Eastern Airlines Boeing 757-200

Additional Information:

The Boeing 757 is a narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7 was a twinjet successor to the 727 trijet received the first order for the aircraft in August of 1978. The prototype completed its maiden flight on February 19, 1982, and it was FAA certified on December 21, 1982. After 1,050 had been built for 54 customers, production ended in October of 2004.

The 757 was intended to be more capable and more efficient than the 727 and the focus on fuel efficiency reflected the airline industry’s concerns over operating costs. The twin-engine configuration was chosen for greater fuel efficiency versus three- and four-engine designs. Launch customers Eastern Air Lines and British Airways selected the RB211-535C turbofan built by Rolls-Royce, which marked the first time that a Boeing airliner was launched with engines produced outside the U.S.

The prototype 757 rolled out of the Renton factory on January 13, 1982 equipped with RB211-535C engines and completed its maiden flight one week ahead of schedule on February 19, 1982. Subsequently, the 757 embarked on a seven-day weekly flight test schedule and by the end of the test the aircraft had received 136 orders from seven carriers.

Eastern Airlines was a major United States legacy air carrier that existed from 1926 through 1991 and was based in Miami, Florida. The carrier had a massive route structure throughout the eastern U.S. as well as into Central and South America. Eastern began service to Albuquerque on November 1, 1979 and was the second major carrier to come to the city after the airline deregulation act was passed one year earlier. Initially two daily flights to their main hub in Atlanta were operated, one nonstop and the other with a stop at Dallas/Fort Worth, using Boeing 727’s. Eastern Air Lines placed the initial 757-200 variant in commercial service on January 1, 1983. Eastern struggled financially through the latter half of the 1980’s and all service from Albuquerque ended on August 31, 1988. Eastern, once the second busiest airline in the world, shut down in 1991.

The Boeing 757 N501EA received its FAA high altitude airport certification at Albuquerque’s mile high airport wearing the Eastern Airlines livery on May 7, 1982. In early 1983 Eastern began operating the Boeing 757 aircraft system wide and on March 3, 1983 the Albuquerque Sunport was served with the 757 however that service lasted only a few months. A photo of the Eastern 757 at the Sunport is below.

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