Gitner had decided that the job at Pan Am was even more challenging than the presidency of People Express. In a prepared statement, he described his reasons for leaving People Express as follows: "The opportunity was presented to me to participate in a major fashion in the attempted turnaround of a world-class company. The ability to confront new and exciting challenges in this kind of situation was too tempting to resist. I felt that the goal-setting and business plans that I had developed at People Express were on sufficiently firm ground that I could begin my work at Pan Am."
But not even the departure of its president could slow the company's momentum. The fledgling airline was rapidly becoming an institution, so much so that the distinguished investment banking firm of Morgan Stanley & Co. joined Hambrecht & Quist in a second public offering of People Express stock in August 1982. It looked as though the days of corporate derring-do were gone for good. Then Hap Pareti went to London.
The London connection had long been regarded as the jewel of international routes. Although that city was a popular destination in its own right, it also served as a major departure point for more extensive European tours. The load factors on existing flights were already attractive, but People Express thought it might sweeten the pot a little more by offering a one-way ticket priced at $149, well below prevailing prices.
On April 6, 1983, shortly after the CAB approved the company's application, Pareti arrived in London to petition the British Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Trade. He spent the next two days giving presentations. By the middle of May, Pareti still hadn't gotten any indication of British intent. He was concerned that his application had somehow become entangled in the arguments between the United States and Great Britain over the resolution of the recent Laker Airways bankruptcy. Pareti returned to London to dynamite the log jam.
On May 20, Pareti called a press conference at The American Club in London to announce that even though People Express had not yet received official approval, on May 23 it would begin taking reservations for the first scheduled departures from Newark on May 26. "When I walked into that room," Pareti says, "there must have been 100 people from the press there and 15 microphones sticking out from the speaker's platform and I was thinking to myself, Oh God, Hap, what have you done now?" The next day, the London papers announced the story on their front pages, with The Times proclaiming, "Flying Start for People Express." The news was released simultaneously in the United States, and within 24 hours every flight in both directions was booked solid for the next two months.
The first flight was scheduled to take off from Newarkat 7:15 p.m. on May 26. At 6 o'clock that morning, Pareti, who had been up most of the night with his infant son, Jonathan, finally got the call from the British authorities giving him the approval he needed.
Waiting for the London flight has since become a spectacle in its own right, a rite of passage, a mark of the veteran traveler. The daily drama enacted before the checkin counters on the main concourse of the North Terminal is perhaps the single most convincing demonstration of the magic of People Express's strategy. A thick crowd of well over 200 people churns around in a sea of knapsacks and baggage. Some sleep on bedrolls in the middle of the aisles. A family with three young children is playing cards on a blanket. Another group is sitting cross-legged on the floor eating pizza. When the 6:30 p.m. standby call is announced, all the standbys rise as one and turn reverentially toward the check-in counters as if the Second Coming has just been revealed. The looks of anguished expectancy, the whoops of joy, and the expletives of bad luck alone are worth a trip to Newark.
Some industry analysts worry that People Express may lose control of its growth. That the insatiable need for large numbers of qualified employees and an increasingly complex operation will eventually cause People Express to spring a leak somewhere. But Don Burr isn't worried. A similar concern was recently expressed by 1 of some 35 newly hired flight managers attending an indoctrination meeting, and Burr said, "Look at IBM, they've got 370,000 people. They're very successful, aren't they? Beautifully managed, aren't they? Still an incredible entity, right? I don't see any natural boundaries to our growth." Nor is Bob McAdoo concerned. "It's going to continue to be tough," he says, "but the toughest part is behind us." McAdoo says the company is planning on a long-term growth rate that averages out to adding one and a half to two planes per month and predicts that revenues will "hit a billion dollars in a couple years."
Candee Brock won't be surprised After all, she has always known that she was part of a "very successful airline." But today, sitting here in accounting, she still marvels at the wonder of it all. "It was strange," she says "I wasn't really looking for a job? I was going to college. But there was something about that ad that seemed to say, 'Candee, this might be for you."
