Braniff Airways, Incorporated - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock. American Bank Note Company.

Braniff Airways, Inc., operating as Braniff International Airways, from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until closure, was an American airline that flew air carrier operations from 1928 until 1982 and continues today as a retail, branding and licensing company, administering the former airline's employee pass program and other administrative duties. Braniff's routes were primarily in the midwestern and southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America. In the late 1970s it expanded to Asia and Europe. The airline ceased air carrier operations in May 1982 because of high fuel prices, credit card interest rates and extreme competition from new airline startups created by the Airline Deregulation Act of December 1978. Two later airlines used the Braniff name: the Hyatt Hotels-backed Braniff, Inc. in 1984–89, and Braniff International Airlines, Inc. in 1991–92.

In early 2015, a series of new Braniff companies were incorporated in the State of Oklahoma, for historical purposes and for administration of the Braniff trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property. These companies included Braniff Air Lines, Inc., Paul R. Braniff, Inc., Braniff Airways, Inc., Braniff International Hotels, Inc., and Braniff International Corporation. During 2017 and 2018, some of the original Braniff companies were reinstated for historical purposes and for support of Braniff's intellectual property assets that also include those of Mid-Continent Airlines and Pan American Grace Airways and to administer to administrative duties of the airline company.

In 1926, Paul Revere Braniff incorporated Braniff Air Lines, Inc., which was eventually dissolved. In 1928, insurance magnate Thomas Elmer Braniff founded an aviation organization with his brother Paul, called Paul R. Braniff, Inc., which did business as Tulsa-Oklahoma City Airline.

In 1929, ownership was transferred to Universal Aviation Corporation, at which time, the organization started operating as Braniff Air Lines, Inc. In 1930, the company was bought by the Aviation Corporation (AVCO).

In 1930, Thomas and Paul Braniff started a new airline named Braniff Airways, Inc. The organization shut down to reorganize in 1933, with the company airborne again in less than a year. Paul Braniff, travelled to Washington, D.C. to petition for a Chicago-Dallas airmail route. The United States Postal Service granted Braniff their first airmail route soon after. In 1935, Braniff was the first airline to fly from Chicago to the U.S.–Mexico border. In 1935, Paul Braniff left to pursue other opportunities with Charles Edmund Beard running operations. In 1954, Beard was appointed President and CEO of Braniff with Fred Jones of Oklahoma City becoming Chairman of the Board.

In January 1935, Braniff bought the Dallas-based Long and Harman Air Lines, with passenger and mail routes from Amarillo to Brownsville and Galveston. In 1936, Braniff Airways then took over Bowen Air Lines, which was headquartered at Meacham Field in Fort Worth. Bowen's reliance on passenger revenue caused financial hardship, resulting in the merger with Braniff.

During the war, Braniff remanded much of its new 21-passenger Douglas DC-3 fleet to the United States Army Air Force. The DC-3 had just entered the fleet in December 1939. All of the Airline's DC-2s were given to the military for wartime service and none were accepted back into the fleet at the end of the war. Besides offering its aircraft to the United States military, it also leased its facilities at Dallas Love Field to the military, which became a training site for pilots and mechanics.

Braniff was given a contract to operate a military cargo flight between Brownsville, Texas, and Panama City/Balboa City, in the Canal Zone. The route was called the Banana Run because Braniff's pilots made agreements with the banana producers in Panama to move their bananas to the United States to sell. Because of the war, they could not fly their produce out of the country but Braniff devised at least a small way to assist the growers. Because of Braniff's superb service during the war and over the Banana Run, the Airline would be rewarded with a significant international route award just a year after the war ended.

Thomas Elmer Braniff created a Mexico-based airline, Aerovias Braniff, in 1943. Service began in March 1945, after the carrier received its operating permits from the Mexican government. Aerovias Braniff operated from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Monterrey and Mexico City. The new company, owned by Mr. Braniff, had three 21 passenger Douglas DC-3s that had been allocated to the carrier from the United States War Surplus Administration in February, 1945.

Mr. Braniff had applied to the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for authority to merge Aerovias Braniff with Braniff Airways, Inc. However, the Mexican government suspended Aerovias Braniff's operating permits in October 1946, under pressure from Pan American Airways, Inc., and merger of the two carriers was not approved by the CAB. Braniff was allowed to operate a charter service in Mexico for a brief period in 1947 but that was also discontinued and service was not commenced again until 1960.

After World War II, on May 19, 1946, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) awarded Braniff routes to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, competing with Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra). The Civil Aeronautics Board awarded Braniff a 7719 statute mile route from Dallas to Houston to Havana, Balboa, C.Z., Panama, Guayaquil, Lima, La Paz, Asuncion, and finally Buenos Aires, Argentina. At that time, the airline changed its trade name to Braniff International Airways and flights to South America via Cuba and Panama began on June 4, 1948 with a routing of Chicago – Kansas City – Dallas – Houston – Havana – Balboa, C.Z. – Guayaquil – Lima (Lima service did not begin until June 18, 1948). after construction in remote regions of Central and South America. The route was then extended in February 1949 to La Paz and in March 1949, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Douglas DC-4s and Douglas DC-6s flew to Rio; initially DC-3s flew Lima to La Paz. Braniff was the first airline authorized by the CAB to operate JATO or Jet Assisted Take-Off aircraft (DC-4) at La Paz.

Service was extended in March 1950 from La Paz to Asuncion, Paraguay, and in May 1950 to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentine President Juan Perón and his famed wife Evita Perón participated in the festivities at the Palacio Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires. In October 1951 departures from Dallas became daily: three a week to Buenos Aires and four to Rio. (Flights to South America stopped at Miami, but Braniff did not carry domestic passengers there.)

In October 1951 Braniff flew to 29 airports in the US, from Chicago and Denver south to Brownsville, Texas, to Central America, Cuba and South America.

