Boston-Montreal in the west and Boston-Bangor in the east. In December, the Bangor terminus is extended to Moncton, New Brunswick.
Stock is, indeed, offered in January 1941 and helps to raise the capital necessary for new equipment. The company’s first three Douglas
DC-3s are received in May while, simultaneously, both Stinsons are now withdrawn, with one sold in late June. The Douglas transports begin revenue flights on July 1. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, the Bangor-Moncton route is suspended.
Two additional Lockheed Electras are purchased from Braniff Airways during the year. A total of 42,797 passengers are transported and the company, now the nation’s 11th largest airline in terms of the number of passengers carried, wins the dubious honor of receiving, on a pound-mile basis, the highest mail subsidies in the U. S. airline industry.
To determine the feasibility of starting a scheduled North Atlantic ferry route to the U. K., on January 11, 1942, Northeast’s chief pilot Milton H. Anderson undertakes a survey flight. Employing an Army Air Transport Command (ATC) C-39 (a hybrid military DC-2 complete with a DC-3 tail and unofficial Northeast titles) with President Samuel J. Solomon serving as an airman, Anderson flies from Presque Isle in Maine to Gander, Newfoundland, via Gander, Moncton, Goose Bay, and Stephenville. This is the first sortie into this area since Charles Lindbergh’s Jelling expedition in 1933, made on behalf of Pan American Airways (PAA).
At the request of Air Transport Association of America (ATA) President Edgar Gorrell and the War Department, American Airlines executive M. P. “Rosie” Stallter is sent in January on a weeklong inspection tour of the U. S. Army Air Forces’ Air Service Command bases in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Alabama, Utah, and California.
From this trip, Stallter and Gorrell devise and present the Army with a domestic, military - cargo service plan to be operated by the airlines under government contract. Under the plan, five geographical segments are created, each assigned to a specific carrier: American Airlines the East Coast, Northeast the Northeast, Eastern Air Lines the Southeast, Northwest Airlines the Pacific Northwest, and Braniff Airways the Southwest. On January 31, a contract is signed between the airline and the military for the operation of a scheduled route connecting these destinations.
The New England-based carrier becomes the first U. S. domestic airline to commence regularly scheduled overseas contract passenger and freight service for the ATC when flights to Labrador and Newfoundland begin on February 13, 1942. The carrier is asked to trade its three DC-3s to Transcontinental and Western Air Lines (TWA) on April 16 and 22 for five DC-2s. No sooner are the DC-2s received than they are requisitioned, as C-32As, by the U. S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) and are promptly put back into service under contract to Northeast. Chief pilot Capt. Anderson is now USAAF Capt. Anderson.
On April 24, the Gander route is stretched to Narssarssuak (“Blue West 1”) on Greenland’s east coast via Goose Bay by a C-53 Skytrooper (military DC-3 variant) overloaded by two tons. This move is followed by a route extension from Narssarssuak to Sondre Stromfjord (“Blue West 8”), further north along the eastern coast of Greenland. In May, the carrier pushes its Atlantic route 750 miles further east to Reykjavik, Iceland, via Angmagssalik (“Blue West 2”).
On June 2, two DC-3s are purchased from American Airlines for operation of the company’s domestic routes. Nine days later, one of the carrier’s Electras is transferred to the USAAF for operation as a UC-36A. On July 3, Northeast aircraft begin to regularly service Stornoway on the Outer Hebrides island of Lewis. The inaugural Douglas carries in a complete radio range station. The Stornoway destination is pushed to Prestwick, Scotland, shortly thereafter, giving the company a complete Boston-U. K. route network.
Beginning in mid-July, the company contributes aircraft to a 50-transport group from 6 contract carriers (also including American Airlines, Braniff Airways, Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Pennsylvania Central Air Lines, Transcontinental and Western Air Lines, and United Airlines), which are rushed to Presque Isle.
From Presque Isle, the planes, joined by 110 Air Transport Command C-47s, will transport the supplies and men required to set up and man the bases at Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland that will facilitate Operation Bolero, a mass bomber ferry from the U. S. to
England. Northeast is also contracted to provide local services within Iceland, ferrying troops needed to garrison the island nation.
