47 Facts About Braniff

Braniff's routes were primarily in the midwestern and southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America.

New Braniff venture was profitable within a month of service inauguration but with the weakening economic conditions the company found itself in need of a merger partner.

In 1929, the Braniff brothers sold the assets of the company to Universal Aviation Corporation of St Louis, Missouri, at which time, the organization started operating as Braniff Air Lines, Inc In 1930, the company was bought by the Aviation Corporation which was the predecessor of American Airlines.

Braniff Airways purchased two six-passenger 450 horsepower Lockheed L-5 Vega single-engine aircraft capable of cruising at speeds of 150 miles-per-hour.

Braniff's advertising touted the new carrier as The World's Fastest Airline.

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Paul Braniff, travelled to Washington, D C to petition for a Chicago-Dallas airmail route.

In early 1935, Braniff became the first airline to fly from Chicago to the U S –Mexico border.

In 1954, Beard was appointed president and CEO of Braniff with Fred Jones of Oklahoma City becoming chairman of the board.

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.

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.

Braniff was allowed to operate a charter service in Mexico for a brief period in 1947 but that was discontinued and service was not commenced again until 1960.

Braniff was the first airline authorized by the CAB to operate JATO or Jet Assisted Take-Off aircraft at La Paz.

Braniff inaugurated new service from Lima, Peru, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a stop at Sao Paulo, added in October 1950.

In 1955 Braniff was the tenth largest US airline by passenger-miles and ninth largest by domestic passenger miles.

Paul R Braniff died in June 1954 from complications from pneumonia and from throat cancer.

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.

Jeanne Braniff's child died two days after birth and her husband Alexander Terrell died a year later in 1949.

In 1971, Braniff sold the jets to British West Indies Airways, an airline based in the Caribbean.

In 1965 Braniff's fleet was about half jet, comprising 707s, 720s and British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jetliners.

In February 1957, Braniff moved into a new headquarters located temporarily in the new Exchange Bank Building at Exchange Park, a high-rise office development within sight of Dallas Love Field.

Braniff remained in this building until December 1978, when it moved its spacious new Braniff Place World Headquarters on the west side of DFW Airport.

The airline would occupy the facility until the late 1980s, with the Braniff, Inc holding company, Dalfort, remaining there until 2001.

In 1966, Braniff obtained a government contract to transport military personnel from the US Mainland to Vietnam and other military outposts in the Pacific region.

In February 1967 Braniff, purchased Pan American-Grace Airways from shareholders of Pan American World Airways and W R Grace, increasing its presence in South America.

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Under the leadership of George Lois and his advertising firm Lois, Holland Calloway, Braniff started a campaign that presented stars such as Andy Warhol, Sonny Liston, Salvador Dali, Whitey Ford, the Playboy Bunny, and other celebrities of the time flying Braniff.

Braniff 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 December 1968 and the Jetrail Car Park people mover system in April 1970.

In 1978, Braniff Chairman Harding L Lawrence negotiated a unique and advantageous interchange agreement to operate the Concorde over American soil, making it first time that Concorde was used for domestic—and fully overland—flights.

Braniff charged only a 10-percent premium over standard first-class fare to fly the Concorde and later removed the surcharge.

However, in spite of the service's less than stellar performance, the cost to Braniff was negligible thanks mainly to the agreements that Braniff negotiated with both British Airways and Air France.

Braniff was fully reimbursed for any losses incurred as a result of the interchange agreement.

Until 1980, Braniff was one of the fastest-growing and most-profitable airlines in the United States.

Load factors on these routes were considerable but with the at times unfair competition Braniff faced from Asian carriers, it pushed Braniff's breakeven point even higher making the routes unsuccessful once coupled with exorbitant fuel costs across the globe.

In late 1978 Braniff moved to a sprawling new headquarters, Braniff Place, just inside the western grounds of the airport.

Braniff's decreasing load factors combined with record-breaking fuel cost escalations, unfair and unbridled competition, unprecedented interest rates, and a national recession, produced massive financial shortfalls especially in 1980, which was caused by the severe recession that was affecting travel globally.

Braniff had two options prior to deregulation: grow into a larger carrier to possess "city power" at its key hubs or become a low cost carrier.

Although, Braniff was considered a low-cost carrier it still possessed a seasoned and unionized work force with medical and pension plans, which were the same overhead costs as the larger trunk carriers.

Braniff International maintained that it was hemorrhaging cash and that it could not continue to operate the money losing South American system.

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.

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 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 had saved the historic Driskill from demolition in 1973 and purchased the entity outright in February 1975.

Braniff is one of only two heritage airlines that continues to control its own intellectual property and other assets with Pan Am the other.

Former Braniff employees founded Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines in 1983.

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Braniff featured one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry.

Braniff International operated the following aircraft types during its existence:.