It has been quite some time since I’ve written about Eastern Airlines, which I consider to be the most unusual ”real” airline in the world. The airline is based in the United States and has over a dozen wide body jets, yet does very little with them. Somehow the airline is still around, though…
Continue reading: Eastern Airlines: The World’s Strangest Airline?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Money laundering. I have no factual real basis for that assumption but it just smacks of money laundering. Just enough credibility to say "We're an airline! See? We do airline stuff!" But no real money trail or sense of how they'd be making any profit. Eastern is the NFTs of the airlines.
It happens to be HQ'd a few miles from my bunker. I submit it's existence is either one of two possible explanations;
It's a modern day Air America type outfit that hides behind a façade, doing charter work for US Gov't, others that cannot have military cargo planes on tarmac..
Or, its owner is an OPM (other people's money) type that is some type of ponzi scheme, seen others in industry doing like wise. Believe this is case
Eastern also provides crew for non-airline businesses. For instance Eastern crew flies the patriots and cardinals around, operates flights for Drake, etc.
Doesnt seem like enough to support the operating costs of a business, but I am sure it helps keep the lights on.
Could it be as simple as staffing shortages? No one can find pilots right now. Why would an experienced widebody pilot go work for this unprofitable startup airline when established airlines are fighting over them?
I know they are trying to hire flight attendants for a Philadelphia FA base. They have been recruiting since July. Not sure if this will lead to them bringing back service to PHL with the way they are operating
You can't even ticket for the JFK-GYE. I tried just for fun. The only dates are Oct 20 (return 21st) or Nov 17 (return 18th). In all cases, when you try to select a flight, I seemed to get an error message and it would return me to the booking page.
How would they even get one single pilot to fly for them? With the pilot shortage, who would fly for them?
There has been an Eastern Airlines 767 stuck in the Fargo airport since February, its now October. We have an office pool going for when it will leave but have had to open the pool for a second round. The story is it needed a new engine but they were trying to just replace parts. Now the new engine has arrived but the plane is still here...
I'm in Fargo ND and we've had one parked between our FBO and our Air National Guard hangers for months. I assumed they did military charter work. I'd love to know!
Lol@ forgetting their slots.
They are on top of them. They were fighting with jetBlue and the FAA over frequencies to Ecuador. IIRC they were awarded 2 of them.
They were very busy with repatriation flights from South America during Covid-19. That ended and its like they didn't know what to do next.
They could have filled a bunch of seats this summer with leisure traffic. Even some JFK-MIA on select days would have kept them busy.
When I was in GYE last year, the flight back to NYC was operating about the same time. I can confirm that there was a plane (767), check-in desk (not too busy, but also not empty) and crew going through security control (very classic uniforms). Since our gates were quite far apart, I could tell that there were passengers boarding, but not how many (not an enormous crowd, though). So it seems they are actually operating to/from GYE.
Good friend many, many years ago Father was an Eastern pilot. Two sons became pilots. One couldn't get on with Eastern because he didn't have 20/20 vision. Delta hired him. The rest is history.
Miss Eastern Airlines.
My wife and I flew on Eastern Airlines round trip between Miami and Ushuaia back in February. It was chartered by Viking Cruises on short notice for their Antarctica cruise passengers in a (successful) attempt to minimize Covid-19 exposure. The fights were around 15 hours each with a refueling and crew swap stop in Montevideo. The outbound flight was our worst long-haul flight experience ever. After LOTS of complaints from the passengers, the return flight was tolerable (but still had no in-flight entertainment options). I would never choose to fly this incarnation of Eastern Airlines.
Lucky, you are too young to remember but that is exactly what Modern Air Transport was during the Indonesian wars, Vietnam, Cambodge etc... A seemingly civilian commercial airline whose business was 95% operating non-advertised and somewhat secret military flights and intelligence missions.
And then... One day in 1967 (I have a good reason to remember the year) I flew from London (LHR) to Paris (ORY) in a Modern Air Transport CV 990 sporting Air France stickers, in lieu of the usual Caravelle. Since I already digged and dugged commercial aviation stories, I managed to find out that Air France, short on its fleet, had considered leasing from Aeroflot some IL-62s and that Uncle Sam had intervened to sink the deal and offer the CV 990 instead.
This was the only time ever I flew in a CV 990 and I was thrilled. Air France operated 3 for several months and the plane was a rarity in Europe, flown only by Spanish Spantax, a then competitor of Iberia. Swissair flew the shorter model, the CV 880.
I am not implying that Eastern has the same operations, but it may be the case, or something similar.
