Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 Safety Card, Bag Tag, More

I am presenting some keepsakes from the late Eastern Air Lines. Eastern operated as one of the nation's largest trunk carriers for more than 60 years. The airline operated an extensive route system that was largely concentrated along the eastern seaboard and in the northeastern United States. Throughout its rich history, Eastern was a dominant carrier in major U.S. cities including Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia, New York, Newark, and Washington, D.C.

Eastern was also a pioneer and an innovator in commercial aviation. The airline was the first carrier to launch an air shuttle on the heavily traveled triangle between Boston, New York, and Washington. The Eastern Air Shuttle was launched in 1961 with a fleet of Lockheed Electra prop jets. The Lockheed Electra was a workhorse that remained in the Eastern fleet up until the late 1970's. Eastern was also one the earliest carriers to enter the jet age with the introduction of Douglas DC-8 aircraft. The airline was also one of the first to introduce both the Boeing 727-100 and Douglas DC-9 "Whisperjet" into commercial airline operations during the mid-1960's. This spirit of aviation innovation continued into the 1970's when the airline was among the very first to introduce the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar into commercial airline service. Eastern was also the first airline to introduce the Boeing 757 into commercial service during the mid 1980's.

In 1982, Eastern scored a major coup when the airline acquired the Latin American Division of ailing Braniff International Airways. Unfortunately, a deregulated aviation market wasn't so kind to Eastern Air Lines. Eastern suffered signficant operating losses during the 1980's and was plagued by labor strife during much of the decade. After a heated boardroom dispute, the company was sold to Frank Lorenzo's Texas Air Corp in 1986. Lorenzo was a corporate raider who had previously seized control of both Texas International Airlines and Continental Airlines and then bankrupted Continental in order to abrogate collective bargaining agreements with the company's labor unions.

Bitter labor relations intensified after Lorenzo had seized control of Eastern. Mr. Lorenzo began slowly dismantling the company by transfering Eastern's most lucrative assets over to Continental. The prized Latin American division was sold to American Airlines and the famed Air Shuttle was sold to Donald Trump. In 1989, all of Eastern's labor unions went on strike against Frank Lorenzo and Eastern was placed in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Mr. Lorenzo was removed from running both Continental and Eastern and a trustee was appointed to see Eastern through its protracted bankruptcy process. Sadly, Eastern succumbed to continuing financial losses and permanently ceased operations in January 1991, ending nearly 65 years of airline service.

This collection of keepsakes represents a more hopeful time in Eastern's rich history. Up for auction is a bi-fold safety information card. This card illustrates the escape routes and exit diagrams aboard Eastern's Boeing 727-200 aircraft. Passenger safety instructions are provided in English, French and Spanish. It is in fair condition with a significant amount of edge wear and some bends in the upper left hand corner. The inside pages are very clean otherwise, with no marks or soiling. Eastern's wordmark and logo are featured on the front of the card. This card has a print date of 3/82.

The next items in this collection include two pairs of baggage identification stickers. These address labels are also printed in English, French, and Spanish and have a print/revision date of 6/79. The next item is a baggage identification tag. This ID tag features a nice graphic of an Eastern Lockheed L-1011 Tristar aircraft with Eastern's destination cities listed in the background. It has a print date of 12/79. The last item is an unused Eastern ticket jacket. This ticket envelope prominently features Eastern's circular bird logo and wordmark in white, against a soft blue background. Eastern's reservations telephone numbers are listed city by city on the inside cover.

These Eastern keepsakes are sure to bring fond memories of jetting off aboard an Eastern Airlines Whisperjet bound for Acapulco, Albany, Allentown, Atlanta, or...Asuncion. Many thanks for looking and best of luck with your bidding.