Two years after founding another airline, Paul and Tom Braniff established Braniff Airways, Inc., which originally flew passengers between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls, Texas. By its 20th anniversary in 1950, the airline had moved its headquarters to Dallas, Texas, and had launched international flights to Canada, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In 1964, Troy Post of the Greatamerica Corporation purchased Braniff Airways, which was re-incorporated in 1973 as the Braniff International Corporation to include Braniff Airways, Braniff Hotels, Braniff Realty, and Braniff Education Systems. Following the U. S. Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the airline expanded its number of airplanes and destinations, including the first Concorde service in the United States. This increased the company’s debt, which eventually led to Braniff’s closure in May 1982. The next year, Jay Pritzker of Hyatt Hotels reorganized the airline as the Dalfort Corporation, which operated Braniff, Inc., until it too filed for bankruptcy in 1990. Jeffery Chodorow and Scot Spencer then bought the airlines and subsequently stole $14 million from the company, resulting in its end in 1992 and jail terms for the two men.
Sources:
Braniff Collection, History of Aviation Collection in Special Collections, Eugene McDermott Library, The University of Texas at Dallas. Accessed May 4, 2011. http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/speccoll/hacpdf/Braniff.pdf .
Watts, B. Braniff International Airways, History. The Braniff Pages. Accessed May 4, 2011. http://www.braniffpages.com/ .
From the guide to the Braniff Airlines bankruptcy case files 85-227., 1980-1983, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