As a former employee I’d love to share the insight of how this place runs and why it’s so weird, it’s the writer of the article sees this feel free to reach out….
I got plenty to share….
Saw their aircraft on the ground in both Dubai and Doha. Not on their route maps either.
I managed as well - more importantly, I also found the itinerary on an OTA (opodo), so I guess it's possible at least to pay for it.
(I looked for October 20 to November 18, NYC-GYE)
EAL had a great opportunity to become something big, back when the pandemic started.
But that train has been long gone.
The biggest problem with EAL is the CEO. Harfst. He put two airlines to the ground and 3rd one is on the way.
Then original EAL scabs started to join the airline along with management personnel with fake and fake qualifications and EAL became a nightmare.
Maintenance is non existed. They treat people (passengers and employees) extremely bad.
They lost 75% of their pilots in 2-3 weeks. They are constantly practicing with out respecting FARs thinking they can get away...I am actually surprised that the FAA hasn't shutdown this company.
They employee personel...from other countries without the legal right to live and work in USA, promise them.green cards etc etc, giving them management titles, as long as they inflict respect through fear. Ecuador base flight attenands ang Guyana base flight attenands, getting paid $1000 per month being pushed to fly with out rest being threatened to operate illegal or the will lose their jobs.
The FltOps Department of this company is allowing personel (rather 1 person...A.Bell) with a fake resume and the knowledge of a lamb (lamb has higher IQ ) to do nothing but illegal practices and puts safety to the side. Same goes with the in-flight director who is from Guyana...on a crew visa promised to get a green card working in management of a US carrier mostly doing DOD flights...Immigration services will get a kick out of this and US military also....non-citizens in high security US bases...
This is a money laundering operation.
An unsafe outfit and I would strongly steer away from anything that has Eastern Airlines on. Most likely it's been fraudulent...or forged...
And the story is longgggggggg
Have you seen the Board ? is the same people operating the Global X airline, after Eastern Air Lines B737 at New York on Oct 27th 2016, overran runway on landing long and there was another one I cant remember more earlier. So they still have airplanes but not flying them. Unless it’s chartered.
Probably one of the several "fake" airlines that mostly operate charters for US DoD troop rotations, immigration returns, flying in Amazon workers from Mexico, etc. There's a lot of people moving flights that are rather more systematic in nature and semi-under-the-radar. You can watch them in SkyGlass running in mil-ops mode which picks up a lot of the "off label" flights through its crowd sourced network of transponder receivers.
Oh A. Bell the man behind the great ETOPS Team…. Great knowledge from Emirates where he was FIRED!!!!
Oh the stories……
What's so sad about this is the thousands of former Eastern Air Lines (notice the difference between the spelling Eastern Airlines!) who are still proud of what we had... I worked for the former for 25 years during the glory days of Eastern and there is no domestic airline with service like we did back in the day.
This wannabe is flying illegals in the middle of the night all over America - Do aircraft histories of those AC on FlightRadar24 and see how many flights left Harlingen, Del Rio, El Paso, Corpus, on & on, with hundred of illegals on every one of them, being flown by our government and dropping them off in the middle of the night all over the states. You never heard about it on ABC, CBS, NBC. Fox did a report once when they went to an airport and filmed these people getting off the plane and being put in plain white busses and driven off into the night. They followed the buses and the drivers were mum about everything related to the whole issue.
Wake up America! Please!!!
Well, there was also Air America and Southern Air Transport that operated for the CIA.
Is it possible that these aircraft fly routes that are sensitive with their ADS-B turned off? They wouldn't show up on FlightAware or Flight Radar24
"Our mission is to bring back the sense of awe and wonder to air travel"
Yes - "I *wonder* if the new route will start *awe* not".
Eastern can’t hold any schedule or any
charter commitment because the aircraft
are in such bad condition mechanically, any
other company would take them out of service. Management is just bad as the aircraft.
Eastern is still recovering from the incompetence of Juri Strandman a regional airline pilot that conned them into thinking he was a Director of Operations.
Eastern can’t maintain a schedule or a long
term charter commitment because their
airplanes are junk. Each aircraft operates (when not grounded) with a list of inoperative components and Or systems. Management is
No better. They got conned by some regional pilot named Juri that he was a Director of Operations, and he just about wrecked the place. I wouldn’t think they’ll be around much longer.
A source I know claims that they operate covert flights for government activities, including diplomatic flights. Beyond that, your imagination is a good a guess as any.
Were you frothing at the mouth when you spewed out this deranged diatribe? Get help.
