When returned to the skies in January, the newly revived brand didn’t knowthat a global pandemic would soon halt nearly all air travel around the world. Yet while COVID-19 has grounded most flights from major airlines, Eastern has found a way to keep busy, working in partnership with the State Department to help bringstranded U.S. citizenshome fromCentral and South America.
For those who remember, the name Eastern Air Lines (formerly spelled as such) sparksmemories of the golden age of air travel. A prominent player for most of the 20th century, the Miami-based airlinehit its peak in the 1950s before bankruptcy grounded its fleet in 1991. An initial, in 2015, was short-lived, but inJanuary, Eastern returned with a flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to New York City, along with a whole new for the 21st century. The airline planned to introduce its next flight, from New York Cityto Georgetown, Guyana, in mid-March, and another route to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, later this year.
Then the pandemic hit, and Eastern had to re-strategize. As airports around the world began to close, thousands of American tourists became . The State Department reached out to Eastern to help get citizens home from Guyana after the airline successfully flewchartersto return medical students based in Grenada and Panama City to the U.S. in early March.The airline then starteda repatriation flight from Georgetown to Miamion March 13. This came just as the State Department launched a on March 19, ordering a plan forgovernment-funded charter flightstobeconducted by commercial airlines. Repatriated passengers wouldbe expected toeventually upon their return.
Eastern saw an opportunity. Unlike that are repatriation flights and determining fares based on an agreementwiththe federalgovernment, Easternsets itsown fares and only works with thegovernment to determine how many passengers to expect on each flight. Its repatriation flights cost up to $2,000 one-way, which CEO Steve Harfstsays is because the airline flies the planes from the U.S. empty, so passengers are essentially paying for a round-trip ticket. The cost is relatively comparable toother airlines, with examples that include a $1,000 United from Lima, Peru, to Houston, and nearly $1,500 from Marrakech, Morocco, to any of tenU.S. cities via various airlines, according to .
Since Eastern’sinaugural flight, it has returned17,013 passengerson 102 flights from 15 countries across Central and South America, including Peru, Argentina, and Nicaragua. It hasalso flown 3,412 non-American travelers from the U.S. to their home countries.On average, repatriation flights have been 68 percent full, and the airline hasn’t turned a significant profit. “On some of the flights, we’ve lost money. Some of the flights, we haven’t. On averagewe’re probably just barely above breakeven,” Harfst says. “We make a commitment to fly the flight, so we’re somewhat taking a risk and believing that the U.S. embassy is being real with the numbers [of passengers] that they expect. But if 30 people showed up, we’d still fly the plane.”
Coming from a fledgling airline with fewer than 200 employees, this initiative is surprising. Before the pandemic, Eastern was banking on business from a specific demographic: adventurous millennials. Calling itself the “explorer brand,” it hoped that a combination of budget fares to underserved adventure locales, a liberal baggage policy (one bag of up to 70 pounds free of charge), and smart marketing would win over a generation that prides itself on spending money on experiences, not stuff. Eastern’s 2018 internal study deemed Guayaquil, Georgetown, and Cabo San Lucas up-and-coming South American adventure destinations.
“We make a commitment to fly the flight, so we’re somewhat taking a risk and believing that the U.S. embassy is being real with the numbers [of passengers] that they expect,”Harfst says.
But some weren’t so convinced that the approach of tapping into such a specific market would work. “It could be tough to sustain a business with such a narrow focus,” says Lori Ranson, a senior analyst at the Sydney-based . She points to Air France’s attempt in 2017 to target younger travelers with its now defunct subsidiary,,through things like budget fares, colorful seats, and casual flight-attendant attire.However, Harfst says these are “airline frills”that don’t add value to a traveler’s experience, adding that Eastern wants to provide “hassle-free service”for its passengers.
In February, before the pandemic hit, Harfst told ϳԹ that he anticipated Eastern’s flights would be 50 to 70 percent less expensive than other airlines, citing cost-cutting measures like operating wide-body aircraft that allow for more seating and luggage. (JetBlue does not have wide-body aircraft, though other airlines, like American and United, do.) The company also owns its fleet. (According to a 2018 by the Centre for Aviation, half of the world’s commercial planes are leased.)Ranson noted that the company’s spending costs would need to be “well below its competitors” in order to meet its proposed fares.But over the course of February and early March, Eastern’s fares were comparable with itscompetition.
When we contacted Harfstagain this month and asked if thosecheaper fares would still be possible following the pandemic, Harfst says he didn’t know, though he expects all airline fares to increase after a complete return to travel. While there may be initial deals to attract fliers back, airlines will eventually have to make up for lost revenue. “The costs [of flying] don’t change,” he says. “It’sfair to assume that, regardless of what does happen, fares are going to be more expensive.”
As for the future, Harfst believes that Eastern could come out ahead of other airlines post-pandemic. As a small business, it received support from the CARES Act, but Harfst says its low-cost structure makes the company more resilient. He notes that as a startup company with fewer—and newer—employees, it doesn’t have to cover the higher compensation of tenured members (though he adds that Eastern pays its employees a competitive wage). In addition to lower labor costs and the fact that it owns its own planes, Harfst saysthe shrinking travel industry will result in more underserved markets, allowing for Eastern to pursue its original business model. “We think that there’ll be domestic opportunities that will be open to us, as routes and markets are either abandoned or left with less capacity,” he says, citing the airline’srecent application for a domestic nonstop flight from New York to San Diego. “There are still people all around the world who will need to or want to travel that now won’thave that opportunity—or if they do, it’s a two- or three-stop flight. Those small markets are still very attractive to a company like Eastern.”