The original Braniff with its expansive international route network, and large Miami operation had gone out of business in 1982. By late 1983, the Prizker family had bought the Braniff name and some planes from the bankruptcy court and began a low fare airline with the same name as the defunct full service carrier.
In late 1987, Braniff's small domestic successor airline decided to buy Florida Express, which had been a low fare carrier that flew from Orlando to second tier Midwestern and Southern cities like Knoxville, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, etc. Florida Express fed it's Orlando operation with flights from other Florida cities.
Braniff made the mistake of shifting much of the Orlando service to bigger cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington where they competed directly with Delta or Eastern. Florida Express had avoided large markets and basically avoided competition with the two airlines that traditionally dominated Orlando. (Eastern was by this point quickly slipping from the nation's largest airline in 1986 to its seventh largest in 1988, but still was strong in Orlando)
By September 1989, Braniff was gone. The airline had grown too quickly not only in Orlando, but also in Kansas City and unwisely took on an order for 50 Airbus A-320 aircraft originally slated for Pan Am. Braniff II, as it is now referred as, to distinguish it from its illustrious predecessor had a short run in Orlando, but an impressive operation.
Here was Braniff's Orlando Hub from the March 1988 timetable.
(All flights daily)
Akron/Canton 2x
Atlanta 3x
Birmingham 2x
Chicago-O'Hare 3x
Cincinnati 3x
Cleveland 3x
Columbus 4x
Dallas/Ft Worth 1x
Detroit 3x
Fort Lauderdale 4x
Ft Myers 3x
Indianapolis 4x
Louisville 1x
Miami 4x
Nashville 2x
Nassau 1x
New York-JFK 2x
Sarasota/Bradenton 3x
Tampa/St Pete- St Petersburg/Clearwater 2x
Tampa/St Pete- Tampa Int'l 3x
Washington-Dulles 2x
West Palm Beach 3x
58 daily departures