Thenew DO and assistant DO are responsible for most of the pilots leaving. As of today I think they have 6 or 7 captains and no check airmen or training department and I think 1 dispatcher. The new management has made the company a toxic place to work.
Place has become a disaster, patriots contract is the only thing keeping them alive. the CP is a moron whom has a stained record from US Airways, A Bell is a fake wannabe who got canned from emirates. Jyri Strandman destroyed by firing or demoting anyone who wasn't his buddy. The director of scheduling pushes everyone to break the rules to benefit herself and the airline in order to get promoted, she works the DO in breaking FARs and illegal rest. contract mechanics who can't fix anything and one way or another some there is always guyana fa that is trying to sleep with you to get a green card, all the good captains are gone, i mean the fact people from dynamic quit says alot , place is in bed with the faa and is a giant money laundering operation for ken wooley
This company has several embraer e195 jets and One at600 being operated on TAP flights
The company occasionally fails to meet its goals. Who cares? The company doesn't have its planes all operating. Why does it matter? The airline can't figure out if its mission. What's the point? The airline owes money to allot of airports and handlers. Who is counting?
What really matters is how often they get someone to write about it and how many dreams they have. That is what is important. Ask anyone about the guy from MIA that came to collect one day. That's a funny story!
Alex Bell is The clown they have ruining the operation along with another clown from Delta Reid White. The one is dragging the other ones name and reputation down more and more daily. Steve Harfst who’s the laughing stock of the Airline Industry small Company CEO’s has his alleged ex-lover, Lana Belasco, an ex- flight Attendant from North American working there as some sort of a project manager who thinks she’s everyone’s supervisor. Alex Bell and Lana Belasco have gotten very close and as a result of Alex Bells horrible industry reputation, his lack of industry experience and knowledge and all out bogus and embellished resume, the employees have all filed AIR21 and whistleblower complaints against him
Ever being promoted to Director of Operations or any 119 role anywhere. Alex Bell proudly told a group of us in training the other day that he’s the one whose “cleaned house” at Eastern, by getting rid of everyone that’s recently left, when in fact everyone had resigned because they didn’t want to be associated any longer with Alex Bell and his stupidity.
They have no check airman left on the 767 and tried to use an initial Cadre 777 check airman to conduct training for the new 767 candidates and the FAA found out that Alex Bell had come up With this scheme and intervened.
They have hardly any pilots left within the company and the in-flight crews that are remaining are just here also temporarily as we all mostly have been hired elsewhere and are awaiting start dates. Any pilots left here are basically the bottom of the barrel in the industry and are essentially equal to the original Eastern scabs and are Pilots that nobody wants to essentially hire anywhere else and that their peers have black listed at other airlines. Alex Bell himself has been trying to gain employment elsewhere and has been blocked by dozens of other peers that know of him in the industry every since he ran a Learjet off the runway and destroyed it and then tried to play the “race” card to prevent himself from getting terminated. The irony here is that Alex Bell, Lana Belasco, Reid White and our Inflight Director Yulanda are all people of color and yet have been sadly the biggest group of racists and bigots against people of their own backgrounds as well as others. It is a matter of time before Alex Bell and his minions cause an accident or severe violation which will result in the FAA also sharing responsibility for not shutting this criminal organization down sooner.
The DOT , the FAA and the DOD has already been reaching out to a lot of the former and some current employees for information on eastern and the management. Apparently the FAA and even the FBI was also contacted by some former employees regarding some serious allegations and criminal complaints against the flight operations manager Alex Bell who has been terminated from everywhere he’s ever worked and totally detested in the airline industry. He worked at Emirates and claimed to be the assistant chief pilot when in fact he was an assistant to the deputy chief pilot, so basically he was a secretary to the deputy chief pilots office. While at Emirates airlines he failed his command upgrade on multiple occasions and barely flew the line, yet has claimed he has substantial experience in the B777 with thousands and thousands of flight hours.
Mostly international based flight attendants being pay a lot of money without taxes while americans flight attendants have a hard time to stay in the airline due to the rough conditions and low salaries.