On July 22, via the Treasury Department, the ex-Transcontinental and Western Air Lines (TWA) DC-2s are taken over by the government. Designated C-32As, they are given back to Northeast to operate under contract with an olive gray livery featuring the words “Northeast Airlines” on each fuselage side above the windows in the manner of the C-39 used back in January.
In an effort to find a shorter route from midwestern North America to Greenland, Northeast pilots now undertake a series of exploratory flights. The first departs Goose Bay for Frobisher Bay (“Crystal 2”) via Fort Chimo (“Crystal 1”) on November 1. Twenty days later, the “Crystal 2” terminus is pushed west to Churchill via Coral Harbor on Southampton Island. By flying east from Winnipeg, ferry and transport pilots might now head east via Coral Harbor and Frobisher Bay to “Blue West 8” on Greenland and hence to Prestwick.
The Airlines War Training Institute is established on August 11 under the direction of President Solomon. With its main headquarters at Washington, D. C. and a branch in New York, the body is an unincorporated association with representatives from 19 U. S. carriers. Its purpose is to provide communication between the airlines and the military, to assure training uniformity, and to prepare or upgrade manuals and textbooks.
On March 16, 1943, a route is extended due north from “Crystal 2” to a landing field on Baffin Island christened “Crystal 3.” At that point, the runway, unavailable during the summer, is only available from fall through spring and consists of a strip right onto the frozen bay.
Company directors, having considered certain of the prospects of the coming postwar future, support President Solomon’s application to the CAB, made the next day, for route authority to the capitals of Europe and for a helicopter route network covering New England.
To exchange personnel and provide supplies, company aircraft, between March 28 and April 9 make four roundtrips to Fort Ross on Somerset Island from Coral Harbor via Arctic Bay on Baffin Island. The first proving flight is piloted by Capt. Al Marsh with an all-volunteer crew. In the 13-day mission, 2,300 pounds of supplies are brought in and sick or hurt personnel are taken out for medical treatment.
On July 27, Solomon asks the CAB for two routes to Chicago. Solomon is informed that before the government will act, the railroads must divest themselves of ownership. After successfully assisting in the training of over 35,000 ground personnel and 12,000 flight crew (exclusive of pilots), the Airlines War Training Institute is disbanded on October 31.
On January 15, 1944, 90% shareholding in the company is sold to Floyd Odlum’s Atlas Corporation; Mr. Odlum’s wife, the famed aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran, is also given a seat on the revised board of trustees. President Solomon now also asks the CAB for permission to fly to New Orleans via Atlanta.
Contract aircraft continue their operations in Atlantic Canada, Labrador, and Iceland. In March, a C-47, piloted by Capt. Ray Remick, makes a daring flight from Goose Bay to the north coast of Labrador to save an ill Air Force cook. After touching down on the ice at Hebron Fjord, Remick’s crew is able to load the airman and dig a pair of 5-ft.-wide, 500-ft-long trenches that allow the aircraft to takeoff before its wheels, which have begun to gradually sink, become completely stuck.
Although the CAB refuses the company’s request for European, Chicago, New Orleans, and helicopter services, it does, however, award the company a Boston to New York route on June 12 to be operated via Worcester, New Bedford, and Waterbury. Two days later, the first of two C-53s to be delivered by the USAAF during the year arrives; both will be converted to DC-3 civil standard.
Massachusetts-based Mayflower Airlines, a shuttle, is purchased in August; the arrangements are finalized on January 1, 1945. DC-3 service to New York is duly inaugurated and by December frequencies have been increased to 16 daily roundtrips. The service, however, does not prove profitable, largely because it is flown in competition with the stronger American Airlines, even after the addition of four more DC-3 conversions obtained through the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
Orders are placed for DC-4s and applications are made with the CAB for certification of routes to Bermuda and New Orleans, neither of which will be allowed. At year’s end, a plan is announced for a merger with Pennsylvania-Central Airlines; government regulators, however, will not permit that consolidation either. President Solomon quits to head up California Eastern Airlines; he is succeeded by Paul F. Collins.