After months of negotiations Braniff acquired Mid-Continent Airlines a small Kansas City-based trunk line on August 16, 1952. The merger added numerous cities, including Minneapolis/St. Paul, Sioux City, and Sioux Falls in the North; Des Moines, Omaha, and St. Louis in the Midwest; and Tulsa, Shreveport, and New Orleans in the South. The acquisition of the Minneapolis/St. Paul to Kansas City route (with stops in Des Moines and Rochester, Minnesota) was of particular interest to Braniff, as Mid-Continent had been awarded this route instead of Braniff in 1939.

After the merger Braniff operated 75 aircraft and over 4000 employees, including 400 pilots. In 1955 Braniff was the tenth largest US airline by passenger-miles and ninth largest by domestic passenger-miles.

With the addition of the South America route system, merger with Mid-Continent Airlines, and reduction in mail subsidy on the Mid-Continent system, Braniff International Airways recorded a US$1.8 million operating loss during 1953. Aircraft that were scheduled to be disposed of offset the loss and the company recorded a meager US$11,000 net income. An increase in mail subsidy, requested by Mr. Braniff before his death, was granted in 1954, and the company returned to profitability.

On January 10, 1954 Braniff founder Thomas Elmer Braniff died when a flying boat owned by United Gas crash-landed on the shore of Wallace Lake, 15 miles outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, due to icing. According to information from Captain George A. Stevens: "Mr Braniff was on a hunting expedition with a group of important citizens of Louisiana. They were returning to Shreveport from a small duck hunting lake near Lake Charles, LA in a Grumman Mallard aircraft with no deicing system. The wings iced up on approach to landing in Shreveport, and the plane lost altitude. One of the wings hit cypress stumps and the plane crashed against the shore. It caught fire and all 12 lives aboard were lost."

Braniff Executive Vice President Charles Edmund Beard became the first non-Braniff family member to assume the role of President of the airline after Tom Braniff's death. Mr. Beard gathered Braniff employees together at the Braniff hangar at Dallas Love Field on January 18, 1954, to announce that the airline would move forward and assured the public that the airline would continue.

Paul R. Braniff died later that year of cancer. Tom Braniff's wife, Bess Braniff, also died in August 1954. Tom's son, Thurman Braniff, was killed in a training plane crash at Oklahoma City in 1937, and his daughter Jeanne Braniff Terrell died in 1948 from complications of childbirth.

Beard led Braniff into the jet age. The first jets were four Boeing 707-227s; a fifth crashed on a test flight when still owned by Boeing. Braniff was the only airline to order the 707-227; in 1971 it sold them to British West Indies Airways (BWIA), an airline based in the Caribbean. Boeing 720s were added in the early 1960s. In 1965 Braniff's fleet was about half jet, comprising 707s, 720s and British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jetliners. The long range Boeing 707-320C intercontinental model was then introduced. However, the 707, 720 and One-Eleven would all subsequently be removed from the fleet. Braniff's last piston schedule was operated with a Convair aircraft in September 1967 and the last Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop service was flown about May 1969.

In February 1958 Braniff opened a new headquarters building at Exchange Park, a high-rise office development within sight of Dallas Love Field. The airline opened a Maintenance and Operations Base with over 433,000 square feet on the east side of Dallas Love Field at 7701 Lemmon Avenue in late 1958. The airline would occupy the facility until the late 1980s, with the Braniff, Inc. (Braniff II) holding company, Dalfort, remaining there until 2001.

Supersonic transport

In April 1964 Braniff made deposits on two Boeing 2707 Supersonic Transports, $100,000 per aircraft. This would give Braniff slots number 38 and 44 when the SST began production. President Beard said the two aircraft would be used on the carrier's US to Latin America flights, where the Boeing 707 was performing satisfactorily.

When this deposit was made, the SST program was being financed by the US government. In 1971, Congress cancelled the program, against the Nixon Administration's wishes.

In 1964 Troy Post, Chairman of Greatamerica Corporation, an insurance holding company based in Dallas, purchased Braniff and National Car Rental as part of an expansion of holdings and growth outside the insurance business. Braniff and National were chosen after Greatamerica CFO C. Edward Acker identified them as under-utilized and under-managed companies. Acker had stated in a 1964 study that Braniff's conservative management was hampering the growth that the "jet age" required, in part by purchasing planes instead of financing them, diverting working capital from growth initiatives. As part of the acquisition, Acker became Executive Vice President and CFO of Braniff.

Troy Post hired Harding Lawrence, Executive Vice President of Continental Airlines, as the new president of Braniff International. Lawrence was determined to give Braniff a glossy, modern, and attention-getting image. Over the next 15 years, his expansion into new markets – combined with ideas unorthodox for the airline industry – led Braniff to record financial and operating performance, expanding its earnings tenfold despite typical passenger load factors around 50 percent.

To overhaul the Braniff image, Lawrence hired Jack Tinker and Partners, who assigned advertising executive Mary Wells – later Mary Wells Lawrence after her November, 1967 marriage to Harding Lawrence in Paris – as account leader. First on the agenda was to overhaul Braniff's public image — including the red, white, and blue "El Dorado Super Jet" livery which Wells saw as "staid". New Mexico architect Alexander Girard, Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci, and shoe designer Beth Levine were hired, and with this new talent Braniff began the "End of the Plain Plane" campaign.

At Girard's recommendation the old livery was dropped in favor of a single color on each plane, selected from a palette of bright hues like "Chocolate Brown" and "Metallic Purple." He favored a small "BI" logo and small titles. Braniff engineering and Braniff's advertising department modified Girard's colors, enlarged the "BI" logo, and added white wings and tails. This, ironically, was based on the 1930s Braniff "Vega" Schemes, which also carried colorful paint with white wings and tails. The new "jelly bean" fleet carried such colors as beige, ochre, orange, turquoise, baby blue, medium blue, lemon yellow, and lavender. Lavender was dropped after a month, due to the similarity in coloration to the Witch Moth (Ascalapha odorata), a sign of bad luck in Mexican mythology.

