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BRANIFF
INTERNATIONAL
by Archie P. McDonald |
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Many
of you may have never heard of Braniff Airways, but long before American Airlines
moved to Dallas or Continental dominated Houston, Braniff flew the skies over
Texas.
Braniff Airways was the creation of Thomas Elmer Braniff, an Oklahoma
City businessman, and four other investors, who bought a five-seat aircraft and
began offering regular flights between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The
pilot was T.E. Braniff's brother Paul.
Universal Air Lines, a St. Louis
based company, bought the fledgling company from its founders in 1930 and renamed
it Braniff Air Lines. The new owners kept the Braniff brothers involved, with
T.E. as president and Paul Braniff secretary-treasurer.
The company struggled
to survive until it won a contract to carry mail between Dallas and Chicago in
1934, which prompted its officers to move flight headquarters to Love Field in
Dallas. Soon Braniff won a contract to carry mail to the Panhandle of Texas and
to Mexico, which opened passenger routes to those areas as well. Braniffıs corporate
slogan soon became "From The Great Lakes To The Gulf."
During the 1940s
Braniff became an international carrier, especially in the Central and South American
markets, and by the 1960s had become the worldıs sixth largest airline companyıs
new owner after 1964, Greatamerica Corporation, an insurance company.
Greatamerica's chairman, Troy Post, appointed Harding L. Lawrence to run Braniff.
Lawrence jolted the company and the industry with his innovations, which including
new looks for Braniff's terminals created by fashion designers, brightly and multicolored
aircraft, and flashy uniforms for flight attendants designed by Emilio Pucci.
With the rest of the industry Braniff learned the hard way that companies,
like individuals, must be careful when making wishes. When the government passed
the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Lawrence added over thirty new destinations
within two years and he had to buy several new aircraft, on credit, to service
the new routes. Then came the reckoning: the new routes did not generate sufficient
revenue to service Braniff's indebtedness.
Braniff Company was forced
into bankruptcy in 1982. What prompts this remembrance is that my first flight,
in 1964, was on a Braniff aircraft from Houston to Omaha, with stops in Dallas
and Kansas City. I remember it still, though Braniff no longer flies in the Texas
skies.
İ Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical >
September 5-11, 2004 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Distributed by the East Texas Historical Association. Dr. Archie McDonald
is the Associationıs executive director and author of more than 30 books on Texas
history. | | |