The two ex-American Airlines DC-3s obtained in 1942 are sold to Colonial Airlines early in 1946, at which point the company’s route network covers 1,053 unduplicated miles. Four more Douglas transports are acquired during the year. Two DC-4s, leased from Pennsylvania-Central Airlines, join the fleet during the first two weeks of May and are placed into service on the 185-mile Boston-New York run on May 13. A third is delivered at month’s end. It is quickly discovered that these aircraft are not profitable on such a short haul, especially against the formidable competition of American Airlines, and new Convair CV-240s are requested.
Despite their lack of profitability, the three four-engine airliners are purchased in June 1947, along with another DC-3 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Late in the year, George Gardner succeeds President Collins.
A DC-3 is sold to Piedmont Airlines (1) on February 21, 1948 and between February 25 and September 2, 1949, six new Convair CV-240s are delivered. A Convair CV-240 with 3 crew and 25 passengers is damaged beyond repair during a hard landing at Portland Airport, Maine, on August 11; there are no fatalities.
The DC-4s are withdrawn and sold by mid-1950.
A DC-3 with an engine afire crash-lands at South Weymouth, Massachusetts, on September 9, 1951; again, no injuries are reported. Also during the year, merger discussions with George Baker’s National Airlines fall through and an application is put before the CAB seeking authority to operate from Boston to Miami via New York.
On January 14, 1952, the copilot of a CV-240 with 2 other crew and 33 passengers is flying the aircraft when he mistakes the glassy surface of Flushing Bay for his intended runway at New York (LGA) and goes into the water. All aboard escape serious injury and are rescued by the tugboat Bill Endter. The plane’s captain will be held accountable for failure to monitor his lieutenant’s approach.
On December 5, IAM mechanics, inspectors, and cleaners go on strike and within 3 days Northeast can offer only 10 flights per day. After the carrier agrees to arbitrate the workers’ pay demands, the strike ends on December 20.
A propeller malfunction causes a Convairliner to speed off the runway at New York (LGA) on February 6, 1953—again without passenger fatality, although three aboard are hurt. Following the demise of E. W. Wiggins Airways, a number of New Hampshire routes plus one to Montreal via Montpelier are taken over. Curtiss C-46s join the fleet to work a number of all-cargo runs. During the past three years, five more DC-3 s have been acquired.
In 1954-1955 , two DC-3s and four CV-240s join the fleet and orders are placed for 10 DC-6Bs. On April 4 of the former year, all-cargo service is initiated throughout New England. On November 30 of the former year, Flight 792, a DC-3 with four crew and three passengers, is reported missing while on approach to Berlin, New Hampshire, following a service from Boston. The wreckage is found on Mt. Success, New Hampshire, the next day (two dead) and the five survivors are evacuated by helicopter.
A CV-240 is sold to Mohawk Airlines (1) in October of the latter year.
On January 17, 1956, a Convairliner makes a successful dead-in, poor-weather landing at New York (LGA), having suffered complete instrument and electrical failure and severe icing. The plane touches down with 5 min. of fuel left in its tanks.
The company has now completed a decade’s provision of subsidized frequencies throughout the New England region. At this point, a Curtiss C-46, modified by the L. B. Smith Corporation of Miami into a 40-seat CW-20T, is leased and enters service between Boston and Montreal.
As the result of a CAB decision, Northeast is given a major new route, New York-Miami, on a “temporary basis” as of August 10. The carrier had been chosen for this third north-south flight path over Delta Air Lines and Pan American World Airways (1). Competition with Eastern Air Lines and National Airlines on the thrice-daily roundtrip Florida run will, however, prove anything but easy. On December 3, company officials announce that, within a year, Northeast will begin flying a fleet of five Bristol Britannia 305 turboprops; unhappily, negotiations to finance the British turboprops cannot be completed and their delivery is placed in jeopardy. At Christmastime, a DC-6A is leased from The Flying Tiger Line.
Converted to passenger configuration, the big Douglas is employed to inaugurate Boston-New York-Miami service on January 9, 1957. Beginning on January 16 and continuing through October 15, the 10 DC-6Bs requested in 1955 are delivered. All will operate as Sunliners on the Boston-New York-Miami route.
Meanwhile, Flight 823, The Flying Tigers Line’s DC-6A, just after takeoff from La Guardia in a heavy snowstorm with 6 crew and 95 passengers on February 1, is lost in a flaming crash at Rikers Island, New York (22 dead).
