Eastern’s Florida: April 26 1970

Eastern Airlines was from the 1920’s until the 1980’s the primary airline transporting people to/from Florida In the days of airline regulation, Eastern was awarded the bulk of lucrative north/south routes from Florida.

Eastern served 15 Florida destinations in 1970. Below is a list of where Eastern flew from Florida, in a timetable dated 50 years ago today – April 26, 1970.

Keep in mind this is BEFORE the hub & spoke concept had begun and during the era of airline regulation so while Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami and New York effectively served as Eastern hubs, a lot of unique point-to-point flights were flown and some obvious routes from so-called hubs (Like Miami to Los Angeles which Eastern spent the whole decade trying to get authority to fly) were not because they were property of other airlines during the highly-regulated 1970’s in US aviation.

Eastern had an extensive South Florida-Bahamas route network in 1970, though West Palm Beach-West End and Nassau were no longer flow at this point and Freeport had replaced it as a nonstop destination. All three Bahamian destinations were served nonstop from both Miami and Fort Lauderdale at the time.

Daytona Beach

Atlanta, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando

Fort Lauderdale

Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago-O’Hare, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Freeport, Hartford/Springfield, Nassau, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Tampa, West End, West Palm Beach

Gainesville

Jacksonville, Ocala

Jacksonville

Atlanta, Augusta, Chicago-O’Hare, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, New York-LaGuardia, Orlando, Titusville/Cocoa, Washington-National

Melbourne

Atlanta, Miami, Orlando

Miami

Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago-O’Hare, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth, Daytona Beach, Detroit, Freeport, Greensboro, Hartford/Springfield, Indianapolis, Melbourne, Nassau, New Orleans, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, Raleigh/Durham, St Louis, St Thomas, San Juan, Tampa, Titusville/Cocoa, Toronto, Vero Beach, Washington-Dulles, Washington-National, West End, West Palm Beach

Ocala

Gainesville, Vero Beach

Orlando

Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare, Daytona Beach, Huntsville, Jacksonville, Melbourne, Miami, New Orleans, New York-JFK, Philadelphia, Tallahassee, Titusville/Cocoa, Washington-National

NOTE: When Walt Disney World opened the next year and Eastern was named “Official Airline of Walt Disney World,” Orlando service increased dramatically.

Pensacola

Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery

Sarasota/Bradenton

Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare, Syracuse, Tampa

Tallahassee

Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach

Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater (Tampa Int’l)

Atlanta, Boston, Chicago-O’Hare, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Louisville, Miami, New York-JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Washington-National, West Palm Beach

Titusville/Cocoa

Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando

Vero Beach

Miami, Ocala

West Palm Beach

Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare, Fort Lauderdale, Freeport, Miami, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, Tallahassee, Tampa, Washington-National