Grounded: Western Pacific Airlines
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- This episode of Grounded looks at Western Pacific Airlines, better known as the airline with the Simpsons plane... Western Pacific, or WestPac for short were Headquartered in Colorado Springs and at their peak operated a fleet of 19 Boeing 737-300 jets and owned a subsidiary airline, Mountain Air Express which operated regional feeder flights. WestPac were most remembered for their logo jets which aside from The Simpsons jet also saw flying billboards advertising everything from casino & hotel resorts to car hire and credit unions. The airline collapsed in less than three years with most folks pointing the finger at the airline moving from Colorado Springs to Denver but as you will see in this episode, there was more to it than that. So, grab a brew, relax and enjoy the Western Pacific Airlines story...
I mention a few airlines in this episode that I have previously covered in the series, those episodes are listed below. I am also working on a number of airlines which are mentioned in this episode, so while they aren't done yet do come and check back to see them when they land :)
Kiwi International Airlines
Kiwi were an airline founded and run by former airline employees, they operated a fleet of Boeing 727s from their Newark base but ran into various difficulties which saw them grounded several times by the authorities and suffer two bankruptcies.
The Kiwi episode is available here: • Grounded: Kiwi Interna...
National Airlines (N7)
This incarnation of National Airlines was based in Las Vegas and operated a fleet of Boeing 757s from the late 1990s until 2002. They had a lot of good ideas but just timed it wrong.
The National Airlines episode is available here: • Grounded: National Air...
Air Florida
Originally billed as "The" deregulation success story Air Florida grew from a tiny intrastate carrier to an international & long-haul airline. Sadly remembered for their bright colour scheme being plainly visible in the wreckage of a tragic accident...
The Air Florida episode is available here: • Grounded: Air Florida
** Contents of this video **
00:00 - Intro
00:22 - Western Pacific Founded
02:48 - First Flights
03:37 - The Logojets
04:20 - The Simpsons 737
05:13 - Other Logojets
07:30 - Approaching it's Peak
09:16 - Mountain Air Express
11:40 - New Management
13:35 - Move to Denver
15:32 - Planned Merger with Frontier
16:58 - Merger Abandoned
17:55 - Board Resignations & Bankruptcy
19:35 - What Went Wrong?
** PRODUCTION NOTES **
Once again you may have noticed that this episode is a week later than planned, basically after a week of working on a script for a different airline I was ready to record that episode as planned but then decided that I wasn't happy with the script and needed a redraft, but after having got myself tied into a few knots with it I decided to knock out a script on WestPac instead with the other airline knocked back a few weeks, though I hope you enjoy this one taking its place :)
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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I could see logo jets coming back with the way ads go these days. It would actually be pretty cool though. The mystery flights sound really fun.
Yes I agree, I wonder who would be the first airline to bring them back - I'm thinking someone like Allegiant or Spirit perhaps. The mystery flights do indeed sound fun :)
I worked 2 years I really enjoyed your video and learned new things
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Another great one Phil.
Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed it :)
I am very appreciative for using my materials. As always excellent video!
Thanks for sharing it with me mate, glad you enjoyed it :)
I joined WestPac as an aircraft mechanic in 1997 when they opened Denver. Pilots, Flight Attendants, Mechanics, everybody got together like a big family. Had the airline survived, I probably never would have left.
Cool, it seems like these days there are not many airlines which have that big family feel to them. Had I been visiting the US back then I certainly would have given WestPac a go :)
Hey, I have a suggestion; Canadian Airlines. Long story short, they ended up going bankrupt then merging into Air Canada. They had an interesting history up until that point and they had a spectacular collapse.
Did ward air not merge into Canadian?
Yes they did Ian, from memory it was around 1988-89.
Thanks for the suggestion, this one seems to be a popular one this week ;) I am working on Canadi>n and will have an episode together soon enough :)
Brought back some good memories with this one. Lived in Colorado Springs and WestPac was a big deal back then. Flew on them a couple times. The company I worked for did their IT, however, got stuck with a big unpaid bill when they went belly up.
Do a video on Swoop Airlines.
