Ed Acker

Charles Edward Acker (born April 7, 1929) is an American businessman who was CEO of Braniff Airways, Air Florida, and Pan American World Airways. He is a principal at Intrepid Equity Group.

Early years

Acker was born in Dallas, Texas, on April 7, 1929 He skipped second and eighth grades and attended North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) during his Freshman year where he played basketball. Acker is 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighs 215 lbs. He transferred to and graduated from Southern Methodist University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Psychology.

After graduation Acker went to work as a management trainee at U.S. Tire and Rubber, Co. where he was employed for two and a half years eventually being elevated to District Sales Manager. Not wanting to be a tire salesman, he then took a position as a broker in Dallas with former SMU classmates who had formed a brokering firm. He was a broker for three years when investment counseling firm Lionel D. Edie, asked Acker to open a Dallas, Texas office. He was with Lionel D. Edie for seven years supervising sales and counseling. He then accepted a position as Chief Financial Officer of the Greatamerica Corporation, who was a Lionel D. Edie client, and led Greatamerica's takeover of Braniff International Airways and National Car Rental in 1964.''

Acker knew little of the airline business not even knowing the basic measurements of airline performance such as RPM or revenue passenger mile. He requested that Braniff send someone over to teach Acker the ins and outs of running an airline as far flung as Braniff. He was tutored by Braniff Vice President Tom Robertson who was shocked to learn that he knew little about the complex airline business. However, he picked up the jargon quickly and graduated from Tom Robertson's quick airline operations course. However, he felt the task of running an airline like Braniff to be daunting. Harding Lawrence had discussed with him at length exactly what Lawrence felt could be done with Braniff.

With this in mind, Acker recommended that Lawrence be selected as Braniff's new president and Acker would be Executive Vice President - Planning and Administration, and be charged with the areas of finance and administration. He would spend 60 percent of his time at Braniff and 40 percent at Greatamerica. This would end in 1967 when LTV Ling Temco Vought bought Greatamerica and Braniff in 1967, when he would spend all of his time at Braniff. In February 1967, he was promoted to Executive Vice President and General Manager in October 1968.

As second-in-command at Braniff, Acker negotiated with Pan Am CEO Juan Trippe to purchase routes to the west coast of South America (PANAGRA), and introduced a hub and spoke routing system in order to feed Braniff's Boeing 747 flight between Dallas and Honolulu.

The Lockerbie Bombing of a Pan American 747-100 occurred in December 1988. Pan American was ultimately found liable for negligent security practices directly contributing to the Lockerbie Bombing. The explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 at Lockerbie in December 1988 is widely regarded as the 'final straw' in the ability of Pan American to remain a going concern. Pan Am was a pioneer of aviation, a premier American brand and was considered the de facto flag carrier of the United States before going out of business on December 4, 1991.

The Acker Group

After retiring from Pan Am, Acker formed The Acker Group which was primarily concerned with providing financial advisory and venture capital services.

Intrepid Equity Group

Acker later advised on the founding of Atlantic Coast Airlines a Delta Connection and United Express carrier. He is Chairman of the Management of Martinaire Partners, LLC, a Dallas, Texas, based scheduled freight feeder airline serving UPS.

Acker has two sons and one daughter and is married to Sandy Acker. His son Mitch is President of Martinaire Partner, LLC, of Dallas, Texas.

In popular culture

Acker was portrayed by Ned Beatty in the 1990 television movie, "The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story."