Fifteen colors were used during the 1960s (Harper & George modified Girard's original seven colors in 1967), in combination with 57 variations of Herman Miller fabrics. Many of the color schemes were applied to aircraft interiors, gate lounges, ticket offices, and even the corporate headquarters. Art to complement the color schemes was flown in from Mexico, Latin America, and South America. Girard designed an extensive line of furniture for Braniff's ticket offices and customer lounges. This furniture was made available to the public by Herman Miller, for a year in 1967.

Pucci used a series of nautical themes for crew uniforms. For the hostesses, Pucci used "space age" themes, including plastic Space Helmets and Bolas (as dubbed by Pucci). These clear plastic bubbles, which resembled Captain Video helmets and which Braniff termed "RainDome", were to be worn between the terminal and the plane to prevent hairstyles from being disturbed by outside elements. "RainDomes" were dropped after about a month because the helmets cracked easily, there was no place to store them on the aircraft, and jetways at many airports made them unnecessary. For the footwear, Beth Levine created plastic boots and designed two-tone calfskin boots and shoes. Later uniforms and accessories were composed of interchangeable parts, which could be removed and added as needed.

Emilio Pucci designed the Pucci Pant Dress Collection for the intro of Braniff's first new Boeing 747 dubbed "747 Braniff Place: The Most Exclusive Address in the Sky" (1971). The collection was debuted at the Dallas Hilton by Pucci himself, in 1970. Today, all of the vintage Pucci attire designed for Braniff is valuable. Besides the 1965 and 1971 Collections, Pucci designed new Braniff uniform Collections in 1966, 1968, 1972, and 1974.

In 1966 Braniff investor Troy V. Post, by now a regular at the Johnson White House, obtained a government contract to transport military personnel from Vietnam to Hawaii for their R&R furloughs during the

Vietnam War. The Military Air Command routes were expanded in the Pacific and added to the Atlantic side in 1966.

In 1967 Braniff purchased Pan American-Grace Airways (known as Panagra) from shareholders of Pan American World Airways and W.R. Grace, increasing its presence in South America. The merger was effective on February 1, 1967, and Panagra's remaining piston airliners were retired. Panagra operated early model Douglas DC-8s, which were a new addition to the Braniff fleet; a Panagra order for five long-range DC-8-62s was taken up by Braniff, and deliveries began in late 1968, replacing the older Series 30 Panagra DC-8s.

Under the leadership of George Lois and his advertising firm Lois, Holland and Calloway, Braniff started a campaign that showed the likenesses of Andy Warhol, Sonny Liston, Salvador Dalí, Whitey Ford, the Playboy Bunny, and other celebrities of the time flying Braniff. After the Plain Plane Campaign, it became one of the most celebrated marketing efforts Madison Avenue had ever produced, blending style and arrogance. One advertising slogan was "When you got it — flaunt it."

Management considered the campaign a success, but some customers thought the campaign exhibited grandiose behavior and bragging when service levels were not always good. Braniff, however, reported an 80 percent increase in business during the life of the campaign in spite of an economic downturn the following year.

Braniff opened the "Terminal of the Future" at Dallas Love Field in late 1968 and operated the Jetrail there from 1970 to 1974. Jetrail was the world's first fully automated monorail system, taking passengers from remote parking lots at Love Field to the Braniff terminal. Braniff was a key partner in the planning of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and contributed many innovations to the airline industry during this time.

Braniff had been one of the first U.S. operators of the BAC One-Eleven (and the first U.S. airline to order the twin jet), but in 1965 Lawrence ordered twelve new Boeing 727-100s and cancelled most of the remaining One-Eleven orders. The 727s had been selected before Lawrence's arrival, but no orders had been placed. These planes were the "quick change" (B727-100QC) model, with a large freight loading door on the left side just aft of the flight deck. This allowed Braniff to begin late-night cargo service, while the aircraft carried passengers during the day. This doubled the 727 utilization rate and allowed Braniff to open a new cargo business, AirGo. The new 727s could also be outfitted in a mixed cargo/passenger combi aircraft configuration and Braniff did operate "red eye" overnight services carrying cargo in the forward section with seating for 51 passengers in the rear coach compartment.

In 1970 Braniff accepted delivery of the 100th Boeing 747 built – a 747-127, N601BN – and began flights from Dallas to Honolulu, Hawaii on January 15, 1971. This plane, dubbed "747 Braniff Place" and "The Most Exclusive Address In The Sky", was Braniff's flagship, and it flew an unprecedented 15 hours per day with a 99 percent dispatch reliability rate. In 1978 N601BN flew the first flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to London.

The Braniff 747 livery of bright orange led to the aircraft being nicknamed "The Great Pumpkin". The popularity of "The Great Pumpkin" led to extensive publicity, and even the marketing of a scale model by the Airfix model company.

The Boeing 727 became the backbone of the Braniff fleet. The trijet was the key aircraft in the 1971 Fleet Standardization Plan that called for three aircraft types: the Boeing 727 primarily operated on domestic services, the Boeing 747 for Hawaii, and the Douglas DC-8 for South America. This plan would lower operating costs. When Lawrence took office in May 1965, Braniff operated 13 different aircraft types. Braniff eventually ordered several variants of the 727 including the "quick change" cargo/passenger combi aircraft variant, the stretched 727-200, and later the 727-200 Advanced. Lawrence also increased utilization of the fleet.

In 1969 the Lockheed L-188 Electras were retired, making Braniff all jet. By the mid-1970s Braniff's fleet of 727s showed the efficiencies that a single type of aircraft could produce. In 1975 Braniff had one 747, 11 DC-8s, and 70 727s. The Douglas DC-8s were aging, and there was speculation whether new Boeing 757s, Boeing 767s or Airbus A300s would replace the long range DC-8-62s (which flew Braniff's South American routes including nonstops from Los Angeles and New York City to Bogota, Colombia and Lima, Peru as well as nonstops from Miami and New York City to Buenos Aires) with McDonnell Douglas MD-80s possibly being introduced on shorter routes. In 1978 Braniff announced it had chosen the Boeing 757 and 767 to replace the DC-8s over its Latin America Division routes, but the airline never operated the 757, 767, A300 or MD-80.

