Eastern Airlines Placed Under Increased Scrutiny by Military

The Air Force has placed Eastern Airlines under increased scrutiny after considering, but then rejecting, a suspension of the carrier’s right to fly military passengers.

The Military Airlift Command said Eastern became the object of a “commercial carrier survey” in March, and Air Force inspectors “reported performance deficiencies which, if not corrected, could affect the safety of the half-million DOD (Department of Defense) personnel who annually fly on Eastern aircraft.”

Eastern, which handled roughly $87 million worth of military travel business in fiscal 1987, was notified April 11 of the survey findings and told that suspension proceedings were being started.

Eastern officials then met with the Air Force on April 25, however, and convinced the service that they were addressing the problems, Lt. Col. Nick Lacey, chief of the Air Carrier Survey Office, said Friday.

“They went out of their way to address these as serious concerns,” Lacey told a reporter. The Air Force ended up extending Eastern’s right to carry military passengers but also decided to continue in-flight survey observations, he said.