EAL-What happened after FL's Removal?

[Snakum]

I read 'Grounded' this week and was just fascinated by the story of Eastern's demise. Especially, I just couldn't believe what an evil SOB Frank Lorenzo really was and how he seemed to play both sides against the middle throughout the whole mess.

Anyway ... the book ended just as the judge finally appointed Lorenzo's replacement, which of course leaves alot of questions:

* How long did the new leadership try to make a go of it? What was the final straw leading to liquidation?

* Was the liquidation forced by Boeing, GE, and other creditors? Did they ever get anything out of Eastern?

* What became of Eastern/Trump Shuttle?

* What are Frank Lorenzo, Charley Bryan and Frank Borman doing today?

Just curious ...

Minh

 

[Andy Neill]

Frank Borman is currently [1993] a member of the Board of Directors of the Home Depot, National Geographic, Outboard Marine Corporation, Auto Finance Group, Thermo Instrument Systems and American Superconductor. He was named Chief Executive Office of Patlex Corporation in the spring of 1988, and presently holds the titles of Chairman, CEO and President of that Corporation. He has written an autobiography entitled Countdown: An Autobiography of Frank Borman with Robert J. Serling, released October of 1988 and published by Silver Arrow Books, William Morrow and Company, Inc.



[1998] Colonel Borman retired from NASA and the United States Air Force in July 1970 to join Eastern Airlines. Today he and his wife Susan live in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he is still active as a consultant in the air and space industries, and still flies his own WW II fighter planes. The Bormans have two sons, both of whom are West Point graduates.

[>1993] The court eventually ruled Lorenzo was unfit to run the airline. Eastern was permanently grounded in 1991. Two years later, Lorenzo tried to start another airline, named Friendship, but the U.S. Department of Transportation denied his attempt.

 

[Long Time Gone]

Didn't Lorenzo have something to do with US Air in the early 90's, also?

 

[enigma]

I read 'Grounded' this week and was just fascinated by the story of Eastern's demise. Especially, I just couldn't believe what an evil SOB Frank Lorenzo really was and how he seemed to play both sides against the middle throughout the whole mess.

Lorenzo has proven himself to by an evil SOB, but EAL was doomed by decades of bad blood between management and labor. Had Charlie Bryan and Frank Borman been able to work together, Lorenzo would have never had the chance to "work both sides against the middle".

regards,
8N

 

[typhoonpilot]

Snakum:

The Eastern/Trump Shuttle was purchased by USAir in the 1990s and run as a separate entity known as USAir Shuttle. In the late 1990s it was finally integrated into the mainline where it is still the USAirways Shuttle.

Typhoonpilot

 

[nimtz]

There's another book out there written by one of the VP of the post-Frank Eastern. I think it's called "Rapid Descent" or something like that. The court appointed Marty Shurgge (?) who actually started his management career after getting furloughed from Pan Am as a pilot. Despite their best efforts, it became pretty evident to the creditors after a few months that they were pouring money down a dark hole. I thnk by the end they got something like 20 cents to the dollar in debts paid back in liquidation.

"Grounded" is a great book. It really gives a better insight into how much of D*CKHEAD Lorenzo was. If he's on my airplane going out to Nantucket this summer, I'm sure I'll 'suddenly' find a maintenance discrepancy or two.

 

[Wats]

One of the problems they had was that Frank transferred a bunch of assets for less than market value to the Continental side. I believe that Continental eventually paid something to Eal but without things like the highly profitable res ssystem Eal was screwed.

 

[Publishers]

thread

There was a great thread some time back on this subject with a great deal of differing views.

In short, there was enough blame for everyone. The fact that the reservation system was worth more than the airline says most of it.

 

[~~~^~~~]

I had heard that Charlie Bryan did a little mechanical work in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, "the corner," before just retiring into obsurity.

A good number of the EAL guys were around for the beginings of Value Jet and now are very senior at Airtran. Some drifted into other careers, working for the FAA, becoming lawyers and loss investigators. Most are now nearing retirement age and unfortunately they do not have many fond things to say about their experience at EAL.

 

[Snakum]

I corresponded a few times with a very gracious poster here who was there at the end, and it was fascinating to hear the details from a pilot's perspective. In the end, it appears it was destined to be a lose-lose proposition for all concerned. Whatta shame.

Minh