In 1973 Alexander Calder was commissioned by Braniff to paint an aircraft. Calder was introduced to Harding Lawrence by veteran advertising executive George Gordon, who would eventually take over the Braniff advertising account. Calder's contribution was a Douglas DC-8 known simply as "Flying Colors of South America." In 1975 it was showcased at the Paris Air Show in Paris, France. Its designs reflected the bright colors and simple designs of South America and Latin America, and was used mainly on South American flights.

Later in 1975 he debuted "Flying Colors of the United States" to commemorate the Bicentennial of the United States. This time, the aircraft was a Boeing 727-200. First Lady Betty Ford dedicated "Flying Colors of the United States" in Washington, D.C. on November 17, 1975. Calder died in November 1976 as he was finalizing a third livery, termed "Flying Colors of Mexico" or "Salute To Mexico". Consequently, this livery was not used on any Braniff aircraft.

In 1977 Braniff commissioned American couturier Halston to bring an elegant and refined feel to Braniff. The new Ultrasuede uniforms and leather aircraft interiors were dubbed the Ultra Look by Halston, who had used the term to describe his elegant fashions. The Ultra Look was applied to all uniforms and the entire Braniff fleet (including the two Calder aircraft). The Ultra Look was an integral part of Braniff's new Elegance Campaign, which was designed to show the maturing of Braniff, as well as the look and feel of opulence throughout the airline's operation. Halston's uniforms and simple designs were praised by critics and passengers.

In 1978 Braniff Chairman Harding L. Lawrence negotiated a unique interchange agreement to operate the Concorde over American soil, making it first time that Concorde was used for domestic—and fully overland—flights. Concorde service began on 12 January 1979 between Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C., with service to Paris and London on interchange flights with Air France and British Airways respectively.

Domestic flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington Dulles airports were operated by Braniff with its own cockpit and cabin crews. During the domestic flights, the Braniff's registration numbers were affixed to the fuselage with temporary adhesive vinyl stickers. At Washington Dulles, the cockpit and cabin crews were replaced by ones from Air France and British Airways for the continued flight to Europe, and the temporary Braniff registration stickers were removed. This process was reversed after alighting in Washington Dulles from Europe for the domestic flights to Dallas-Fort Worth. Due to the American noise regulations, Concorde was limited to Mach 0.95 yet flew at slightly above Mach 1.

Concorde service proved a loss leader but excellent marketing promotion and continued brand awareness for Braniff. Braniff charged only a 10-percent premium over standard first-class fare to fly the Concorde and later removed the surcharge. The domestic flights often had no more than 15 passengers on average for each flight while Braniff's Boeing 727 flights were filled close to the capacity despite being five to ten minutes slower than Concorde. Braniff ended Concorde flights on 1 June 1980.

Many promotional materials and postcards showed a Concorde with orange cheat line that began at the tip of nose and continued to the end of tail, white BI logo (designed by Girard as part of "End of Plain Planes" campaign) against orange vertical stabilizer, and "handwritten" script (unlike the futuristic Girard font) for "Braniff" underneath the cheat line. The script was part of Braniff's updated 1978 livery that removed "INTERNATIONAL" from the name. However, unlike Singapore Airline's Concorde, none of Concorde was done in Braniff livery.

Until 1980 Braniff was one of the fastest-growing and most-profitable airlines in the United States. However, deregulation of the airline industry was introduced in October 1978, and Braniff – as well as many of the United States' major air carriers – misjudged this unprecedented change in airline business.

Lawrence believed that the answer to deregulation was to expand Braniff's route system dramatically or face an immediate erosion of Braniff's highly profitable routes as a result of unbridled competition from new low-cost carriers. He therefore enlarged the domestic network by 50% on December 15, 1978, adding 16 new cities and 32 new routes, which Braniff said was the "largest single-day increase by any airline in history". The expansion was successful operationally and financially. Although the expansion of 1978 was successful it did not stop losses from beginning in late 1979 as a result of unprecedented rises in fuel costs and "credit card" interest rates of 20 percent and higher, coupled with general economic unrest. As a result, Braniff reported its first operating loss since the recession of 1970. The operating loss was $39 million in 1979, then $120M in 1980 and $107M in 1981.

In 1979, international hubs were created in Boston and Los Angeles to handle expected increases in travel outside North America while international service was increased from Dallas/Fort Worth. From Boston and Dallas/Fort Worth, new transatlantic Boeing 747 service to Europe was operated to Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris. From Los Angeles, new nonstop transpacific Boeing 747 service was flown to Guam and Seoul with direct, no change of plane 747 flights being operated to Hong Kong and Singapore. This international expansion was also planned to have included flights to Tokyo, as well as an "oil run" between Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Bahrain; however, these routes never commenced. Besides standard model 747s, long range 747SPs were acquired as well for these new international flights with the 747 also being operated to South America. Also in 1979, Braniff began operating nonstop flights between Honolulu and Guam, Los Angeles and Seattle as well as one stop service between Honolulu and Hong Kong via Guam in addition to its long running nonstop service between Honolulu and Dallas/Fort Worth.

The main impediment to Braniff's expansion was fuel cost, which increased 94 percent during 1979. The expense of the new equipment and the costs associated with the new service and hubs increased Braniff's debt substantially. However, the driving force behind Braniff's problems were the unprecedented rise in fuel costs, which topped 104-percent increase during 1980. For the first time in history beginning in 1979, the cost of fuel exceeded the cost of labor, which had been the airline industry's largest expense. Braniff's fuel costs rose from nearly US$200 million to US$400 million during 1979 and in spite of this huge increase in costs, the company still managed to implement service to multiple domestic destinations and expand across the Atlantic and Pacific and endure the airline coupon sales gimmicks used by passengers during the fourth quarter of 1979 and only report a moderate loss of US$39 million. Had Braniff's fuel increased in 1977 by 94-percent the company would have reported a loss of nearly US$100 million, which would have been catastrophic for any airline.

