Air shuttle

An air shuttle is a scheduled airline service on short routes with a simplified fare and class structure. No exact definition exists, but frequency is usually hourly or more often and travel time is typically an hour or less. Network airlines may operate shuttle services as one-class or no-frill services, similar to low-cost airlines.

Some shuttles are established by governments, businesses, or organizations which require a high level of service in an otherwise thin corridor. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey operates an air shuttle to ferry FAA employees to and from Reagan National Airport (DCA) near Washington, DC four days a week.

Certain dense markets may support commercial shuttles. The pioneer service was the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo air bridge in Brazil which began 5 July 1959. Other early services include the Eastern Air Shuttle, inaugurated in 1961, which offered no-frills, hourly flights connecting LaGuardia Airport in New York City with Washington National Airport and Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.

Eastern Air

Eastern Air was an airline based in Zambia. It changed its name to Zambia Skyways, but no longer operates.

References

Eastern Air Lines Shuttle

Eastern Air Lines Shuttle (or Eastern Air Shuttle) was the brand name of Eastern's air shuttle. It began operations on April 30, 1961 and was sold in 1989 to Donald Trump, and later became the Trump Shuttle. In April 1992, the shuttle service began as the USAir Shuttle (presently American Airlines Shuttle). The shuttle originally flew between New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Newark. The shuttle's slogan was Imagine life without us

Service

On April 30, 1961 Eastern inaugurated the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle. Initially, Lockheed 1049 Super Constellations left New York-LaGuardia every two hours, from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM, to Washington National and to Boston. The shuttle flights soon became hourly, from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM out of each city.

Reservations were not needed, seat assignments were not given, and initially no check-in was required and no boarding passes were issued. But Eastern guaranteed everyone a seat; if the flight was filled, another aircraft was ready to go. On Sunday after Thanksgiving 1961 the 10 PM flight between La Guardia and Boston carried 623 passengers.