“New livery, who dis?” asked Eastern Airlines, unveiling its new(-ish) aircraft livery. A worthy question indeed, as the startup air carrier is already the third reincarnation of Eastern Airlines brand in the United States alone.
The U.S. startup airline began operations earlier in the year, launching inaugural flights between New York John F Kennedy (JFK) and Aeropuerto Internacional José Joaquín De Olmedo (GYE) in Guayaquil, Ecuador in January 2020.
New livery, who dis? pic.twitter.com/IhZdK5rMOC
— Eastern Airlines (@goeasternair) July 7, 2020
While the inaugural flights could have gone better, the newcomer airline was already planning service expansion. A new route between JFK and Georgetown, Guyana, and the JFK-GYE frequency increase to two flights per week was scheduled to commence in early March 2020.
On March 17, Eastern Airlines cancelled scheduled passenger service, but continued to operate repatriation flights amid the coronavirus crisis. The regular Ecuador to JFK service was resumed on June 12; at the same time the carrier also added a twice per week flight to Miami.
@AeromundoAvGeek bellísimo pic.twitter.com/Ey3rKivc6k
— Héctor Elí Andrade (@hectoreliam) January 29, 2020
The airline’s previous livery
Currently, the airline has a fleet of nine Boeing wide-body aircraft, the average age of which is 30 years. Having received its first Boeing 767s in June 2018, the carrier now has eight planes of the type in both -200 and -300 variants. In May 2020, it also added a new type to its fleet ‒ an 18-years’old Boeing 777-200.
The airline is the third reincarnation of Eastern brand. The original Eastern Air Lines was established in 1926. The giant U.S. operator went bankrupt and was liquidated in 1991. The second Eastern Air Lines revived the brand in 2015, but ceased operations two years later ‒ in 2017.