As reported in the February 2 issue of The New York Times, Rikers Island prisoners assist in rescuing the survivors and 106 will later have their prison sentences reduced for their efforts, with 11 others freed for their heroism. The surviving pilot Capt. Al Marsh, who had led a dangerous wartime mission in 1943, is found guilty of pilot error by government investigators and is required to resign. Alvin Moscow also relives the accident in his Tiger on a Leash (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1961).
En route from New Bedford to New York in heavy fog on September 15, a DC-3 with 3 crew and 21 passengers, crashes under unknown circumstances into a swamp just after takeoff from the Massachusetts community (12 dead).
Revenue flights are initiated to Washington, D. C., Philadelphia, and Tampa during the year. Because of problems in the U. K. with the type’s landing gear and engines, the Britannia order is deferred in October, the same month the CW-20T is returned to its Miami owners.
During June 1958, an earlier order for 5 Bristol Britannia 305s is cancelled, but, in July, orders are placed for 10 Vickers Viscount 798Ds.
The first two British-made turboprops are received on August 8. They arrive wearing a paint scheme which features bold “NE” initials on their tails and “Viscount” titles. A CV-240 with 3 crew and 31 passengers strikes the ground in heavy fog 1,450 ft. short of the runway while on final approach to Nantucket, Massachusetts on August 15 (24 dead)
A third Viscount 789D is delivered on August 21, the same day upon which the first enters service on the Boston-New York segment.
Between September 3 and December 11, five additional Viscounts join the fleet. Meanwhile, five of the carrier’s 95 pilots fail a special-instrument flight proficiency examination given by the CAA on October 20; when all of the line’s chief pilots are tested, none fail. The success of the chief pilots halts discussion in some circles that the company has expanded too quickly and in an unsafe manner and should be grounded. CEO George Gardner, however, resigns over the matter and is succeeded by Robert Mudge. Although the New York-Miami route has produced good traffic during the year, the company loses over $7 million.
The final two British turboprops arrive in January and February 1959. Five CV-240s are sold between January and May, three going to VARIG Brazilian Airlines (Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense, S. A.). The carrier’s first major jetliner, a Boeing 707-331, is leased from Trans World Airlines (TWA) on December 17 and is employed to add fast capacity on the New York-Florida route at Christmas and New Years. The jetliner’s daily roundtrip schedule is integrated with TWA’s transatlantic service. Losses for the year again exceed $7 million.
In May 1960, Northeast’s board, $10 million in debt, accepts a $9-million loan from Trans World Airlines (TWA), still led by Howard Hughes, which also makes arrangement for the carrier to obtain additional jets.
In November, six Convair CV-880s are leased from General Dynamics for four years; the first is received on November 30. It achieves a speed record on its delivery flight from San Diego to Boston of 4 hrs. 17 min. The second CV-880 arrives at Boston on December 5 after a flight just two minutes longer than that of the first aircraft.
With four of the six Convairs on hand, CV-880 SuperJet service is inaugurated on December 15 from Boston to Miami via Philadelphia. The DC-6Bs continue to offer thrice-daily New York-Miami roundtrips.
A DC-3 is sold to Lake Central Airlines on December 30. Despite addition of the new aircraft, the company’s ledgers continue to be written in red ink.
Despite over $11.5 million in loans from the Hughes Tool Company, long-standing financial difficulties continue, particularly in the period after April 30, 1961 when Eastern Air Lines begins its no-reservation Boston-Washington shuttle service. The situation reaches a point where Shell Oil begins demanding cash-on-delivery for all fuel purchases.
The left main landing gear of a Viscount 789D collapses at Baltimore on September 4. Also in September, the Atlas Corporation, parent of the airline, turns down a joint proposal for the takeover of the carrier’s routes put forward by Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines, and Mohawk Airlines (1). Had the deal been accepted, Northeast as an entity would have disappeared almost immediately.
A Viscount 789D with 8 crew and 37 passengers must be written off at Boston on November 15 after National Airlines (1) Flight 429, a DC-6B with 30 aboard, begins a non-cleared takeoff from Logan International Airport and strikes the Northeast plane; 15 aboard are injured.
