Hard Landing (83 page)

11.
had been wrapped up: Burr 9/17/93 interview.

12.
plan to reform: Burr’s scheme was detailed in the 9/16/93 interview. A copy of the plan was made available to the author by another party.

13.
“Don, come here”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

14.
“Carney rolls the spitballs”: Coats 6/9/94 interview.

15.
The next four: Based on 1978 rankings according to revenue passenger miles.

16.
fact that appalled Lorenzo: “Texas International’s Lorenzo Believes He Has a National Grasp,” by Nicholas C. Chriss,
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 29, 1978.

17.
never been a hostile: Davies,
Continental Airlines
, page 85.

18.
Slowly and imperceptibly: Russell,
Miami Herald
, Aug. 6, 1978.

19.
hands were trembling: J. Arpey 9/8/93 interview.

20.
breathtaking route map: Shugrue 9/8/93 interview; Plaskett 8/31/93 interview.

21.
“to our side”: Quoted in Halaby,
Crosswind
, page 275.

22.
making things worse: Pan Am’s travails in the Carter years and other periods are detailed in many publications and were described in a number of interviews. The best accounts include “Deep-Rooted Causes of the Current Crisis,”
Lloyd’s Aviation Economist
, June 1986, and “Bumpy Flying: Plagued by Problems, Pan Am Fights Rivals as Well as Internal Ills,” by William M. Carley,
WSJ
, Jan. 10, 1979.

23.
“airline … without a country”: Daley,
An American Saga
, page 444.

24.
tussled for weeks: The takeover battle is detailed, among other places, in “Merger Politics: It’s a High-Stakes Game of Power, Pressure, Persuasion,” by James Russell,
Miami Herald
, Nov. 19, 1978.

25.
underdog strategy: Coats 6/9/94 interview.

26.
Don Burr realized: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

27.
“gobble up United”: Quoted in “Lorenzo the Presumptuous,” by James Cook,
Forbes
, Oct. 30, 1978.

28.
at the house of … Bob Six: Lorenzo’s encounter with Six was described in the Bakes 5/12/93 interview and in Murphy,
The Airline That Pride Almost Bought
, page 21.

29.
greatest living figure: Six is profiled in “Last of a Breed: Ex-Pilot Bob Six Uses Iron Hand, Tough Talk at Continental Airlines,” by W. Stewart Pinkerton, Jr.,
WSJ
, June 11, 1970, and in Davies,
Continental Airlines, passim
.

30.
reaching for the ashtray: “How Bob Six Keeps Continental Humming,” by Joseph S. Murphy,
Air Transport World
, Apr. 1965.

31.
covert operations: Sampson,
Empires of the Sky
, page 108.

32.
breakfast at the Hotel Carlyle: Lorenzo’s encounter with Smart is described in “Texas International, Thwarted in Bid for National, Eyes Bigger Target—TWA,” by William M. Carley,
WSJ
, Sept. 14, 1979, and in “Top Gun,” by William P. Barrett,
Texas Monthly
, Mar. 1987.

33.
“Thirty-nine!”: O’Donnell 6/9/94 interview.

34.
“piece of shit”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

35.
put his people plan:
Ibid
.

36.
“I resign”:
Ibid
.

37.
“Frank would … kill us”:
Ibid
.

38.
needed to raise money: Detailed in “That Daring Young Man and His Flying Machines,” by Lucien Rhodes,
Inc.
, Jan. 1984.

39.
strewn with garbage: Burr 9/16/93 interview; Rhodes,
Inc.
, Jan. 1984.

40.
“No one has ever made it”: Burr
9/16/93
interview.

41.
wide-open markets: “People Express Discounts Fares Heavily,” by James Ott,
Aviation Week
, Apr. 13, 1981.

42.
Burr … traveled to Boston: Burr and Dawsey 9/16/93 interview.

43.
“The plain truth”: Quoted in “True or False: Air Safety Is Worse Than Ever,” by Robert E. Machol,
WSJ
, Sept. 10, 1987.

44.
with Christmas approaching: Stich,
The Unfriendly Skies
, pages 1-4.

45.
far west as Denver: “Airlines Fear Broad Flight Cancellations as Delays Eat Up Pilots’ Hour Quotas,”
WSJ
, July 23, 1968.

46.
vacuums … on the East Coast: The strategic origins of New York Air were described in interviews with O’Donnell, Bakes, and Gitner, as well as in the company’s Feb. 20, 1981, prospectus and in a number of contemporaneous articles, including “New York Air: Troubled Airline Fights Back,” by David Corbin,
Airline Executive
, Sept. 1982.

47.
turn cold: Quoted in Corbin,
Airline Executive
, Sept. 1982.

48.
path of Southwest: Lorenzo 5/5/88 interview.

49.
matter of the unions: The antiunion intentions of New York Air were affirmed by nearly every executive remotely affiliated or familiar with it.

50.
airplanes … Burr had ordered: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.

51.
“upstreamed” from Texas International: Bakes 5/12/93 interview.

52.
patterned after Southwest: “Special Situation” report on New York Air by Robert A. LaFleur, Rotan Mosle Inc., New York, June 30, 1981.

53.
breakfast at the Jockey Club: Bakes 5/12/93 interview.

54.
looking for … a brother:
Ibid
.

55.
got … Kennedy to insert:
Ibid
.

56.
fashion models:
Ibid
.

57.
kept the sum small: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

58.
“sex appeal”: Quoted in “CAB’s Ex-Chairman, Alfred Kahn, Looks at Airline Industry He Helped Deregulate,” by Bill Richards,
WSJ
, Oct. 4, 1983.

59.
William Hambrecht: Burr 9/16/83 interview; Rhodes,
Inc.
, Jan. 1984.

60.
“This fucking guy”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

61.
human forms making love:
Ibid
.

