SPAR 2010
A Feel Good Story
By 1980, when Seaboard was absorbed into the Flying Tiger Line, we had grown to 5 747's and 13 DC-8's. We added 300 crewmembers and 1200 ground staff to the Tigers. All of this cost the Tigers $80 million.
In 1989, when Fedex purchased Flying Tigers, we were operating 21 747's, 19 727's and 6 DC-8's. A total of 46 aircraft. We employed 1000 pilots and 5000 ground staff. All this cost Fedex $880 million.
Today your "one DC-4 airline" has grown to 360 aircraft, 4700 pilots and 252,000 employees worldwide. We operate to 375 destinations in 28 countries and have the largest fleet of Wide Body A/C in the world. Fedex revenue last year was $39 Billion!
The people in this room started what is today the largest Air Freight Carrier in the world. I think we can all be proud of our contribution to Aviation.
So, you may ask, where do we go from here? Well, our Legacy is intact. There is a more complete history of Seaboard in the Smithsonian than even Eastern Airlines!
All this thanks to Capt's David Hill and Ken Kahn. They are working on a plan to have our remaining archives placed with an institution that will perpetuate them for future generations. This should all be completed within the next few years.
I would now like to introduce Capt Ken Kahn who will speak about the future of the SPAR website.
Lou
www.tailwheelpilot.com
(Use this address to reply to Lou)