Also in November, Hughes Tool Company (Toolco) agrees to provide additional assistance and the first of four CV-880s leased from Hughes Tool Company for five years enters service in December. Northeast’s competitors quickly petition the CAB asking that it step in and prohibit the Toolco aid package.
The B-707-331 leased from Trans World Airlines (TWA) is returned in February 1962. A Viscount, with 27 aboard overshoots the runway while landing at New York (LGA) on April 27; no one is injured in the wreck that follows. The board of Trans World Airlines (TWA) approves the $5-million acquisition of Northeast on May 8 and the CAB, contrary to the demands of Northeast’s competitors, approves the arrangement on June 19, provided that the Hughes arrangement is something less than a complete merger. Two additional Toolco CV-880s are leased to Northeast late in the year.
Still unable to keep up its payments, Northeast, in July 1963, negotiates the involuntary return of its remaining Viscounts to Vickers (all except two, one of which is passed on to Hawaiian Airlines and the other to Aloha Airlines). At this point, Convair and GE also demand return of the CV-880s and two of the six are immediately withdrawn. Although Toolco provides two replacements, Northeast is unable to continue its payments on the four original aircraft, which will also be returned to their lessor, beginning in September.
In August, the CAB disallows the company’s “temporary” Florida route certificate. Filing a protest with the U. S. Court of Appeals at Boston, Northeast attorneys are able to obtain a temporary restraining order against the CAB order. This fortunate ruling will allow Northeast to continue flying south from New York during the profitable winter vacation season. Meanwhile, the airline’s leadership begins an intensive Washington, D. C. lobbying campaign, talking to every important New England representative from President Kennedy on down.
A petition concerning the CAB Florida route action also circulates through New England which, when completed, will contain over 250,000 signatures and be sent to Congress. The CAB and its Chairman Alan Boyd are unimpressed.
The Hughes Corporation, which now owns over 56% of the carrier’s stock, has provided it with $11 million in loans and $16 million in debt guarantees, pledges to cover no further debts. Additionally, the loss of its British turboprops forces Northeast to lease five DC-6Bs in September. These will be placed into an unequal competition against Eastern Air Lines’ big-city commuter operation. The death of President
Kennedy at the end of November blunts much of whatever high-level executive influence the airline had hoped to gain from its D. C. lobbying effort.
Enplanements for the year total 1,356,735 and a net loss of $10 million is suffered.
Airline employment in 1964 stands at 2,099. During the spring, Eastern Air Lines and National Airlines (1) step forward with an offer of $15 million if it will voluntarily suspend its Florida operation. President Mudge and his directors obtain an injunction from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Superior Court Judge Robert Sullivan that will prevent stockholders from even considering this idea.
In early April, the temporary restraining order runs out and Northeast, despite the continuation of legal proceedings, finally loses its Florida authority. Consequently, the carrier’s Jacksonville and Tampa stations are discontinued. Toolco, in one of its final acts of assistance, engineers an arrangement under which four of its own CV-880s are transferred to Northeast, while all six of the Northeast CV-880s, which have been returned to Convair, are provided to Trans World Airlines (TWA).
A DC-3 with 20 aboard fails its takeoff from Montpelier, Vermont, on April 10 and crashes; no serious injuries are reported. A DC-6B is damaged, but no one is hurt, when its landing gear collapses during a June 5 landing at New York (LGA); the wreck blocks the main runway for eight hours. Following almost frantic negotiations, Hughes Tool Company publishes a liquidation plan for the airline in October. Control of the carrier (55% shareholding) plus a $23-million outstanding loan is passed to a one-man trustee, H. J. Hector.
Passenger boardings for the year gain by a slight 3.5% to 1,404,487. Revenues decline 2.8% to $42,703,975. However, as operating expenses are reduced by 17%, the year’s net loss is only $2.8 million.
During the winter and spring, the situation for Northeast appears grim. However, for the second time in the decade, the company is saved when in June 1965, 87% of its capital stock (including the Hughes investment) is purchased by the Miami-based Storer Broadcasting Company. The purchase price for the 973,266 shares is $6.30 per share or $6,141,575.80. Storer also agrees that the company’s debt will be converted into equity and an additional $7 million in “working capital” will be invested. Storer Chairman George B. Storer serves notice to the CAB that he will not only fight to retain the Florida route, but will attempt to obtain additional authority as well. He will also seek to save the carrier by changing its old conservative image and making it more competitive.