In late 1978 Braniff moved to a sprawling new headquarters, Braniff Place, just inside the western grounds of the airport. The beautiful employee playground/administration/training facility was the first of its kind and was later used as the model for Google and Apple headquarters design. Braniff's sub-par load factors combined with record-breaking fuel cost escalations, unprecedented interest rates, and a national recession (the worst since the Great Depression of 1929), produced massive financial shortfalls. These shortfalls led to creditors requesting the retirement of Harding Lawrence in December 1980. By 1981, all 747 service to Asia and Europe with the exception of nonstop flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and London had been discontinued although Braniff continued to operate the 747 on international service to Bogota, Buenos Aires and Santiago in South America as well as on domestic flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Honolulu.

On January 7, 1981 the Board of Directors elected John J. Casey as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Braniff Airways, Inc. and Braniff International Corporation as a replacement to the outgoing and retiring Harding Lawrence. Former Braniff President Russ Thayer was elected as Vice Chairman of the Board, William Huskins as Executive Vice President, Neal J. Robinson as Executive Vice President of Marketing, and Edson "Ted" Beckwith as Executive Vice President of Finance^.

John Casey expanded Braniff's capacity during the summer of 1981. An unforeseen strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) caused delays and a decrease in traffic that created large losses for Braniff. Casey then implemented the Braniff Strikes Back Campaign in the fall of 1981, streamlining the carrier's air fare structure into a simplified two-tier fare system. As part of this campaign, some Boeing 727s were divided into Braniff Premier Service (traditional First Class service) and Coach Class. The remainder of the 727s were all-Coach Class with reduced fares. The campaign was not successful, pushing Braniff's bread-and-butter business travelers over to traditional airlines with First Class on all flights.

In fall 1981 Braniff Chairman John Casey was told by the Braniff board that a new president needed to be found to try to curb Braniff's mounting losses. Casey met with Southwest Airlines President Howard A. Putnam and offered him the Braniff executive position. Putnam accepted the offer, but he required that his own financial manager from Southwest Airlines, Philip Guthrie, be allowed to follow him to Braniff.

Howard Putnam implemented a one-fare-structure plan called the Texas Class Campaign. Texas Class created a one-fare, one-service airline domestically and removed First Class from all Braniff aircraft. Only flights to South America, London and Hawaii offered full First Class services. In the program's first month in operation, December 1981, Braniff's revenues dropped from slightly over US$100 million per month to US$80 million. Braniff no longer had the revenue structure to maintain its cash requirements. In January 1982, Braniff recorded its first negative cash flow. Competition throughout the Braniff system, and increased service at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport by American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, both of which operated hubs at DFW, caused further erosion in revenue.

In early 1982 Braniff Chairman Howard Putnam decided to sell the Latin American Division. Negotiations had been underway with Pan American World Airways since early 1982, but the Civil Aeronautics Board would not approve sale to Pan Am because it felt that Pan Am would have a monopoly over other American carriers in the region. Pan American responded by offering to jointly lease the routes with Air Florida for three years at a price of US$30 million. Pan American Chairman, and former Braniff International President, Ed Acker had previously served as Chairman of Air Florida before taking the leadership position at Pan American. The CAB decided that it would not change its position in spite of the joint service application.

Braniff International maintained that it was hemorrhaging cash and that it could not continue to operate the money losing South American system. Braniff entered into negotiations with Eastern Airlines to lease the routes to the Miami-based carrier for US$18 million effective June 1, 1982, for one year. On April 26, 1982, the Civil Aeronautics Board approved the Eastern/Braniff lease agreement in a 5–0 unanimous decision. Eastern Chairman Frank Borman reported that Eastern had paid Braniff an initial payment of US$11 million with the remaining seven million USD to be paid at the end of 1982. Eastern initially offered to lease the routes for US$30 million for six years but the CAB denied the request stating that it was too long. Eastern had been trying unsuccessfully to obtain authority to fly to South America since 1938, and would operate 24 weekly flights from Miami, two from New York, and one from New Orleans to west coast South American cities that Braniff mainly served.

Under the agreement Braniff International would retain service to Venezuela and American Airlines would serve Braniff's Brazilian services as required by a bilateral treaty between the United States and Brazil. Approval from South American governments for Eastern's one-year lease of Braniff's routes would not be required according to United States officials. Braniff International lauded the CAB's quick decision as the carrier had stated that because of its tenuous cash position that it might have to shut the routes down if an agreement was not approved. Braniff ceased operations on May 12–13, 1982, and Eastern took over the routes earlier than the planned June 1, 1982, commencement of service date.

Eastern Airlines had reported losses for 1981 and felt that the purchase of Braniff's South America routes would help, but Eastern's financial condition worsened through the 1980s. Eastern never made a profit with their South American routes, due to the region's delicate financial situation at the time. On April 26, 1990, the United States Department of Transportation approved the sale of Eastern Airlines' Latin American routes to American Airlines for US$349 million. Eastern had recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and planned to use the money from the route sale to repay creditors and regain its financial footing. The funds were placed into a special fund controlled by Eastern's creditors who had recently ousted controversial Chairman Frank Lorenzo, who took over the 60-year-old aviation legend in 1986.