I would be ashamed and super disappointed to put that I worked for this company on my resume. Where do I start. Alex Bell is the biggest laughing stock in the entire company and beside him sits tweedle dee and tweedle dum Lana Belasco and Yulanda Armstrong. All 3 equally racist all 3 equally intellectually malnourished and mentally lacerated. Alex Bell screws over all his dispatchers to the point they run for jobs elsewhere. As for Lana Belasco she really does think she’s everyone’s boss as someone stated in the comments. I would be too if I had the hots for the company president Harfst. She gets paid to do jack all while everybody else has to be at her beck and call all cause she’s a ‘contractor’ makes more than all the people who actually work hard and does nothing but order people around like a slave master. As for Armstrong the absolute laughing stock of inflight thinks she’s hot shit. Everybody keeps quitting ever since she came on board. She thinks because she has a degree that it means she’s better than anybody else so she treats everyone like they’re dumb. Any minor inconvenience to her she plays the ‘they’re racist cause I’m black’ card. Has Reid White at her beck and call also. Treats all her fas like absolute shit. Has horrible management style, incompetency is the order of the day. E.A.L fed her with fake promises that they will sponsor her. Either way nobody wants that job so it wasn’t a loss to anybody. The best thing you can do is run far from this place do not work here it’s a toxic environment. I Think if you look in the dictionary for corrupt, unscrupulous and unprofessional you would find these individuals photographs next to these words, they do a bunch of ‘DOD’ flights with military troops. Flights can’t be tracked. And have the weirdest flight timings and routes. This is a money laundering company at best because the economics of it just don’t add up at the end of the day. In conclusion I think this esoteric company would make for great investigative journalism some day and hopefully the mysteries that surrounds it can be put under the microscope and the relevant authorities be held accountable
The best and only good department head in this company is Sherri Comp. She is absolutely taking the shit end of the stick for all the highers ups idiots fuck ups. They blame everything on her even though she’s the only one who gives a damn about anything at all. Inspite of what anyone may say, unlike every other department that would throw their employee under the bus Sherri wouldn’t. She would legit stand up and take the fall. That to me is a good boss.
I have never ever worked a toxic, unprofessional, unorganized, and unhealthy work environment like Eastern. The lack of leadership is affecting employees from top to bottom. No talent whatsoever and most of so called “directors and managers” won’t even pass a preliminary interview with legacy airlines. I get it no work place it perfect but this place is beyond a mess. Being a leadership is taking responsibility even when you make wrong decisions, but what they do is point fingers at each other and talk shit behind each others back. So unprofessional. The way how people join and resign shows how toxic the work place is. My local McDonald’s keep employees longer than Easter.
This place needs to be investigated and im sure the CEO would be in prison! Director of inflight is a Guyanese national working on a crew member visa. All DOD flights are packed with international based flight attendants and the company “hides” them by making them stay on base when stateside. Troops are treated like crap. They are fed rotten meals some with maggots!! Someone really needs to call thia airline out. I just don’t understand how they are allowed to break every rule! Ask any former employee and you will see this is all true. THEY HAVE VIDEO AND PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING!! Just need to know where to send. Planes are unsafe and a step away from a disaster every flight. Pilots who are worth anything have left.
Whats left at Eastern 3.0?? CEO, same guy who has ruined every airline he ever ran and got booted from Alegiant before he drove them to the same fate. A bozo named Alex Bell…. Look that one up! A Guyanese illegal inflight director. New York based is composed of 7/8 lifers that have pretty much been rejected by every single carrier. These bottom feeders are given big tittles like ATS, ATGI etc. by the illegal crew visa holding Director of Inflight. Only real job the NYC crew has is it bully and make other poor souls lives miserable until they quit or comply with all illegalities. Quick side note, these amoebas of aviation are all friends with the illegal queen B. In short, if you value yourself, don’t consider yourself to be ghetto, undereducated or just plain nasty….PLEASE STAY CLEAR OF THIS PLACE LOL.
I find it funny all these comments from ex employees or current and OMAAT hasn't bothered to maybe follow up and get a juicer article, myself included
I believe two of 767's in their fleet are operated solely for the New England Patriots.
2D3076 Just flew over our office here in Cypress CA. Says its departed El Paso and is landing at Los Alamitos Air Base. Strange....
-r
12/20/22
What’s up? Just seen an Eastern Jet in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada. What kind of a flight was this?
They are flying their first revenue flight in the triple.
Charter for the Georgia Bulldogs to Ontario CA...
Hahaha Eastern Airlines run by clowns running a pathetic failing joke of an operation. Parking the majority of their decrepit Old 767 fleet, lost the New England Patriots contract, only airline in the USA to be furloughing Pilots and flight attendants, running out of cash and has fired and/or laid off the majority of their ground staff. Great job to the so called joke of a management who’s the laughing stock of the airline industry and certainly won’t ever be hired anywhere else.
Eat your heart out? Hahahahahhaa.
I'd be absolutely amazed if the bulk of Eastern's fleet
was NOT on a retainer to some aspect of the US military or US Government.?
There's no good reason for owning a dozen large airliners
if they're Not making you money.!