To that end, on August 10, he joins new President Lewis Lyle in ordering 22 new aircraft—6, later 8, Boeing 727-95s, 6 B-727-295s, and 10 Douglas DC-9-31s—with a price tag of $100 million-plus. Meanwhile, 2 B-727-95s are delivered late in the year, bringing the fleet total to 29, including 4 CV-880s. A case for permanent East Coast route certification is prepared for presentation to the CAB and a large-scale training program for ground and flight services is undertaken. To replace the DC-3s still operating in New England, seven Fairchild Hiller FH-227Cs are ordered in November.
The workforce now totals 2,341 and annual bookings jump 16.6% to 1,637,863. Revenues rise 12.9% to $48.2 million and despite the Storer rescue, a $205,569 loss is suffered.
American Airlines executive Forwood C. “Bud” Wiser Jr. succeeds Lewis Lyle as CEO in early 1966.
Between July 13 and December 23, the full order for seven Fairchild Hiller FH-227Cs is filled, with the first entering service in New England on July 13. During the summer, noted industrial designer Raymond Loewey creates for the company what will become the famous “Yel-lowbird” (yellow and white) aircraft livery. It will become common to all new aircraft acquisitions, beginning with the first B-727-95 when it is delivered in October. The last DC-3, N16060, is retired on December 16, following its last revenue service.
The year’s enplanements total 1,986,372.
Leased for 15 months from DC-6B distributor F. B. Ayer, a former American Airlines Convair CV-990A, christened Flagship Rita, joins the fleet on January 20, 1967.
While en route from Philadelphia to Boston on February 24, a DC-6B with five crew and nine passengers, suffers explosive decompression over Holmdel, New Jersey, caused by the failure of a forward section of the fuselage near the cargo door. A 12-ft. section is blown out of the fuselage, which strikes the No. 3 engine, causing the propeller to break off. A safe emergency landing is made at New York (JFK) and no injuries are reported.
A week later, the FAA temporarily bans pressurized flights in DC-6Bs and DC-7s.
Following lengthy deliberations and receipt of another huge write-in petition from New England, the CAB, on March 2, grants Northeast a permanent Florida route certificate. Over the next two years, the company, which could not steal a long-haul certificate from the regulators during its first quarter century, will be given several. The first of 14 Douglas DC-9-31s arrives at the company’s Boston center in May.
On September 15, Avis Rent-a-Car begins an in-flight rental service on the company’s Boston-New York commuter flights. Also in September, the last of the leased DC-6Bs are withdrawn and are either returned to Ayer or sold to the Fairchild Hiller Corporation as partial payment on the FH-227Cs. The same month, the last five retired DC-3s are sold.
The first of 13 B-727-295s is delivered in early December and when placed in service on December 14 Miami-New York, it is the first B-727-200 to begin revenue operations anywhere.
On the year, passenger boardings jump 17.2% to 2,399,000 and freight traffic is up by 11.4%. Although $78.6 million in revenues are earned, expenses reach $83.3 million. The losses are $83.3 million (operating) and $6.5 million (net).
The employee population at the start of 1968 is 3,629 and the fleet includes 34 aircraft. The last two CV-880s are withdrawn during January and February. Also in February, a DC-6B is sold to Olympic Airways, S. A. By late spring, all of the DC-6Bs will be gone from the fleet, with at least two more delivered to the Greek flag carrier by Capt. E. C. “Ted” Roberts.
Nine B-727-295s will join the fleet this year as orders are placed on April 8 for six (later eight, half of which are options) Lockheed L-1011 TriStars. The CV-990A Flagship Rita is returned to its lessor on April 30.
Boston and New York to Nassau and Freeport flights begin on May 15 while Boston to Newark flights resume on September 27 after a 22-year lapse.
On October 25, Flight 946, an FH-227C with 3 crew and 39 passengers en route from Boston to Hanover, New Hampshire, crashes at Moose Mountain, near Lebanon, New Hampshire, and burns (32 dead); the aircraft is the only one of its type lost while in Northeast Airlines service.
