Edward Raymond Beauvais (November 13, 1936 – September 28, 2021) was a business executive known for his contributions to the US airline industry. In a career spanning over 40 years, he founded three airlines including

America West Airlines America West Airlines was an airline in the United States that operated from 1981 until it merged with US Airways in 2007. It was headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Its main hub was at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with secondary hubs ...

, which later merged with

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

Early life

Beauvais was born Edward Raymond Beauvais on November 13, 1936, in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. His family had French-Canadian heritage and had moved to the Colorado city, where his grandfather and father both had worked at the

Colorado Fuel and Iron The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892.Scamehorn, Chapter 1, "The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1892-1903" page 10 By 1903 it was mainly owned and ...

steel mill. He went to

Saint Joseph's College, Indiana Saint Joseph's College (SJC; colloquially, Saint Joe) is an unaccredited private Catholic college in Collegeville, Indiana, with a Rensselaer postal address. It was founded in 1889 and suspended academic operations in 2017 with approximately ...

, on a sports scholarship and later moved over to

Regis University Regis University ( ) is a Private university, private List of Jesuit educational institutions, Jesuit university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1877 by the Jesuits, Society of Jesus, the university offers more than 120 degrees th ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. He was a talented athlete who started out playing baseball as a left-handed pitcher and a right-handed batter and was even drafted by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

as he came out of high school. However, he went on to pick up

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and became an

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

Career

In a career spanning over 40 years, Beauvais founded three airline carriers, including the Phoenix-based

, which eventually went on to acquire

. Some of his pioneering features have now become mainstay features in modern-day

low-cost carriers A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper far ...

. Beauvais started his career working in the accounts department at

before joining

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines, Inc. is a major American ultra low-cost airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America, and employs more than 5,000 staff. ...

working in their finance department. He later moved on to

Bonanza Air Lines Bonanza Air Lines was a local service carrier, a US scheduled airline focused on smaller routes in the Western United States (and eventually Mexico) from 1949 until it merged with two other local service airlines to form Air West in 1968. Its he ...

and moved to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, in 1966. He later changed careers to become a consultant in 1970, where he served clients including

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

and the

City of Phoenix Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. This was the time when the airline industry was seeing its

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in 1978. In 1981, he co-founded

with his son Mark Beauvais, Don Neilson, and Michael Roach. Deregulation of the industry had spawned other airline startups, including

New York Air New York Air was a low-cost airline in the United States owned by Texas Air Corporation and based at Hangar 5 at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, Queens, New York. It ceased operations on February 1, 1987, in a merger with Continental Airlines. ...

and People Express Airlines, and had launched intense price competition with the incumbents. In this environment, he started the company with $2 million in seed money and three

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

jets which he had rented. The company was often referred to as the "pearl of deregulation" and "darling of deregulation". America West Airlines pioneered many low-cost features, including focusing on reducing costs by having flight attendants double up as customer service representatives. The company also brought in the first of the industry's

yield management Yield management (YM) is a variable pricing strategy, based on understanding, anticipating and influencing consumer behavior in order to maximize revenue or profits from a fixed, time-limited resource (such as airline seats, hotel room reservat ...

systems that aimed to maximize revenues by creating fare segments. During this time, the company had the lowest cost-per-seat-mile in the industry and had one of the best on-time records. The company also enjoyed healthy relations with its employees and had become the largest carrier in Phoenix, surpassing

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., or simply Southwest, is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States that formerly operated on a low-cost carrier model. It is headquartered in the Love Field, Dallas, Love Field neighborhood ...

in its very first year. It grew its fleet to include jets flying outside of the American mainland to Hawaii and Japan. However, mounting costs and increasing fuel prices, including those stemming from the

First Gulf War The Gulf War (1990–1991) was an armed conflict between Iraq and a multinational military coalition led by the United States, triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Persian Gulf War may also refer to: * Shatt al-Arab conflict ...

resulted in the company heading to bankruptcy court in 1992. It was at this time that Beauvais stepped down from the company along with his son. The company, however, went on to shape the airline industry consolidation in the US. It first merged with

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

taking the US Airways brand name, and then merged with

to become what is, as of 2021, the world's largest carrier. Stepping down from America West in 1992, Beauvais started

Western Pacific Airlines Western Pacific Airlines, or WestPac, was an airline which operated in the United States from 1995 to 1998. A low-cost carrier, it was formed in 1994 under the name Commercial Air, later changed to Western Pacific, and began operating scheduled ...

, based in Colorado, with his son Mark, and also started

Mountain Air Express Mountain Air Express (MAX) was a short-lived commuter airline in the United States founded in 1996. The air carrier was established by Western Pacific Airlines in order to provide passenger feed. History It flew Dornier 328 turboprops and oper ...

to serve the state's ski-tourism industry. Beauvais was named '' Inc.'' magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year in 1989 and was inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame in 2014.

Personal life

Beauvais married Mary Ellen (née Talbow) in 1957. The couple had met each other in high school where he was a baseball pitcher. The couple went on to have five children. He also had an elder fraternal twin. He continued to remain connected with athletics coaching his sons' little league teams. Beauvais died from a heart attack while at home on September 28, 2021. He was 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauvais, Ed 1936 births 2021 deaths American business executives Airline founders Business executives People from Pueblo, Colorado American people of French-Canadian descent American twins Regis University alumni Saint Joseph's College (Indiana) alumni