They require parking & maintaining
& the only reason to retain the aircraft rather than dispose of them
is if someone's paying you a substantial retainer
to make it worth your while.!!!
Yesterday, on March 5th, 2023 I spotted in the air over me, passing by in front of my balcony in Poznan on a landing path to RWY 28 of EPPO Airport,
(western Poland/Europe, western neighbour country of Ukraine, if it could interest somebody),
a landing Boeing 777-212(ER), registered as N771KW,
in early morning hours
(5 a.m., which time is rather untypical right here on our rather small airport of a 550 Tsd. inhabitants-City).
Guess what an Airline? Right! Eastern!
Now, at 3:25 after Midnight (European time), when I check the well known to the most of you - Flightradar 24
- the same Machine, started from EPPO at 11.33 before midnight,
- is somewhere over North Atlantic, more or less between Iceland and Greenland, with a heading of 269 degr. on their way - to seemgly a point in North America..
I've never before seen here the Eastern Machines, exactly as I've never before the Russian agression on the Ukraine - seen here (at EPPO) 747's Cargo of ATLAS AIR landing, and never before the war spotted Kalitta Air B747's over Poland.
So what are the clues? I think - rather obvious - I suppose strongly -as somebody in one of the comments before - that this "strange airline" have to be "in strong connections" to US Military or/and US Government and is in some way an "inofficial transport backup division" for them.
Maybe to cover ...or to make some transport - operations not so obvious to the whole world around.
I wouldn't be surprised if that claim find some background and an affirmation from other sources in the future.
Let them fly the wide bodies. It’s better than what’s being offered. More room to move around. They will eventually figure it out. Welcome back to the sky, Eastern once known as “The Wings of Man”
Can somebody please tell me how in the world this airline is still in business & they just purchased an airline called Hillwood Airlines in Dallas.
My email is [email protected]
I would like to investigate this company because something is not right
An Eastern airlines 767 just added at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Flight originated in Lajes.
They fly at least one commercial flight a year to maintain their status to be able to legally fly international cargo, for the government and I'm sure for private clients as well. I'm sure it's either just a legal requirement for the type of transport that they do, or it's for tax benefits or international regulations, but I'm positive that's why.
True. Alex Bell is a fraud horrible pilot.
Never made Captain at Emirates,
just a pathetic boot licker,
Russian oligarch money is funding this airline. Does the name Olga Alouf ring a bell?
They did fly The New England Patriots to there away games etc. Until very recently and are now being sued for 20+mil$ by said Patriots
One of their 767-336 just landed in Eindhoven (EHV) in the Netherlands arriving from Bangor.
We had an Eastern Airlines fly out of Cheyenne WY this morning. We never get planes that big here except our C130s so I noticed it right away. When I looked on flight radar it showed Cheyenne to Pittsburg. We don’t have sports teams here so I’m not sure what it was doing in our neck of the woods
As someone who provides ground transportation for these types of airlines, yes, majority is from military bases to a local, off base hotel. There are also flights that have high principles on them. Be it government officials, film crews, sometimes famous people, etc.
Two narcisstic egos, destroyed the original Eastern Airlines. Eastern 2.0 failure was due to incompetent leadership. But, Eastern 3.0 will be the biggest disaster yet, by a little rich kid who wanted to play "airline", going from owning 50% of the company to 30%. Some free advice, from me to Ken is "Sell the Eastern name and intellectual property to a serious investor who wants to put Eastern back in the air." You will be able to re-coup some of your losses, and change the name of this S**t Show to "Fantasy Airlines." Saw Eastern in a news broadcast, dropping off a load of illegals from the southern border a few nights ago.
Its true - the government is flying illegals all over the country currently to 45 mid sized cities.
An Eastern Airlines 767 just landed at Nellis Air Force Base about 10 minutes ago (3/6/24).
Not sure I learned enough but the comments helped. I'll stick to my Eastern memories-the original! Haven't flown since Eastern quit and I am a fan of the original look. Love to see old tv shows etc with Eastern planes. Back when you dressed up to fly. What memories.
I was a second officer with EAL before they ended in 1991. It was a sad day for a lot of us.
Had Lorenzo and Trump not monkey'd it up, I dare think we'd have survived somehow.
Just had an Eastern Airline 767 flight #9029 fly in to MSN from Fort Drum NY. Did a pass over the main North South runway, did a loop and came in on the diagonal runway. Guessing it was military personnel.
Just watch an Eastern flight land at March ARB in Riverside. They have very heavy Air America vibes
They've been flying illegals into the United States, paid by taxpayers organized by the big guy. Look at the map, duh!