Grounded: Air Atlanta
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ค. 2021
- Air Atlanta operated a fleet of Boeing 727s from Atlanta to various destinations across the United States including Miami, Orlando, New York, Memphis and Greensboro. Founded by local lawyer, Michael Hollis, Air Atlanta was the first airline in the USA to be largely owned and operated by minorities. Air Atlanta offered a business class level of service at a coach fare, taking to the skies in spring 1984 and collapsing three years later in 1987. This is the Air Atlanta story...
** PRODUCTION NOTES **
This was one of those episodes where images were a bit thin on the ground, in-fact there are more photos of other airline's aircraft than Air Atlanta birds in this one though I have tried to limit the repetitiveness. It is the same situation for the first minute or two as there are not many pictures of the founder of the airline, aside from the cover of his biography and a photo from 20 years later but hopefully it shouldn't detract from your enjoyment.
Michael Hollis attended Dartmouth College not Dartmoor, I'm a bit unsure how I managed to mis-read it three times as it was written down correctly in the script and I didn't notice this error until I was working on the subtitles/closed captions.
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 :)
Midwest Express / Midwest Airlines
Milwaukee's hometown airline, Midwest Express established a stellar reputation for it's incredible service and of course their fresh cookies. Midwest started operations at a similar time to Air Atlanta and offered a very similar high standard of service but unlike Air Atlanta, Midwest were profitable for 14 straight years before things went pear shaped after the airline went through several changes in ownership.
The Midwest episode is available here; • Grounded: Midwest Express
Pride Air
Pride Air were one of many airlines to sprout up in the wake of the Airline Deregulation Act but this one was different, Pride Air were almost entirely funded by its employees. Despite having a good workforce and a good plan, Pride Air ceased operations within months.
The Pride Air episode is available here: • Grounded: Pride 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
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!
I have a website!
www.expo-aviation.com/
Or join me on Facebook!
/ expoaviation
I'm also on Twitter!
/ expoaviation
#AirAtlanta #GroundedSeries #BankruptAirline
Thx for the history. I actually flew on Air Atlanta in 1985 as a kid. I flew Pan Am from London to Miami and then Air Atlanta from Miami to Atlanta and on to Memphis. After spending the summer with my grandparents I flew them from Memphis to New York if I remember right and then Pan Am back to London. I was traveling economy class so I remember Air Atlanta had way more space then normal economy and the food was way better than economy meals on Pan Am. I still remember captain Bob BookHammer and he let me up in the cockpit and we talked for a long time he was an awesome captain! I’ll always remember my experience with Air Atlanta. (My dad was military that’s why I was living in England at the time)
Wow thanks for sharing the memories :)
Just flew on Alaska airlines yesterday and came back to a awesome vid about a airline I never knew about, great job Phil :)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Great work, Phil! It’s a decidedly smaller carrier but Warren Wheeler started Wheeler Airlines, the first African-American owned airline in 1969 offering his pilots a critical integration to major carriers. Back to Air Atlanta, I thank you for some very valuable information. I have each of their printed timetables and it’s great to fill in the gaps.
Thanks for watching, I'm glad you enjoyed this one. I had heard of Wheeler Airlines and it seems that I too overlooked them given they operated smaller aircraft compared to Air Atlanta, unlike Air Atlanta though it seems they were a lot more successful :)
Yet again another great episode to add to the collection! Well done…👍👍👌
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Great video, Phil, another excellent one, as usual! 🔥👍🏻
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
This was extremely informative, well done! Great series :)
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Another great interesting show thanks
Thanks Gregory, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Those load factors were... yikes! Great video and thanks for the shout out.
Double yikes considering how few seats they had in the first place ;)
Another airline ahead of it's time. I recall seeing this airline when I was a kid. It's too bad they didn't survive. Sounds like their product was really good.
I do agree the airline should have started with standard seating and maybe a nice FC product.
They were very ambitious but tried to do too much too soon, it seems however that history has taught some execs nothing given how there has been a steady stream of business class only type airlines up to this day :/
Excellent video Phil.
Thank you :)
I love these episodes Expo ❤
Thanks Alex :)
I flew Air Atlanta on a Free Pass from ATL to JFK. In early 1985. It was a Day Turn basically. Rode the Headstart up to NYC Got the evening 🌆 Turn back down to ATL On Board service 🐕🦺 was great! Real China Linens Good food 😋🥝! Flew on a 727-100 in both legs of the trip!
Great! Thanks for sharing :)
Excellent! I like your attention to details. Please consider Pacific Express and Northeastern International for future projects.
Thank you, I appreciate that :) I am in the early stages of both Northeastern and Pacific Express so stay tuned :)
How dod you get those Pictures
It depends Rick, which ones do you mean? I've credited where they all come from, some, like the photos of the main man took quite a deep dive to find due to the airline being short lived and quite a while back.
Another oddball operator worth mentioning was Presidential Airways with a hodgepodge fleet of 737-200, BAE-146 and regional turboprops headquartered at Washington Dulles '85-'89.
Yes I'm looking at Presidential Airways for a future episode, they were a bit of a weird one if I remember correctly, didn't they end up with such a hodgepodge collection of aircraft as they just grabbed whatever they could get their hands on?
@@ExpoAviation Presidential initially wanted 727's, but ended up with 737-200's, later joined by Bae 146's. Jetstream came along as the 737s were on their way out. Don't forget about the "Presidential 1" ( Caribbean Express) Emb 120s and Colgan Airways Beechcrafts and Key Air 727s....a lot happened in the first two years.
They say a fool and his money are easily parted another wonderful video greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Very true Ian, thanks for watching :)