AIRWAYS HISTORY Northeast Airlines
22 Northeast ’ s route map as produced in the company ’ s 1953 Annual Report . // DAVID H . STRINGER COLLECTION
23 Passengers board a Northeast Convair 240 on Nantucket Island . Nantucket and Martha ’ s Vineyard were served exclusively by Northeast after the company ’ s purchase of Mayflower Airlines in 1944 . // PHOTO : PAUL ZOGG COLLECTION ( ZOGGAVIA . COM )
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meet up with Northeast ’ s network . Action in the complicated case was very slow , and Northeast finally abandoned the plan to merge with Delta in 1954 , deciding instead to focus on its own route application for service to Florida . Delta would not achieve entry into the New York market until 1956 and would again visit the prospect of a merger with Northeast in the early 1970s .
The 1950s saw Northeast dutifully serving its territory , basically as a trunk airline operating a local service route network . Despite the CAB ’ s concern for Northeast ’ s need for subsidy , the airline remained locked in its New England territory . The influence of other , larger carriers in keeping Northeast ‘ in its place ’ cannot be brushed off lightly . Without doubt , during wartime Northeast had proven itself to be an able carrier serving the military on North Atlantic routes . But Pan American was a powerful company that saw itself as the United States ’ chosen instrument , even if that was not the government ’ s official policy . And Juan Trippe , Pan American ’ s president , had many friends in Washington .
The postwar Atlantic was given to Pan American , TWA , and American Overseas Airlines ( AOA , a division of American Airlines ). There was no room on the North Atlantic for little Northeast . Likewise , in the New York to Florida market , the nation ’ s most popular air route , Eddie Rickenbacker ’ s Eastern Air Lines was the dominant carrier , with Ted Baker ’ s National Airlines his only competition .
Both Rickenbacker and Baker would do anything in their power to keep another airline , like Northeast , from entering into their territory .
PART TWO OF THE NORTHEAST AIRLINES STORY WILL APPEAR IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF AIRWAYS
A version of this series of articles about Northeast appeared in Airways back in 2011 . The Northeast Airlines story will also be included in the forthcoming book , Exploring Airline History with David H . Stringer : The Airways Magazine Articles , Volume Two .
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