Eastern Airlines Update
In our January 29, 2017 issue, NetLetter #1359, I wrote about the return of Eastern Airlines. I concluded that article by saying that there will be more to be written; after six years this may be a good time to give it a try.
See my original article for more on the history of the original 'Eastern Air Lines'; for this article, I am trying to decipher the complicated history and current status of 'Eastern Airlines, LLC'.
'Eastern' is both one of the most famous and infamous brands in the history of commercial aviation. However, it remains highly recognizable and its trademarks are considered 'intellectual property', so the current airline tries to take advantage of the familiarity for marketing.
Eastern Airlines, LLC (Limited liability company) began as Dynamic Airlines in 2010 and later added 'International' to its name to reflect its transition from a charter airline into scheduled international services.
In 2011, Eastern Air Lines Group, Inc. (based in Miami, Florida) began operations as a low-cost charter airline serving Caribbean and Latin American destinations It also operated charter flights for some professional sports teams such as the Florida Panthers, San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins, Oakland A's and Portland Timbers.
It ceased operations in September 2017 and its fleet and 'intellectual property' were acquired by Swift Air (now iAero Airways).
Dynamic International Airways then successfully exited bankruptcy restructuring in April 2018, obtained a license to use the Eastern 'intellectual property' from Swift Air and was then rebranded as Eastern Airlines, LLC.
The only certainty to me is that today's iteration of 'Eastern Airlines' really has no relationship to the original 'Eastern Air Lines'.
Editor's Note: Our NetLetter team has had numerous discussions concerning use of the terms 'Air Line' and 'Airline'. It seems that, in the early days of aviation, two words were used to distinguish between ocean, rail and air 'lines'. Over time it has morphed into 'airline' which is more commonly used today. However, we still take care to ensure use of accurate corporate names of the 'air lines' of the past. For example: 'Delta Air Lines' still uses the two-word format
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