People Express

People Express has a history that dates back to 1980, when former president, Donald Burr and several previous key executives of Texas International Airlines in a joint venture formed People Express. The carrier based out of Newark, New Jersey would provide service between New Jersey and New York and several northeast states. The concept of this air carrier was to provide air passenger service at the cheapest airfare possible. To accomplish the feat, the carrier provide no frills and its labour force was a non-union workers.

With airline deregulation in 1978, over 170 new air carriers had entered into the airline market, as did People Express. With the intense competition from larger airlines, it become difficult for new carriers to keep their doors open. During this period of time, analysts were predicting at least a third of the new air carriers would be able to stay aloft. However, that did not turn out to be the case, as over 90 percent of these new air carriers were unsuccessful and force to shut down. This would include People Express.

With the introduction of People Express to the airline market, it further eroded the industry. With its slashed air fares which created airfare wars throughout the industry and, many air carriers attempted to go non-union in an effort to maintain their market share. As a result airfare profits were down and it had cost the industry over 70 million dollars in the first nine months of the year. Frank Lorenzo, owner of Texas Air was a pioneer of such business tactics; slashing airfares and union busting. On September 15, 1986, People closed its doors and re-opened as part of Texas Air.