Eastern Airlines First Flight New Orleans Louisiana - Fort Worth Texas - 1961

Description

Eastern Air Lines was authorized to provide Florida - Texas through service by extending Air Mail Route 10 from Tampa, Florida; via New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas; to Fort Worth, Texas, as a result of the Civil Aeronautics Board's decision in the Southern Transcontinental Service Case.
This cover was carried on the June 11, 1961 inaugural Air Mail Route 10 flight from New Orleans, Louisiana to Fort Worth, Texas (where it was backstamped) and is listed in the Contract Air Mail Flights (CAM) Section of The American Air Mail Catalogue as 19W136.
Texas Air Corporation, parent corporation of Continental Airlines, New York Air and People Express,
purchased Eastern Airlines on October 1, 1986. Eastern Airlines continued to operate as a separate airline. Operations were not integrated with any of the Texas Air owned companies.
As a result of labor disputes, Eastern Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and significantly cut
back on its operation on March 9, 1989. After the initial reduction, Eastern Airlines slowly rebuilt its system with service to a few of the points previously served with a smaller number of flights. Eastern sold its lucrative “Shuttle” operation to Donald Trump and, in addition, sold off a large number of aircraft.
Eastern Air Lines ceased operations on January 18, 1991. This concluded the long history of an airline that
could trace it roots back to May 1, 1928, with the first service of Pitcairn Aviation, Inc. In 1990, Eastern
Airlines had sold its Central and South American routes to American Airlines and had been in receivership since
declaring bankruptcy on March 9, 1989.