In a leaked internal email, it was revealed that Phoenix-based Swift Air will purchase Miami-based Eastern Airlines. The email was sent Friday morning to Eastern employees from Eastern CEO, James Tolzien. It appears that the deal will be completed by the end of August and will see the Eastern brand co-exist with Swift Air.
The email mentions some efforts Eastern has made in recent months to help reduce costs on the struggling carrier. These include returning an two aircraft to lessors in addition to an aircraft that was returned in April.
Also included is the cancellation of two money-losing contracts for the company, as well as canceling projects with a new hanger and the Amadeus reservation program. The company has also made cuts in personnel, reducing its staff from 240 to 103 employees.
According to James, Swift is currently in the process of gaining certification for the Boeing 737-800. These 737-800’s will be painted with the Eastern name and logo. It is unclear what the structure of the two companies will be, whether the two operators will be merged onto one certificate, or if the two companies will be kept separate.
The new Eastern was launched in December of 2014, as a relaunch of the historic airline. Since then, the airline has operated charter services, including Cuba trips and sports teams, most notably the Florida Panthers and San Francisco Giants.
Vice-President Mike Pence charted one of Eastern’s aircraft for his campaigning during the 2016 election. However, despite some success in charter markets, the goal of achieving scheduled service has eluded the carrier.
Swift Air is a 20-year-old charter carrier based in Phoenix. Similar to Eastern, the carrier has operated charters for various vacation companies and sports teams. The carrier uses the older classic Boeing 737’s. Recently, Vincent Viola, majority owner of the Florida Panthers, purchased a minority share in Swift Air. Before purchasing a share of Swift Air, Viola was a majority shareholder in Eastern Airlines.
Although nothing official has been announced from either party, this is a strong indication that a deal is in place. Although the new Eastern is only a few years old, it has seen its share of financial struggle. Many who enjoy reminiscing about the old Eastern will be glad to know the brand will continue for the foreseeable future.
6 responses to “Swift Air to Acquire Eastern Airlines”
Relaunches see dubious success. Wasn’t Pan Am relaunched a million times?
Do you know how/ if Eastern will continue to operate?
From some of the other articles I have read, it looks as though Swift is acquiring Eastern Airlines and keeping the Eastern Name and forgoing the Swift name. So operations will continue with the Swift Management operating as Eastern. To be honest I was both excited and fearful of the return of Eastern. Excited to see the airline resurrected and fearful that they would go down this road of financial problems they are having. In this day and age of aviation it is very difficult to be profitable with a start up with the cost of the aircraft, landing and take-off fees, employee cost and aircraft fuel and maintenance. Even Delta, Southwest, American have had set backs from time to time.
I wanted to share an article I wrote about this. Hopefully Eastern will continue, but Swift has not said anything. https://medium.com/@dennissanders/how-to-run-an-airline-or-not-cf6af8bd0b45
I wanted to share this article I wrote about the saga of Eastern 2.0. I don’t know if Swift will keep the Eastern name. I’m trying to share this story to maybe get the story out and hopefully get the name to actively live on. http://mailchi.mp/stluke/news-from-st-luke-april-april-957229?e=7f1a98d0eb