What Happened to Braniff Airways? Why Braniff Airways Disappeared

What became of Braniff Airways, the Dallas carrier that flew jets painted orange, blue and green and dressed its crews in Pucci? It stopped flying on May 12, 1982, and the paint had very little to do with it. In 1978 Braniff earned $45.2 million, the best year in its history. Weeks after the Airline Deregulation Act became law, it opened 32 new routes to 16 new cities on a single day, December 15, 1978. It paid for the expansion with borrowed money while the prime rate climbed past 20 percent and jet fuel nearly doubled. By 1980 it was losing $131 million a year, and at Dallas Fort Worth it was fighting American Airlines for the same passengers. What this video covers: • 1965: Harding Lawrence, Mary Wells and the End of the Plain Plane • 1973: the jets Alexander Calder designed for Braniff • 1978: how deregulation made route licenses nearly worthless • 1979-1981: fuel, interest rates and three years of losses • 1982: the Crandall phone call and the night Braniff stopped flying Braniff could afford its colors. It could not afford its routes. If you flew Braniff, tell us what color your airplane was, and where it took you. If slow, well-sourced airline histories are your kind of evening, a subscription helps the channel. Sources: United States v. American Airlines, Inc. and Robert L. Crandall, 743 F.2d 1114 - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1984: https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/repor... Competitive Impact Statement, United States v. American Airlines, Inc. and Robert L. Crandall - U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, 1985: https://www.justice.gov/atr/case-document/... The Man Who Killed Braniff - Byron Harris, Texas Monthly, 1982: https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics... Bad Times at Braniff - D Magazine, 1981: https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-m... #Braniff #BraniffInternational #BraniffAirways #JellybeanAirline #EndOfThePlainPlane #HardingLawrence #AirlineDeregulation #AlexanderCalder #DefunctAirlines #AirlineHistory Disclaimer: The voiceover used in this video was generated using AI.