Construction nears completion on a new computerized reservations system at Boston.
The already famed “Yellowbirds” originate 3,109,000 passengers during the year, an increase of 30%; cargo traffic skyrockets a spectacular 99.5%. Revenues total $111,705,000.
Several new services are launched during late winter and spring 1969: Boston-Bermuda on March 14; Portland-Chicago via Manchester and Detroit on April 28; and Bangor-Chicago via Burlington and Cleveland on May 31. Four additional B-727-295s are delivered and two aircraft are hijacked to Cuba.
The first diversion occurs on May 26 when Flight 6, a B-727-295 en route from Miami to New York, is ordered to Havana by a trio of armed men. The craft and its 20 passengers return to Miami the same day. On May 31, a new route is started from Bangor to Chicago via Burlington and Cleveland.
Another trimotor jet, operating as Flight 43 with 52 aboard, is forced to Cuba on August 14 by two men, one armed with a pistol and the other a knife.
A new $2-million computer center is completed at Boston and here the company’s IBM 360/65 Minuteman reservations system and training facilities are installed and come on-line. In direct competition with
National Airlines, Northeast, on October 1, inaugurates B-727-95 multistop service from Miami across the Southern transcontinental route to Los Angeles. This 2,335-mi service is the company’s longest.
Still, the year is poor for the carrier, which had nearly expired several times earlier. Rising costs dramatically outstrip revenues. Through the first three quarters, Northeast has lost $6.7 million. Despite the initiation of new cost-cutting measures, the company appears doomed.
Beginning on November 11, Northwest Airlines mounts a major effort to acquire the carrier, offering $50 million for the airline, its aircraft, and its route certificates. A month later, following receipt of CAB authority, the company transfers a number of small, unprofitable Northeastern routes to Mohawk Airlines (1) and Air New England.
Enplanements for the year are 2,964,480. On revenues of $122.08 million, a net loss of $28.84 million is suffered.
The employee population in 1970 numbers 3,727, down 19.4%. The fleet includes 41 aircraft: 21 B-727s, 14 DC-9-31s, and 6 FH-227Cs. Service is ended to the Maine cities of Auburn, Augusta, and Lewiston on March 31 and half of the Fairchilds are mothballed. The remainder continue to fly to Keene, Lebanon, and New Bedford.
All arrangements for a merger with Northwest Airlines appear so agreeable that Northeast cancels its order for L-1011s. On December 31, the CAB, in giving its approval for the Northwest Airlines merger, excludes Northeast’s recently won Southern transcontinental route from the deal.
The year’s customer bookings are off by 15.8% to 2.56 million and freight ton-miles drop 11.5%. Revenues grow slightly to $122.8 million and the loss improves to $10 million in red ink.
Stung by the loss of a potentially prime route, Northwest Airlines withdraws its merger offer on March 10, 1971, but the offer is quickly replaced by one from Delta Air Lines. In May, both boards approve the arrangement and the appropriate applications are filed with the CAB. At the public hearing that follows, the marriage is opposed by Eastern Air Lines, which fears the integration of the two carriers’ complementary route networks.
A DC-9-31 is involved in an accident at Martha’s Vineyard on June 22.
Following a year of negotiations with the government over certain New England routes and the attempted entrance into the proceedings by Eastern Air Lines, the patience of both boards of directors is rewarded when President Nixon approves the merger on May 19, 1972. On July 16, a cardboard box containing 21 bottles made into Molotov cocktails is found by an employee on a company loading dock at New York (JFK) and are turned over to security. Northeast is merged into Delta Air Lines on August 1 and all 3,555 Northeast employees begin to wear new uniforms.
NORTHEAST AIRLINES (2): United States (1997-1998). Wayne Hazard establishes NE-2 at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in July 1997 to offer daily nonstop return passenger service to Cumberland, Maryland, and Allentown, Pennsylvania. Revenue flights, employing a single leased Beech 1900C, commence on September 1. With the addition of a second Beech 1900C, twice-daily roundtrips are inaugurated on October 1 to Hartford.
Unable to achieve economic viability, the company shuts down within a year.
World History
