Eastern Air Lines Stages a Comeback – Conde Nast Traveler
I’m not sure why Conde Nast decided to run an article about Eastern’s comeback now since there hasn’t been any news lately. But I still think it’s a bad idea.
Cranky on the Web: Eastern’s Comeback
9 comments on “Cranky on the Web: Eastern’s Comeback”
But they’ve never gone away! ;-)
http://www.easternairways.com
Billy
The competition will be brutal and what do they offer that already isn’t being offered ? Doomed to fail.
How are they doing in the charter market? Four airplanes right now isn’t going to do much as a scheduled airline, and if they use Miami as a base, there is nothing they can do that AA couldn’t over power them with.
David SF – No, it’s not much. They’re doing some Cuba charters, though those will undoubtedly dry up when scheduled service opens up. Someone mentioned they’re doing the Florida Panthers. Not sure what else.
Nostalgia aside, I agree that reviving Eastern isn’t particularly compelling from a pure business perspective. I did however, enjoy the short video at the bottom of that article at the Conde Nast site about the guy that collects BOAC memorabilia and has two Speedbird logo tattoos.
You and me both, Matthew. That guy is great!
The big problem is re-using Airline names is much of the intellectual property associated with the old airline (Logos, saying [The Wings of Man] has often been abandoned, which means they no longer have any limitations on use and are in the public domain. Virtually all of the former Eastern Airlines marks were abandoned more than a decade ago and are listed by the US Patent and Trademark office as ‘Dead’ / ‘Abandoned’. The very nature of the trademark is such that once it enters the Public Domain the use is pretty much unrestricted. So while a new entrant can use the mark, they have no legal protection for it, and others are also free to use it.
A smart trustee will continue to pay the registration fees since the mark may have value to someone who purchases the name or other remains of the original mark holder.
By contrast many of the PanAmerican World airways marks are still ‘live’ and protected. No doubt they have been sold on several times to successor companies that want to use the name).
I want to see them succeed, not just for nostalgia but to bring competition into the market. However the only way this will work is to create a brand that differentiates iitself. So far I don’t see anything.
AA has a global network and captive FF base. B6 has a tech savvy above average pax experience. NK has the ‘you get a seat from A to B, take it or leave it’ angle. What do you all think is viable for the new Eastern brand?