Braniff International Airways

Also known as Braniff

Cause of death

Killed by cost

It expanded aggressively into deregulated routes and ran out of cash before the routes matured.

Braniff was the most stylish airline America ever had: Alexander Girard designed the identity, Emilio Pucci designed the uniforms, and Alexander Calder painted an entire aircraft. When deregulation arrived in 1978 it seized dozens of new routes almost overnight, which required aircraft and cash it did not have. It grounded its fleet in May 1982, the first major US carrier to fail after deregulation.