On May 11, 1982 Howard Putnam left a courtroom at the Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York City after failing to gain a court injunction to stop a threatened pilot strike. However, Putnam was successful in obtaining an extension of time from Braniff's principal creditors until October 1982. The next day, on May 12, Braniff Airways ceased all operations, ending 54 years of air service. Braniff flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that morning were suddenly grounded, and passengers were forced to disembark, being told that Braniff no longer existed. A thunderstorm provided an excuse to cancel many afternoon flights that day, although Braniff's legendary Boeing 747 Flight 501 to Honolulu departed as scheduled, with the crew later refusing to divert the flight to Los Angeles International Airport. The flight returned to DFW the following morning, the last scheduled Braniff flight.

In the following days Braniff jets at Dallas-Fort Worth sat idle on the apron by Terminal 2W. The Douglas DC-8-62 fleet was flown from Miami to Dallas Love Field and stored until new owners could be found.

However, even though all of Braniff's scheduled and non-scheduled airline operations ceased, all of the company's subsidiaries continued in operation, some for many years. Braniff's maintenance activities at Dallas Love Field continued to serve its non-Braniff customers and oversaw the maintenance of Braniff's grounded fleet at DFW Airport and Love Field. Braniff also continued to operate its Council Rooms, which were VIP passenger lounges, at certain airport including DFW Airport, which were contracted for use by other airlines that operated in Braniff's terminal facilities. Braniff Realty, Inc., continued to operate the Airline's airport facilities including Braniff's Terminal of the Future at Love Field, until it was sold to American Airlines in 1996. Braniff Realty also owned several of Braniff's Boeing 727-200 Trijet airliners, which were later sold as a result of the reorganization of the company in 1983.

Braniff Educations Systems, Inc., met for classes as scheduled on the morning of May 13, 1982, and during the reorganization was sold to Frontier Airlines, Inc., and operated as Braniff Education Systems, Inc., d/b/a as Frontier Services, Inc. In 1985, the company was sold to a private individual in Texas, who operated the entity as Braniff Education Systems, Inc., d/b/a as IATA or International Aviation and Travel Academy, which provided initial pilot training, airline simulator training, maintenance technician training and airline ticket and travel agent training. IATA survived until 2007.

Braniff International Hotels, Inc., also continued in operation, which primarily operated the world famous Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas. At one time, Hotels operated Braniff hotel properties throughout the United States and Latin America. Braniff had saved the historic Driskill from demolition in 1973 and purchased the entity outright in February 1975. The assets of Hotels were transferred to the new Dalfort Corporation, which was the reorganized company created from Braniff Airways, Inc., and Braniff International Corporation, which was financed by the Hyatt Corporation. Eventually, the Driskill was sold to the Lincoln Hotel Corporation in 1985.

With an approved bankruptcy reorganization agreement with Hyatt Corporation a new Braniff, Inc., would be created from the assets of Braniff Airways, Inc. and Braniff International Corporation and would begin operations on March 1, 1984. Howard Putnam stepped down as president of the company with the announcement of the agreement and longtime Braniff International Senior Vice President of Flight Operations Dale R. States, became president of the company until the reorganization into Dalfort Corporation was completed on December 15, 1983.

The original airline company continues today as a retail, licensing and branding firm. Braniff is one of only two heritage airlines that continues to control its own intellectual property with Pan Am the other. Braniff Place World Headquarters, which the carrier occupied until December 15, 1983, on the west side of DFW Airport eventually became GTE Place, and then Verizon Place.

Former Braniff employees founded Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines in 1983. It operated a fleet of Boeing 727-200s and wide body McDonnell Douglas DC-10s until 2001 when it filed for bankruptcy. Sun Country then reorganized and currently flies a modern fleet of Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft.

Fort Worth Airlines was founded in 1984 by Thomas B. King, a former Braniff vice president; two-thirds of the airline's executives came from Braniff, and even its office furniture was Braniff surplus bought at the airline's bankruptcy liquidation sale. Fort Worth Airlines used 56-seat NAMC YS-11 aircraft and flew to destinations in Oklahoma and Texas, but was unable to operate profitably, ceasing flights and filing for bankruptcy in 1985.

Two airlines were formed from the assets of Braniff:

• Braniff, Inc, founded in 1983 by the Hyatt Corporation under the umbrella corporation Dalfort. The airline adopted a low-fare business model in 1984, only to collapse in late 1989, a victim of intense fare competition and mounting debts amid a general industry downturn.
• Braniff International Airlines, Inc., founded in 1991 by financier Jeffrey Chodorow, whose company BNAir, Inc. purchased the assets of the moribund Braniff, Inc. Plagued by intense competition and by turmoil and malfeasance in its own upper management, the reborn airline dissolved in 1992.

The book Deregulation Knockouts, Round 2 documents at least two attempts to use the Braniff name in operations subsequent to the above attempts. One plan would have based the company again at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, utilizing Boeing 757 aircraft. Another planned operation would have been based at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport and would have offered discounted fares to members of a "Braniff Club".

Braniff Airways, Inc.'s, original Tax ID number (FEIN) – is retained by a company named Asworth (the last two letter of DallAS and the second word in Ft WORTH) in Dallas. Asworth was formed out of the assets of Dalfort Corporation and is responsible for paying pilot pensions according to the Braniff Retired Pilots Group, B.I.S.E.

In 2015, 2016 and 2017, a series of new Braniff companies were incorporated in the State of Oklahoma, for historical purposes and for administration of the original Braniff Airways trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property. These companies included Braniff Air Lines, Inc., Paul R. Braniff, Inc., Braniff Airways, Inc., Braniff International Hotels, Inc. and Braniff International Corporation. In addition, during 2017 and 2018, some of the original Braniff companies were reinstated for historical and support purposes related to the Airline's intellectual property and to administer to the Airline's administrative duties.

The trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property of Braniff Airways, Inc., Braniff International Corporation and Braniff, Inc., Mid-Continent Airlines, Inc., and Panagra Pan American Grace Airways and Long and Harman Airlines, Inc., are currently owned by Braniff Airways, Inc., of the Braniff Building, 324 North Robinson Avenue, Suite 100, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Braniff's mid-century themed travel posters, produced from 1946 to 1964, that depict travel scenes from destinations in Latin America and the US Mainland were produced in Lima, Peru, by Braniff's advertising agency, also in Lima. These posters are therefore not placed in the public domain but have instead undergone copyright restoration in the United States. In addition, all of these posters have been marked as official common law trademarks of Braniff Airways, Inc., and they continue as a company trademark infinitely. Richard B. Cass serves as current Chairman and CEO of the Braniff companies.