Enjoyer the show..thanks as always
Thanks Gregory, much appreciated :)
Great vid. FYI - Northwest Airlines used to do the mystery destination thing in the late 90s / early 2000s. These were day trips out of Detroit and you would only be informed if it was a warm or cold destination.
Thank you and thanks for the info, I do like the idea of flying out on a mystery day trip :)
Another great addition to the series! 👌👍✈️
Thank you :)
Excellent, excellent!!!!! Yes, certainly remember Western Pacific. They sent me a fax of the timetable when they first started. Fan of the logojet brand awareness. I understand, Ed Beauvais went on to oversee a aviation museum non profit.
Thanks Craig, I'm glad you enjoyed it :) That's cool about the fax, did you request it or did they naughtily spam you? ;) I think you're right about Ed, could possibly be the one at Marana?
Those we're the days when you called reservations and I would always have airline timetables mailed to me. As a kid, collected lots of timetables. By the 90s, that all changed. I was told they could fax a schedule of the flights they had. I accepted being sent via fax. Reminded, when I was a frequent traveler on British Airways to London, calling reservations was a pleasure. I enjoyed being put on hold listening to Flower Duet by Lamke. British Airways and the speed bird Landor Associates livery was a epic class act. So miss those days and my routine trips to London.
Ah right, I'm with you :) The Landor livery was by far the best livery British Airways ever carried (or ever will IMHO), at least you never had to phone Air 2000 and listen to "I'm walking on sunshine" on loop (I did a year working for their tour operations side in 2007 and they were still using it then).
Ah! Katrina and the Waves. I still want my MTV!!!
@@craigjackson2428 that was Dire Straits ;p
I never herd this airline before it seems very forgotten about WP
Very good video Expo 👍
Thanks Alex, glad you enjoyed it :)
6:30 made me chuckle more than I should. Great video as always.
Haha thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)
Phil..Great feature-length episode there, very well done.
The new terminal concourse at Colorado Springs reminds me of Capital Airlines in the UK. Luton
built a new domestic terminal for the airline and then Capital soon went bust!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Yes there are certainly similarities, I thought the Luton domestic terminal was just an extension of office space or something similar? I might be mistaken of course though, as I've only ever visited Luton once and that was circa 2004.
It's funny how WP's story is very similar to that of Flybe in the UK towards the end, whereby a investor pumped loads of money, didn't bother to change anything and suddenly the airline went bust.
Hmm yeah though the situation at FlyBe looks rather dodgy, I'm still going through the accounts but it seems that the investment that came in went straight back out a few weeks later. It looks even worse considering that the name and branding has been brought back by a new venture that was owned by the supposed "investor" in the original...
@@ExpoAviation The new airline is fine, they wanted to save the original Flybe it was Stobart & Virgin that pulled the plug. I wouldn't be surprised the investment went out as Flybe 1 has massive debts caused by COW that by the time Connect Airways took it over it was not worth saving.
Yeah you're right, my memory was a bit foggy there and I was just recalling what was said by various individuals at the time, particularly about Virgin's involvement. I know there is quite a lot of ill feeling from various ex-FlyBe crew that I have spoken with recently regarding the new outfit though. I still hope they make it work though, we need more regional airlines over here :)
@@ExpoAviation Most ex-Flybe crew are being taken back on though apart from the engineering side. There is a bit of ill will from some people but mostly spotters and customers who have a grudge with Flybe v1
Please could you do Canadian airlines 😀
Thanks for the suggestion, quite a popular one too this week. I am working on a Canadi>n Airlines episode which shouldn't be too far off :)
Not what I expected yet interesting nevertheless :)
Nice to throw the odd curve ball ;) Glad you enjoyed it :)
Another excellent video I wouldn’t like the surname Gaylord whatever side of the fence you come from greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 that’s the first time I’ve heard about the plastic ring we are not all rich but our hearts are in the correct place
Thanks Ian, yeah I'd be changing it via deed poll if it were me ;) The ring was £2 from Debenhams, I got it so that she knew I had at least thought ahead and wasn't just doing it in the moment as I'd already planned to do it on a moonlit beach in Skiathos :)