This week marks 44 years since the popular Braniff International Airways suddenly shut down without warning.
AUSTIN, Texas — Parked next to each other with nowhere to go, a colorful assortment of jetliners were scattered around the boarding gates outside a DFW Airport terminal.
It was May 1982, and Braniff International Airways, at one time one of the most successful carriers in the business, went out of business virtually overnight.
Braniff was based in Dallas-Fort Worth, with destinations that included regular flights in and out of Austin’s Mueller Airport.
Without warning, it all ended at midnight on May 12, 1982, when Braniff ceased operations, leaving passengers stranded and tickets worthless.
The airline began in 1928 with three round-trip flights daily between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. There were only four employees, including pilot Tom Braniff.
In the late 1970s, Braniff was bold, with flashy jets painted in bright colors, unusual flight attendant attire and a brand that felt more like a fashion statement than a transportation company.
But the landscape shifted. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 unleashed fierce competition. Suddenly, airlines were free to slash prices, flood markets and fight for survival. Fuel prices climbed and interest rates soared. Expansion had left Braniff heavily leveraged.
Without warning workers or passengers, the high-flying days of Braniff ended abruptly. The final flight from Austin to Dallas-Fort Worth departed later than scheduled the night Braniff shutdown, with about 40 passengers on board the Boeing 727 jetliner, according to KVUE reporter Margie Reedy who broadcast from the final flight.
In the end, the story of Braniff International Airways is one of daring vision and sudden silence. It was a company that spent decades carving out a bold identity in the skies, only to vanish on a spring night in 1982.