Braniff International featured one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry. A planned retirement of older aircraft in tandem with the addition of approximately eight new jets per year was followed throughout the 1970s. The following fleet is as of January 1, 1980:

The Boeing Company

• Boeing 727-100 – original order included "Quick Change" (QC) combi aircraft capable of transporting both passengers and freight on the main deck
• Boeing 727-200 – included 727-200 Advanced models
• Boeing 747-100 – B747-123, B747-127 & B747-130 models
• Boeing 747-200 – B747-227B, B747-230B & B747-273C models
• Boeing 747SP-27 – long range, short fuselage "special performance" version

McDonnell-Douglas Corporation

• Douglas DC-8-51
• Douglas DC-8-62 – long range version

Aerospatiale-BAC

• Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde – These SST aircraft were actually owned by Air France and British Airways but were operated by Braniff crews subsonically between Dallas and Washington, D.C. as part of an interchange agreement for service between Texas and Europe.

Braniff International operated the following aircraft types during its existence:

Braniff International fleet

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde	9	1979	1980	These SST aircraft were actually owned by Air France and British Airways. But they were operated by Braniff crews subsonically between Dallas and Washington D.C. as part of an interchange agreement for service between Texas and Europe
BAC One-Eleven Series 200	14	1965	1972	Â
Boeing 707-138B	4	1969	1975	Â
Boeing 707-227	5	1959	1971	Â
Boeing 707-327C	9	1966	1973	Â
Boeing 720	9	1961	1974	Â
Boeing 727-100	48	1966	1982	Original order included "Quick Change" (QC) combi aircraft capable of transporting both passengers and freight on main deck
Boeing 727-200	79	1970	1982	Â
Boeing 747-100	4	1971	1982	Â
Boeing 747-200B	3	1978	1982	Â
Boeing 747-200C	1	1979	1981	Leased from World Airways
Boeing 747SP	3	1979	1982	Â
Convair 240	4	1952	1953	Â
Convair 340	26	1952	1968	Some orders were later taken up by Ansett Airways
Convair 440	6	1956	1966	Â
Curtiss C-46 Commando	2	1955	1963	Â
Douglas C-47 Skytrain	27	1945	1960	Â
Douglas C-54 Skymaster	10	1945	1954	Â
Douglas DC-2	8	1937	1944	Â
Douglas DC-3	15	1939	1960	Â
Douglas DC-6	10	1947	1967	Â
Douglas DC-7	9	1956	1970	Â
Douglas DC-8-31	4	1967	1967	Â
Douglas DC-8-51	6	1973	1980	Â
Douglas DC-8-55CF	1	1967	1967	Leased from Douglas Aircraft Company
Douglas DC-8-62	10	1967	1982	Â
Lockheed Model 10 Electra	8	Un­known	Un­known	Â
Lockheed L-049 Constellation	2	1955	1961	Â
Lockheed L-188A Electra	11	1959	1970	Only mainline turboprop aircraft type operated by the airline
Lockheed Vega	10	Un­known	Un­known	Â
Stinson Detroiter	Un­known	Un­known	Un­known	Â

