Dallas has been lucky to have been the home to so many great airlines. Braniff International was a landmark at Love Field. American Airlines became the King of Dallas International and of course there is Southwest Airlines founded on a napkin by Dallas Attorney Herb Kelleher and a buddy. Braniff is gone now, but the old corporate offices at Love Field on the Lemmon Avenue side continues to be a part of the changing growth at Love.
Now that the brief history lesson is out of the way, it's time for the political flight to take off. I was just a kid when Braniff started painting their aircraft in wild, bright and eye-catching colors. No one had done that before. It was the talk of the town, so-to-speak. But, I know what an impression it made on me and being an old marketing guy, I've always remembered those days.
After American Airlines filed for bankruptcy, it was only a matter of time before the old AA eagle had to go. With its fleet of old MD-80s being the airlines workhorse and badly needing to be replaced, a new livery was on the horizon for American Airlines.
The air begin to fill with excitement as to what the new livery would look like. American even set the first one down in Victorville, that no-mans land in the south of the Mojave Desert near that fairy-tale town on Apple Valley in California. Most aviation geeks set off the alarms almost the moment the wheels touched the runway and for sure by the time it parked on the tarmac. The word was out. "Ugly!";" It's Ugly! " the geeks cried. And--- no one paid any attention. The new livery would, however, welcome the new American out of bankruptcy. Doug Parker rumors were that the new livery would only be a transition livery while American was merging with US Air and hope once again rose like a victory bonfire's smoke and shimmers of heat.Dud! It was a dud!
Even though Southwest had some colorful colors on it's planes, The ghost of Love Field rejoiced that color had returned to the runways at Love. At least one air line had once again painted the sky over Dallas with it's colorful planes. Tom Braniff must have been looking down on Love Field with a big smile on his face. Herb Kelleher had answered the call once again.
It became a new breath. Color had returned with blues, oranges and reds. Not so much one color from nose to tail but three! And Love Field's new upstart began to grow, and grow, and grow. Then, there was the political roadblock to stop the growth because DFW was the new wonder child. And that it was. It made a star of Dallas air routes. The need to bring back the focus to Love had an opportunity and splash some paint once more. This time with big orcas on the side of the plane or some other theme like the Texas state flag. And after being let down by American, Southwest and Gary Kelly, being a CPA, knew how to charge off paint and make it pay. And it did! Time and time again. People were talking again about the color in the skies over Dallas. Then came the new livery for Southwest and every parking spot in the parking garage was filled at Thanksgiving and overflow lots were filled at Christmas, too. Love Field was alive and well and new terminals were under construction.
Now some folks will say that it was more than a paint job on an airplane. And I would have to agree that it was all true. Southwest is known to be a happy bunch--even when they work a picket line now and then. But deep down inside, we all know that the sky is filled with more color once again and it makes those that had seen Tom's planes start a revolution jump to the other side of the field in the house that Herb built, paint shop and all!
Now that the brief history lesson is out of the way, it's time for the political flight to take off. I was just a kid when Braniff started painting their aircraft in wild, bright and eye-catching colors. No one had done that before. It was the talk of the town, so-to-speak. But, I know what an impression it made on me and being an old marketing guy, I've always remembered those days.
After American Airlines filed for bankruptcy, it was only a matter of time before the old AA eagle had to go. With its fleet of old MD-80s being the airlines workhorse and badly needing to be replaced, a new livery was on the horizon for American Airlines.
The air begin to fill with excitement as to what the new livery would look like. American even set the first one down in Victorville, that no-mans land in the south of the Mojave Desert near that fairy-tale town on Apple Valley in California. Most aviation geeks set off the alarms almost the moment the wheels touched the runway and for sure by the time it parked on the tarmac. The word was out. "Ugly!";" It's Ugly! " the geeks cried. And--- no one paid any attention. The new livery would, however, welcome the new American out of bankruptcy. Doug Parker rumors were that the new livery would only be a transition livery while American was merging with US Air and hope once again rose like a victory bonfire's smoke and shimmers of heat.Dud! It was a dud!
Even though Southwest had some colorful colors on it's planes, The ghost of Love Field rejoiced that color had returned to the runways at Love. At least one air line had once again painted the sky over Dallas with it's colorful planes. Tom Braniff must have been looking down on Love Field with a big smile on his face. Herb Kelleher had answered the call once again.
It became a new breath. Color had returned with blues, oranges and reds. Not so much one color from nose to tail but three! And Love Field's new upstart began to grow, and grow, and grow. Then, there was the political roadblock to stop the growth because DFW was the new wonder child. And that it was. It made a star of Dallas air routes. The need to bring back the focus to Love had an opportunity and splash some paint once more. This time with big orcas on the side of the plane or some other theme like the Texas state flag. And after being let down by American, Southwest and Gary Kelly, being a CPA, knew how to charge off paint and make it pay. And it did! Time and time again. People were talking again about the color in the skies over Dallas. Then came the new livery for Southwest and every parking spot in the parking garage was filled at Thanksgiving and overflow lots were filled at Christmas, too. Love Field was alive and well and new terminals were under construction.
Now some folks will say that it was more than a paint job on an airplane. And I would have to agree that it was all true. Southwest is known to be a happy bunch--even when they work a picket line now and then. But deep down inside, we all know that the sky is filled with more color once again and it makes those that had seen Tom's planes start a revolution jump to the other side of the field in the house that Herb built, paint shop and all!
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