62.
loaners against: Baker 10/14/93 interview.

63.
“whores and bastards”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

64.
appointment with Murdoch:
Ibid
.

65.
710,000 founder’s shares: Prospectus for People Express stock offering, Nov. 6, 1980.

66.
privacy of his bedroom: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

67.
brash New Yorker: Bakes 6/16/94 interview.

68.
“Runaway shop!”: Raymond Rogers, letter to the editor,
NYT
, June 14, 1981.

69.
rented a billboard: A photo of the billboard was provided by Higgins.

70.
widow of … La Guardia: Bakes interviews of 5/12/93 and 6/11/93.

71.
champion of the pilots’ union: Hopkins,
Flying the Line
, page 50.

72.
pilots’ union railed: Bakes 6/11/93 interview.

73.
Eastern fought back: “Pan Am to Cut Fares Between Washington, Newark, N.J., to $29,”
WSJ
, Jan. 8, 1981.

74.
captured one quarter: “Upstarts in the Sky,”
BW
, June 15, 1981.

75.
An ad … in Buffalo: Rhodes,
Inc.
, Jan. 1984.

76.
they would all go down: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

77.
“no potholes”: From early People Express ad, included in JR Productions’s
The People Remembered
.

78.
ultimate frill: “A Champ of Cheap Airlines,” by Peter Nulty,
Fortune
, Mar. 22, 1982.

79.
chief financial officer: “Manager’s Journal,” by Donald Burr,
WSJ
, Jan. 7, 1985.

80.
“quality of attractiveness”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

81.
“a character flaw”: Burr 9/17/93 interview.

82.
“very disruptive”: “Bitter Victories,” an interview with Burr by George Gendron,
Inc.
, Aug. 1985.

83.
“thinks he’s John Madden”: Sullivan 6/8/94 interview.

84.
“Be Luke Skywalker”: Burr 9/17/93 interview.

85.
“fall in love at work”: Burr 9/16/93 interview.

86.
alcohol flowed freely: The party, including the sex, was described in the Burr 9/17/93 interview.

87.
wept with joy: “Up, Up and Away?” by John A. Byrne,
BW
, Nov. 25, 1985.

88.
utterly transform: The secondary effects of the firing are described, among other places, in
Eight Years of U.S. Airline Deregulation
, by Frank A. Spencer and Frank H. Cassell, Transportation Center, Northwestern University, Jan. 1987, and in “Suicide Pact at Eastern Air Lines,” by Thomas Moore,
U.S. News
, Mar. 20, 1989.

89.
Germany with their wives: The account of People Express’s response to the PATCO strike is based on the Gitner 3/31/93 interview; Burr 9/17/93 interview; “Rapid Ascent: People Express Flies into Airlines’ Big Time in Just Three Years Aloft,” by William M. Carley,
WSJ
, Mar. 30, 1984; and Nulty,
Fortune
, Mar. 22, 1982.

90.
Gitner and his wife boarded: Gitner 3/31/93 interview.

91.
“Come up with a new plan”: Burr 9/17/93 interview.

92.
dining room table: Gitner 3/31/93 interview; Nulty,
Fortune
, Mar. 22, 1982.

93.
out of the question: Carley,
WSJ
, Mar. 30, 1984.

94.
Kennedy … flew People: Nulty,
Fortune
, Mar. 22, 1982.

95.
Montreal residents … began driving: “U.S. Fares Pull Canadians Across Border,” by Alan Freeman,
WSJ
, Mar. 18, 1983.

96.
eschewed such technology: Burr 9/17/93 interview.

97.
“for hours, days, and weeks”: Quoted in Carley,
WSJ
, Mar. 30, 1984.

98.
the gospel of People Express: Burr 9/17/93 interview and Rhodes,
Inc.
, Jan. 1984.

99.
“Gerry loves planning”: Nulty,
Fortune
, Mar. 22, 1982.

100.
first progeny: Midway Airlines is sometimes cited as the earliest of the post-deregulation carriers, although the company was actually founded well before the law took effect. Midway failed after several very successful years.

Chapter 6: The Empire Strikes Back

1.
affinity for solving puzzles: Olsen 9/2/93 interview.

2.
apocalyptic flare-ups: Plaskett 1/14/93 interview.

3.
in a horse race: Crandall 9/1/93 interview; Lloyd-Jones 3/10/94 interview; and D. Reed,
American Eagle
, pages 112-17.

4.
Lloyd-Jones intervened: Lloyd-Jones 3/10/94 interview.

5.
problem was resolved: Crandall, in the 4/23/93 interview, confirmed receiving and considering the offer from Lorenzo. The timing, however, is unclear; Crandall recalled that Lorenzo already controlled Continental and wanted Crandall to run it; other events strongly suggest that Lorenzo made the offer before gaining control of Continental.

6.
“Each of us wanted”: Crandall 9/1/93 interview.

7.
“Christians and lions”: Crandall speech to marketing meeting, Inn of Six Flags, Dallas, Feb. 25, 1981.

8.
“bleed American red”:
Ibid
.

9.
“person of ideas”: Crandall 9/1/93 interview.

10.
Crandall began every week: The description of Crandall’s staff meetings is based on interviews with many who participated over the years.

11.
“turn the pages”: Baker 6/10/94 interview.

12.
in his pajamas: Serling,
Eagle
, page 456.

13.
cup after cup: “Bob Crandall Soars by Flying Solo,” by Kenneth Labich,
Fortune
, Sept. 29, 1986.

14.
“mankind’s biggest bladder”: Quoted in “America’s Toughest Bosses,” by Peter Nulty,
Fortune
, Feb. 27, 1989.