Incidents and accidents

• 12 July 1931 – A Braniff Lockheed DL-1B Vega (NC8497) crashed shortly after takeoff from Chicago Airport, killing both pilots.
• 8 December 1934 – A Braniff Lockheed Vega 5C aircraft, registration NC106W crashed into a road embankment at approximately 5:20am near Columbia, Missouri killing the pilot and destroying the aircraft. The service was a mail flight between Kansas City and Columbia. The Bureau of Air Commerce investigation report stated the likely cause was "unexpected icing conditions which made the proper handling of the aircraft impossible".
• 23 December 1936 – A Braniff Lockheed Model 10 Electra airliner, registration NC14905, suffered an engine failure during a go-around while conducting a non-scheduled test flight at Dallas Love Field, Dallas, Texas; the pilot tried to turn back towards the airfield but lost control, causing the craft to spin into the northern shore of Bachman Lake. The six occupants of the Electra, all Braniff employees, died in the crash and ensuing fire.
• 26 March 1939 – Braniff Trip 1, operating from Chicago to Brownsville, Texas, crashed on takeoff from Oklahoma City Municipal Air Terminal, today known as Will Rogers World Airport. Early that March morning, the aircraft, a Douglas DC-2, registration NC13727, suffered an explosion in the left engine that, in turn, caused the engine's cowling to open up, creating serious drag on the left wing. The flight's captain, Claude Seaton, struggled to keep the aircraft stable while turning back for an emergency landing at Oklahoma City. The aircraft's compromised wing hit an embankment on the section line road forming the airport's western boundary and cartwheeled across the ground. Seaton ordered the aircraft's fuel to be cut off, but in vain, as, when the plane came to rest on the ground, fuel came in contact with the still-hot engines and caught fire. Seaton and First Officer Malcolm Wallace were thrown free on impact and survived with serious injuries, which ended the flying career of the captain. Flight attendant Louise Zarr and seven passengers died in the post-crash fire.
• 26 March 1952 – Braniff Flight 65, a Douglas C-54A (N65143), ran off the runway at HAP Airport, Hugoton, Kansas during an emergency landing following an unexplained fire in the number three engine. All 49 on board survived.
• 15 May 1953 – A Braniff Douglas DC-4 carrying 48 passengers and five crew slid off the end of Runway 36 at Dallas Love Field, crossed Lemmon Avenue, and plowed into an embankment. Despite reportedly heavy automobile traffic on the busy street, no vehicles were struck, and nobody aboard the airliner was seriously injured. The crash was attributed to poor braking action on the rain-slicked runway.
• 22 August 1954 – Braniff Flight 152 crashed 16 mi south of Mason City, Iowa, after encountering windshear in a thunderstorm, killing 12 of 19 on board. The aircraft was a Douglas C-47, registration N61451.
• 17 July 1955 – Braniff Flight 560 crashed at Chicago–Midway Airport after the pilot became disoriented during the approach, killing 22 of 43 on board. The aircraft was a Convair CV-340-22, registration N3422.
• 25 March 1958 – Braniff Flight 971 crashed near Miami International Airport while attempting to return to the airport after the number three engine caught fire, killing nine of 15 passengers; all five crew survived. The pilot had become preoccupied with the engine fire and failed to maintain altitude. The aircraft was a Douglas DC-7C, registration N5904.
• 29 September 1959 – Braniff Flight 542 crashed in Buffalo, Texas, while en route from Houston to Dallas, and the crash resulted in the deaths of twenty-nine passengers and five crew members. The plane, registration number N9705C, was an 11-day-old Lockheed L-188 Electra. The Civil Aeronautics Board blamed the crash on metal fatigue due to the "whirl-mode" prop theory.
• 19 October 1959 – A Braniff Boeing 707 crashed in Arlington, Washington. Although the aircraft was not officially a Braniff aircraft, it was due for delivery the very next day and was already wearing the Braniff logo and colors. The aircraft, a Boeing 707-227, registration number N7071, was on an orientation flight with two Boeing test pilots, and two Braniff Captains on board. The Braniff pilot performed a series of Dutch rolls; however, one of the rolls was executed beyond the maximum bank angle restrictions, resulting in a loss of control. The aircraft recovered from the maneuver, but, during the recovery, three of the engines (number 1, 2 and 4) were torn off. The aircraft crashed along the Stillaguamish River northeast of Arlington. The two pilots in the cockpit did not survive the emergency landing, the other two pilots who were sitting in the tail section did. A bare patch in the trees along the north bank of the river still exists today.
• 14 September 1960 – An airline maintenance inspector lost control of a Braniff International Airways Douglas DC-7 during a taxi test and crashed into the Braniff Operations and Maintenance Base hangar at high speed. The inspector died and five of the six mechanics aboard were injured. The aircraft brakes were set to bypass mode and braking action was not available when it was needed.
• 14 November 1961 – A Braniff DC-7C (N5905) was written off following a ground fire at Dallas Love Field.
• 6 August 1966 – Braniff Flight 250 crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, en route from Kansas City to Omaha after encountering severe thunderstorms in flight. Thirty-eight passengers and four crew members were killed in the crash. The plane was a BAC One-Eleven 203, registration N1553.
• 3 May 1968 – Braniff Flight 352 crashed in Dawson, Texas. Like Flight 542 nine years earlier, it was en route to Dallas from Houston. Eighty passengers and five crew members were killed in the crash. The plane was a Lockheed Electra II, registration N9707C. Two other Braniff employees, a cargo secretary, and a Braniff construction engineer were among the dead.
• 2 July 1971 – Braniff Flight 14, a Boeing 707 flying from Acapulco to New York with 102 passengers and a crew of eight was hijacked on approach to a refueling stop in San Antonio, Texas. After a refueling stop in Monterrey, the hijackers released flight attendants Jeanette Eatman Crepps, Iris Kay Williams, and Anita Bankert Mayer and all of the passengers. The remaining crew of Captain Dale Bessant, Bill Wallace, Phillip Wray, and flight attendants Ernestina Garcia and Margaret Susan Harris flew on to Lima. The hijackers, a U.S. Navy deserter named Robert Jackson and his female Guatemalan companion, demanded and received ransom of $100,000 and wanted to go to Algeria. The Bessant crew was released, one by one, and replaced by a volunteer crew of Captain Al Schroeder, Bill Mizell, Bob Williams and Navigator Ken McWhorter. Two Lima-based employees, Delia Arizola and Clorinda Ortoneda, volunteered to board the flight. Arizola had been retired 6 months but still offered her services. The 707 left for Rio and planned to refuel but the hijackers forced them on to Buenos Aires. The long flight and fatigue took its toll and the hijackers gave up. The incident was a record for long-distance hijacking, over 7,500 miles, and lasted 43 hours.
• 12 January 1972 – Braniff Flight 38, a Boeing 727, was hijacked as it departed Houston bound for Dallas. The lone armed hijacker, Billy Gene Hurst Jr., allowed all 94 passengers to deplane after landing at Dallas Love Field but continued to hold the seven crew members hostage, demanding to fly to South America and asking for US$2 million, parachutes, and jungle survival gear, among other items. After a six-hour standoff, the entire crew secretly fled while Hurst was distracted examining the contents of a package delivered by Dallas police. Police officers stormed the craft shortly afterwards and arrested Hurst without serious incident.

In popular culture

• Braniff Productions, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's production company that produced South Park, was named after the airline. The company used a 5-second segment from a Braniff commercial as their production logo at the end of each episode from 1997 to 2006. However, the company's original logo was a monochrome scene of six men dancing in a chorus line without pants (with one man completely naked and holding balloons), which was only used in the unaired pilot of the show. The second logo was accompanied by a 12 note jingle derived from the song "Shpadoinkle" from Parker's earlier film Cannibal! The Musical. The company was renamed to "Parker-Stone Productions" (later "South Park Studios") in 2007.
• In "At Long Last Leave", the 500th episode of The Simpsons, Homer Simpson ties a "Braniff"-branded jet engine to a quad.
• In the film Wall Street, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) warns his father Carl (Martin Sheen), who is employed by an airline that his son wants to control, about how the fictional "Blue Star Airlines" will "go right down the tubes just like Braniff!"
• The airline made an unlicensed appearance on the TV series Mindhunter (season 2, episode 5).

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