5 A Braniff International BAC One-11 Fastback jet painted in the new ochre color scheme serves as the backdrop for the new Emilio Pucci black gabardine Pilot uniforms . The attractive new uniforms featured double breasted coats and striking gold accoutrements . |
seats , sidewalls , and bulkheads became awash in vibrant fabrics and pastel sidewalls .
Italian high fashion designer Emilio Pucci designed spaceage uniforms for ground and flight personnel , including astronaut helmet domes for flight attendants , who would famously present a fashion show of their uniforms in flight in a presentation called “ The Air Strip ” ( now known as Art Fashion Design ). Girard designed over 17,000 public-contact items , from service items to signage , to furniture . This created an
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immediate sensation that was not only copied by other airlines but crossed over into pop culture .
Beyond all the buzz was a shrewd business calculation , according to Braniff Airways , Incorporated President and Archives Curator Ben Cass . “ The End of the Plain Plane is our claim to absolute fame ,” Cass says . “ Braniff was ill-equipped to come into the era . If Braniff had not reinvented itself , it would not have had the impact and would have been merged pretty quickly .”
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Cass posits that the campaign literally generated the money the company needed to buy its new jet aircraft and transition the fleet from pistons to turbines by 1969 . By the 1970s , Braniff was ahead of its time in operating a single fleet type for its domestic operations , the 727 , with DC-8- 62s in Latin America .
The impact on the morale of its Metroplex home base of Dallas / Fort Worth in particular was enormous . “ Braniff was the company that brought Dallas out of the disaster of the Kennedy assassination , taking away all of that gloom and doom ,” Cass says . “ It brought in fashion and style and design that had not been seen here beyond Neiman Marcus .”
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Braniff became the de facto worldwide ambassador for the wider region . “ We took the Southwest to Hawaii , London , and the world . [ Before Braniff ] This was unheard of .” The airline ’ s impact resonates today . “ Braniff was the one that ushered in the growth in this area . It really pushed for DFW Airport , and that is the economic engine that drives the region ,” Cass points out . Braniff created one of the world ’ s first hub-and-spoke operations , first at Love Field and then DFW . |
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Braniff would fly high for the next 14 years , chalking up record growth and profits , pioneering 747 services between Texas , Hawaii , and , eventually , London on the famous ‘ Big Orange ’ jumbo jet known as 747 Braniff Place , operating Concorde in a codeshare with British Airways and Air France , and fostering much more innovation and impact that its relatively small size would have warranted . |