“If he would have patterned Tramp airlines after Southwest instead of gold plating stuff and leather seats he might have made a go of it.”
Too much competition, combined with the Gulf War fuel spike, and the collapse in traffic that followed.
The Eastern Shuttle and The USAir Shuttle were competing head-to-head, along with the PanAm Shuttle (Which became the Delta Shuttle).
New York Air (later merged with Continental) was running hourly service from LGA and EWR, along with Kiwi Airlines from EWR. Several other airlines were also in the BOS-NYC-DCA market as well, but not with that scale of service at that time, such as TWA/TransStates.
Trump’s Upscale move was widely praised at the time, as THE way to differentiate the brand.
But the bottom line is folks do not care about upscale for domestic flights. The southwest cattle car method is what it takes. What airline that decades ago tried ‘no smoking’ flights? Big bust, only before it’s time. Face it, trunp screwed the pooch on his airline with the exception of the bird he has now, what a georgous airplane. Wonder what his cost per mile is?
I may sound like a SW airline fan and i am of the original style. The very first stock i bought was 2 grand worth in 1974 and sold it in 1990. The new SW has grown to fat, just like the other airlines.