Editing Trump Shuttle (section)

=== Formation ===
In the late 1980s, both [[Eastern Air Lines]] and [[Pan American World Airways]] operated [[air shuttle]] services in the [[Northeastern United States]], which were highly profitable even though the two airlines, as a whole, were not.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/25/business/selling-the-trump-shuttle.html|title=Selling the Trump Shuttle|last=Landler|first=Mark|date=1989-06-25|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2017-08-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As the financial outlook for Eastern became more pessimistic in the late 1980s, the carrier began to sell its routes and aircraft. It organized its profitable shuttle operation into a separate company, headed by Bruce Nobles, with the intent of selling it to raise cash.

Eastern chairman [[Frank Lorenzo]] met [[Donald Trump]] at a party, and subsequently negotiated the sale of the shuttle to Trump for $365 million, more than the projected cost to start up a similar airline, but justifiable if the airline achieved a high market share.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/05/27/donald-trump-airline-went-from-opulence-air-crash-landing/zEf1Er2Hok2dPTVVmZT6NP/story.html|title=Donald Trump's airline went from opulence in the air to crash landing|last=Viser|first=Matt|date=2016-05-27|work=[[The Boston Globe]] |access-date=2017-08-21}}</ref> For that price, Trump got a fleet of 17 [[Boeing 727]]s, landing facilities in each of the three cities that the shuttle flew to, and the right to put his name on the company and its airplanes.<ref name=":4">{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4343030/donald-trump-failures/|title=10 Donald Trump Business Failures|date=April 29, 2011|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|language=en|access-date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> The shuttle had previously been a "[[No frills|no-frills]]" operation for business travelers, but Trump announced that he would convert it to a luxury airline.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://airwaysmag.com/airchive/donald-ran-shuttle/|title=Special Friday Flashback: When Trump Ran 'The Shuttle'|date=2017-01-20|work=Airways Magazine|access-date=2017-08-21|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821213236/https://airwaysmag.com/airchive/donald-ran-shuttle/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After reaching an agreement with Trump in October 1988, Eastern filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many passengers switched to the competing [[Delta Shuttle|Pan Am Shuttle]], and the previously profitable Eastern Shuttle began losing money. Trump attempted to use the situation to negotiate a lower price and to acquire additional aircraft from Eastern. [[America West Airlines]] submitted a more attractive competing offer on May 10, but failed as its financing was not in place. Trump's offer was approved by the bankruptcy court in May 1989.<ref name=":2" /> In June 1989 the deal was completed, financed through a loan from a syndicate of banks led by [[Citibank]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/16/business/nwa-trump-shuttle-deal-seen-as-near.html|title=NWA-Trump Shuttle Deal Seen as Near|last=Hylton|first=Richard D.|date=1991-04-16|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2017-08-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The new Trump Shuttle operation launched on June 8, 1989, and by the end of August had returned to a strong market share of 40–50%. Trump pushed to make the new shuttle a luxury service and a marketing vehicle for the Trump name. Its aircraft were newly painted in white livery and the interiors redecorated with such features as maple wood veneer, chrome seat belt latches, and gold colored lavatory fixtures. The airline also was a leader in the adoption of advanced technologies: It introduced some of the first passenger self-service check-in kiosks, in coordination with [[Kinetics (company)|Kinetics]], at its LaGuardia base; and partnered with LapStop, a startup firm that rented laptop computers to passengers. The airline was also an early adopter of the [[GTE]] [[Airfone]] in-flight telephone system.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Flights offered free meals, including chicken and steak on some flights, as well as complimentary champagne, beer and wine.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Thys|first=Fred|date=2016-04-04|url=http://www.wbur.org/politicker/2016/04/04/trump-shuttle-boston|title=Trump Shuttle's Boston Workers Recall Lavish Start Before 'Things Started to Go Down'|publisher=[[WBUR]] |language=en|access-date=2017-08-21}}</ref> Both Trump and Pan Am spent millions on advertising campaigns around this time in an attempt to maintain strong competitive positions.<ref name=":0" />