The 1980s famous budget airline, which was flying from New York to London for just $149 one way, is back in business.
People Express, stylized as PEOPLExpress, known as one of the world’s first budget carriers in the world relaunched this week and began selling tickets for the first time in more than two decades for flights in markets that the major carriers have abandoned.
The US-based airline first launched in 1981 and was the first in the world to charge fees for checking in bags, as well as offering meal-free flights and putting snacks and drinks on sale. It didn't help that the airline didn't have a computerised reservation system, but rather allowed passengers to pre-book via phone and then pay cash for their tickets on the plane, as if it were a bus. Overbooking rates, unsurprisingly, approached 200 per cent. In 1987, crushed by debt and hubris, People Express was merged into Continental, never to be heard from again.
Now the airline is back, promising a return to 'the joy of flying' with similarly at bargaining prices.
The first flights, costing from $76 (£45) will take off on June 30, travelling to New York's Newark Airport as well as Boston and Pittsburgh, before expanding into Florida and New Orleans.
But there is no talk of discount transatlantic flights this time around.
Source: Dailymail, The Washington Post
