Editing Eastern Air Lines (section)

===The Jet Age===
[[File:Eastern Airlines DC-3.JPG|right|thumb|An Eastern Air Lines [[Douglas DC-3|DC-3]] on display at the [[National Air and Space Museum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
[[File:Eastern Air Lines L-188 Electra N5512.jpg|thumb|An Eastern Air Lines [[Lockheed L-188 Electra|Electra]], at [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington National Airport]] in 1975]]
[[File:Boeing 747-121 N735PA EAL lsd MIA 07.02.71 edited-2.jpg|thumb|A Boeing 747 showing Eastern Airlines' longtime [[Aircraft livery|livery]] of a cheatline extended up the tail in 1971]]
In November 1959, Eastern Air Lines opened its Chester L. Churchill-designed Terminal 1 at New York City's [[Idlewild International Airport]], later renamed [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]]. In 1960, Eastern's first [[jet aircraft|jets]], Douglas [[Douglas DC-8|DC-8-21]]s, started to take over the longer flights, like the non-stops from [[Chicago]] and [[New York City]] to [[Miami]]. The DC-8s were joined in 1962 by the [[Boeing 720]] and in 1964 by the [[Boeing 727-100]], which Eastern (along with [[American Airlines]] and [[United Airlines]]) had helped Boeing to develop. On February 1, 1964, Eastern was the first airline to fly the 727. Shortly after that, "Captain Eddie" Rickenbacker retired and a new image was adopted, which included the now famous ''hockey stick'' design, officially Caribbean Blue over Ionosphere Blue. Eastern was also the first US carrier to fly the [[Airbus A300]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Eastern to study Airbus buy|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19770511&id=yIAqAAAAIBAJ&pg=3287,4831250|access-date=7 July 2012|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=11 May 1977}}</ref> and the launch customer for the [[Boeing 757]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Boeing Company|url=http://www.boeing.com/commercial/757family/pf/pf_200back.html|title=Commercial Airplanes|access-date=June 26, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629030022/http://www.boeing.com/commercial/757family/pf/pf_200back.html|archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref>

On April 30, 1961, Eastern inaugurated [[Eastern Air Lines Shuttle]]. Initially 95-seat [[Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation|Lockheed Constellation 1049s and 1049Cs]] left [[LaGuardia Airport|New York-LaGuardia]] every two hours, 8&nbsp;am to 10&nbsp;pm, to [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington National]] and to [[Logan International Airport|Boston]].<ref>Thomas Petzinger, ''Hard landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits that Plunged the Airlines into Chaos'' (Random House, 1996)</ref> Flights soon became hourly, 7&nbsp;am to 10&nbsp;pm out of each city. No reservations or tickets were required; passengers could pay their fare in cash on board the flight.  If a plane filled up at departure time, another plane was rolled out to carry any extra passengers.

Internationalization began as Eastern opened routes to markets such as [[Santo Domingo]] and [[Nassau, Bahamas]]. Services from [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]]'s [[Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport]] were expanded. In 1967, Eastern purchased [[Mackey Airlines]], a small air carrier primarily operating in Florida and the Bahamas as part of this expansion.  In 1973, Eastern purchased [[Caribair (Puerto Rico)]], a small airline based in Puerto Rico which operated [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30]] jets in the Caribbean.<ref>https://airlinegeeks.com/2016/03/31/tbt-throwback-thursday-in-aviation-history-caribair/ {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}}</ref>

Eastern bought the [[Lockheed L-1011 TriStar]] and [[Airbus A300]] widebody jets; the former would become known in the [[Caribbean]] as ''El Grandote'' (the huge one). Although Eastern had purchased four 747s, the delivery slots were sold to [[Trans World Airlines]] ([[TWA]]) when Eastern decided to purchase the L-1011.

Due to massive delays in the L-1011 program, mainly due to problems with the [[Rolls-Royce RB211]] engines, Eastern leased two [[Boeing 747-100]]s from [[Pan Am]] between 1970 and 1972 and operated the aircraft between Chicago and San Juan as well as from New York to Miami and San Juan.

{{Blockquote|The RB211 programme might easily have foundered in 1971 if it had not been for the steadfast support of Eastern Airlines, one of the major launch customers for the Lockheed TriStars. The President of Eastern was [[Samuel L. Higginbottom|Sam Higginbottom]], who never wavered and thereby acquired some criticism.|[[Stanley Hooker]]<ref>"Not much of an Engineer" by Stanley Hooker,</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZ18AwAAQBAJ&q=rb211+nimonic&pg=PT228 | title=Not Much of an Engineer| isbn=9781847973252| last1=Hooker| first1=Sir Stanley| last2=Gunston| first2=Bill| date=2011-09-20| publisher=Crowood}}</ref>}}

Just before [[Walt Disney World Resort|Walt Disney World]] opened in 1971, Eastern became its "official airline". It remained the official airline of Walt Disney World and sponsored a ride at the [[Magic Kingdom]] park ([[If You Had Wings]] in [[Tomorrowland (Disney Parks)|Tomorrowland]] where [[Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin]] is currently located) until its contracting route network forced Disney to switch to Delta shortly before Eastern's 1989 bankruptcy filing.

The famous "Wings of Man" campaign in the late 1960s was created by advertising agency [[Young & Rubicam]], and restored Eastern's tarnished image until the late 1970s, when former [[astronaut]] [[Frank Borman]] became president and it was replaced by a new campaign, "We Have To Earn Our Wings Every Day". The new campaign, which featured Borman as a spokesperson, was used until the mid-to-late 1980s.