Pride Air

When the pilot strike finally ended at Continental, I learned that I, along with 137 other junior pilots, were not protected by the back-to-work agreement. In it, we lost all our years of seniority. In effect, if we returned, unlike more senior pilots, we would return essentially as new-hires, and junior to the strike's replacement pilot scabs.

A few of us did return while I and some others decided to litigate for our old seniority positions. Meanwhile, I became involved in the Continental spin-off, Pride Air.

While quite a number of new-entrant airlines sprung up in the years following airline deregulation, Pride Air was unique among them. When Texas Air and Frank Lorenzo threatened the hostile takeover of Continental, Chief Pilot Paul Eckel organized an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to block Lorenzo with a friendly employee takeover of Continental. When that valiant effort failed, plan B was Pride Air.

Pride Air was unique in that nearly all the capital to launch the airline ($16 million) came from its prospective employees. (Fortunately, as it turned out, I was a very small investor.) Following months of soliciting funds, planning and training, Pride launched with routes from the West Coast to Florida, from its hub in New Orleans. Since I only invested a small amount, I was at the bottom of a long pilot seniority list. However, I accepted a position as Area Sales Manager.

It was an interesting, exciting, and bittersweet experience. It was also a short experience. Within the year, Pride Air ceased to exist. Theoretically, its business plan was sound. However a variety of external factors conspired to ensure the airline's doom.

For most, having experienced the tumultuous hostile takeover, bankruptcy, and strike at Continental, the failure of Pride Air was an incredibly brutal – and profoundly expensive – final blow.