Modern Travel | The Age of the Skies | 4

Modern Travel | The Age of the Skies | 4

From Legacy by Original Legacy Productions

August 17, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 169

About this episode

The episode discusses the transformation of the airline industry and the impact of Sir Freddie Laker's innovations on budget travel.

When did flying stop being the most glamorous thing a person could possibly do? What kind of industry fixes its own prices by law, and then competes on how much champagne it can pour? And what happened to the man who broke it? Sir Freddie Laker swept floors at an aircraft factory, worked out that the entire airline business was upside down, and got taken apart for it — Peter Frankopan and Afua Hirsch on the man whose bankruptcy made your budget flight possible. For most of the twentieth century the airlines ran a legal cartel. IATA fixed the fares, so a London to New York ticket cost the same on Pan Am, TWA or BA, and the only thing left to compete on was luxury: forty inches of legroom, professional chefs, sterling silver, a side of beef carved in the aisle. It was magnificent, and roughly eighty-five per cent of people never got on a plane. Then Laker put a transatlantic seat on sale for fifty-nine pounds and let people queue on the pavement outside Victoria for it. The industry drove him under inside five years, then adopted everything he had done. What is left is a world where five billion people fly each year, three per cent of them internationally, and the seat in front of…

People in this episode

Guests: Peter Frankopan, Afua Hirsch

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: IATA

Places: London, New York, Victoria

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