PeoplExpress signs deal to get off the ground

[brooklynite]

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

PeoplExpress Airlines Inc. on Wednesday announced a deal to pave the way for it to launch discount air service from Newport News.

PeoplExpress, a reincarnation of the cut-rate air carrier from the 1980s, said it bought Boise, Idaho-based XTRA Airways from TEM Enterprises. Terms weren't disclosed.

XTRA Airways' five Boeing 737's, which fly charter routes, were part of the deal, said Mike Morisi, president of Newport News-based PeoplExpress. He said though XTRA doesn't fly scheduled routes, it is FAA-certified to do so and that certification transferred to PeoplExpress. He said he hopes to announce a flight schedule and destinations soon.

"This is a great foundation for what we want to do," Morisi said.

Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2013/06/peoplexpress-signs-deal-get-ground

---

Will be interesting to see if the PE low-cost model will still work in today's airline market.

[itsrobert]

1. Didn't they fold up the last time due to some plane crashes?

badly maintained planes?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. No, they never had an accident. They just took on too much debt

and their assets were purchased by another airline, I think Continental. You may be thinking of ValuJet, which did have a series of accidents and eventually became AirTran, which was recently merged into Southwest.

[brooklynite]

5. In their later years, they did a lot of expansion....

...becoming a transcontinental airline with plans to expand to Europe and Asia. They got caught by the reduction in airfares brought about by deregulation and couldn't pay the bills on their aircraft purchases.

[Capt.Rocky300]

3. Nope, it was bought up by Continental in 1987

[DemoTex]

4. I hope Frank Lorenzo isn't on board.

Of course, the Frank Lorenzo airline business model was an epic FAIL, but it did set the stage for later evisceration of airline labor contracts and theft of airline employee pensions. The Bu$h-1 Department of Transportation, in fact, banned Lorenzo from any affiliation with the airline industry - for life. While I applauded that action by the Bu$h-1 administration, I never really trusted the "for life" provision.

[Capt.Rocky300]

6. I also seem to remember that Daddy Bush.....

refused to intervene on behalf of employees and stockholders when Lorenzo was taking Eastern Airlines down. But it was a long time ago and I've done my best to forget the name Frank Lorenzo.

[valerief]

7. I guess they're saving money by dropping Es. nt

[Sheldon Cooper]

8. I remember flying on People's back in the early 80s.

IIRC, every flight, no matter where it started or ended, had to go through Newark NJ first.

[brooklynite]

9. Correct; they were one of the originators of the hub-and-spoke system

Inconvenient for passengers, but very efficient for the airline. All their ground staff could be located in one area (they didn't keep staff at outlying cities; the air staff would get off the plane and handle everything) and they could maximize loads.

[frazzled]

10. Yup, my husband got stuck in Newark once ...

when his People Express plane back to Buffalo from NYC got canceled one night. They put him up in the Newark airport motel or something, and I remember him calling me ... for the first time (and last I can remember) ... really upset. He said there was blood on the walls and someone kept trying to get into his room with a key. Oh, and pieces of the ceiling kept falling down on him. It was like the Bates Hotel, by his account.

Well, what do you want for $39 round trip? (I think that's what it was back in those days).

[sdfernando]

11. Yeah.....

I spent a week one night at the Newark Peoples Distress terminal. Vowed never to visit that place again (not Newark but the airport).