ATL After Eastern's Demise
Feb 21, 2019, 11:26 pm
#1
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ATL After Eastern's Demise
After the new midfield terminal at ATL was opened Delta had all of the A concourse and Eastern had all of the C concourse. Delta had half of the B concourse and Eastern had the other half. All of the other domestic airlines used the D concourse and T housed the international flights.
After Eastern ceased operations, how long did the C concourse and half of the B concourse sit empty? Obviously Delta now has all of the B concourse and half of the C concourse. But how long did it take them to increase their operations at ATL and what other hub suffered from it? Obviously the planes had to have come from some other operation. Was it from Delta's pulldown of the former Western operations at LAX? The merger between DL and Western happened around the same time of Eastern's demise.
After Eastern ceased operations, how long did the C concourse and half of the B concourse sit empty? Obviously Delta now has all of the B concourse and half of the C concourse. But how long did it take them to increase their operations at ATL and what other hub suffered from it? Obviously the planes had to have come from some other operation. Was it from Delta's pulldown of the former Western operations at LAX? The merger between DL and Western happened around the same time of Eastern's demise.
Last edited by readywhenyouare; Feb 22, 2019 at 12:46 am
Feb 25, 2019, 5:24 am
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Man, bringing back some memories for me. I went to school in Atlanta from 91-95. All this happened before my eyes...
Scraping some stuff from the web.....
So Eastern stopped flying in Jan 1991
TWA launched an ATL hub in June 1992, using some of the former Eastern gates. It lasted until 1994.
Air South had a few gates from 1994-1997
Kiwi International Air Lines operated from September 1992 to March 1999.
Private Jet flew from 1993-1995
ValuJet began operations in October of 1993
And this old post here has a ton of meat on the bone:
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=531961
Scraping some stuff from the web.....
So Eastern stopped flying in Jan 1991
TWA launched an ATL hub in June 1992, using some of the former Eastern gates. It lasted until 1994.
Air South had a few gates from 1994-1997
Kiwi International Air Lines operated from September 1992 to March 1999.
Private Jet flew from 1993-1995
ValuJet began operations in October of 1993
And this old post here has a ton of meat on the bone:
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=531961
Feb 25, 2019, 5:48 am
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Thanks for the good information. I had lost hope on this thread after it was moved from Travelbuzz to the Delta forum.
I knew about Valujet and their growth in Atlanta but didn't know TWA and a few others tried to give it a go. It's so hard to imagine Delta being so small that they only had A and half of B back then.
I knew about Valujet and their growth in Atlanta but didn't know TWA and a few others tried to give it a go. It's so hard to imagine Delta being so small that they only had A and half of B back then.
Feb 25, 2019, 6:34 am
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The BEST thing that ever happened to ATL was Valujet/Airtran and the worst thing was Southwest buying them up. (Airtran gave ATL a great second airline that setup hits hub in ATL) I still have not forgiven Southwest for ruining Airtran 
No matter what Clark Howard SAID (he now magically has changed his tune) this was never going to be a good merger for ATL.
No matter what Clark Howard SAID (he now magically has changed his tune) this was never going to be a good merger for ATL.
Feb 25, 2019, 8:49 am
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Valuejet/AirTran had a hull loss rate that was so high only a merger could bring about the culture change needed to bring them into line with most US airlines. Solid maintenance practices and great crew training cost money. Absent the merger with SWA far worse things may have happened.
Feb 25, 2019, 9:27 am
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Valuejet/AirTran had a hull loss rate that was so high only a merger could bring about the culture change needed to bring them into line with most US airlines. Solid maintenance practices and great crew training cost money. Absent the merger with SWA far worse things may have happened.
What was AirTran not doing in line with the other US carriers?
Feb 25, 2019, 9:27 am
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I like the description on Wikipedia: "ValuJet was aware of the problem, but did not budget to fix it and allowed the aircraft to keep flying." Yikes. I refused to ever consider ValuJet or AirTran because of their horrid safety record.
Last edited by SJC ORD LDR; Feb 25, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Feb 25, 2019, 10:01 am
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Valuejet/AirTran had a hull loss rate that was so high only a merger could bring about the culture change needed to bring them into line with most US airlines. Solid maintenance practices and great crew training cost money. Absent the merger with SWA far worse things may have happened.
ValuJet was actually the successor company, but they changed the name to AirTran due to the negative reception of the ValuJet name/brand.
Feb 25, 2019, 10:14 am
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On my ATL bucket list, I'd like to get a tour of the abandoned B/C tunnel that Eastern used. I don't even know if it's still accessible, but you can see the ramps that come off of B/C that I assume housed the escalators.
Feb 25, 2019, 10:30 am
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Delta used it too and really not that long ago, maybe 10 years. But it wasn't much to see other than a narrow tunnel.
Feb 25, 2019, 10:34 am
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https://www.sunshineskies.com/atlant...ort-1990s.html
Lots of other ATL history posts on this website -- highly recommended.
Lots of other ATL history posts on this website -- highly recommended.
Feb 25, 2019, 10:50 am
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Feb 25, 2019, 10:52 am
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https://www.sunshineskies.com/atlant...ort-1990s.html
Lots of other ATL history posts on this website -- highly recommended.
Lots of other ATL history posts on this website -- highly recommended.
