Braniff International Airways
Braniff flew eleven Boeing 747s between 1971 and 1982, from the bright orange N601BN on the Dallas–Honolulu run to a post-deregulation fleet of leased -100s, -200s and three plush 747SPs.
Braniff International is remembered for colour — and its 747s wore the brightest livery in the sky. In 1971 the airline took delivery of N601BN, which had the distinction of being the 100th Boeing 747 built. Painted in a vivid orange scheme, it was nicknamed the “Great Pumpkin”, “Big Orange” and “Fat Albert”, and flew Dallas/Fort Worth to Honolulu for years, often logging more than fifteen hours a day in service.
Deregulation and expansion
After deregulation Braniff tried to grow into a global airline, and the 747 was the tool. It leased two American 747-100s and an ex-Lufthansa -100, then four leased 747-200s from a mix of carriers, opening routes from Boston to Europe and across the Pacific. N601BN itself flew the first Dallas/Fort Worth–London Gatwick service in February 1978.
The plush 747SP
Braniff ordered four 747SPs and took three. They were configured for roughly 192 passengers in a luxury three-class layout — a very different aircraft from the 400-seat density most operators chose, and a bet on high-yield traffic on routes such as Los Angeles–Guam–Hong Kong and onward to South America. A proposed Dallas–Houston–Bahrain “oil run” never happened.
The collapse
The expansion outran the airline’s finances. Braniff filed for bankruptcy on 12 May 1982, and N601BN — the Great Pumpkin — flew the airline’s very last service. The SPs were dispersed to Boeing, Aerolíneas Argentinas and Pan Am. Eleven 747s, no hull losses, none preserved.
Related
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- What happened to Braniff's 747s? — Simple Flying
- Braniff International Airways — Wikipedia
- N603BN 747SP history — Aussie Airliners
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