Flying for Peanuts

Lessons in business and life from the executive who helped shape the modern airline industry

Frank Lorenzo is the epitome of the American dream. A first-generation American and entrepreneur, Lorenzo started an airline advisory business in his mid-twenties based on little more than bravado and ultimately rose to control the largest fleet of airplanes in the free world. Flying for Peanuts recounts how Lorenzo grew his empire from nothing and helped shape the airline industry as we know it.

Flying for Peanuts explains how the son of Spanish immigrants put himself through Columbia College by driving a Coca-Cola truck and then grew the fledgling advisory into ownership of Texas International Airlines. At TIA, he fought through the industry's transformation, in part by introducing the new, low-cost model for fares that are a major part of the industry today. From there, through a series of shrewd moves and a hostile takeover, Lorenzo became CEO of Continental Airlines, a large loss-making west coast airline at the time.

This airline business memoir gives a play-by-play of the high-stakes negotiations that got Lorenzo there, including faceoffs with Carl Icahn and a chapter devoted to selling the Eastern Airlines Shuttle to Donald Trump, soon to become the doomed Trump Shuttle. It details Lorenzo's competition with upstarts like Southwest Airlines and the clashes with unions that led Fortune's to name him one of "America's toughest bosses," along with accolades from his employees. Along the way, Lorenzo highlights the strategies and tactics that propelled his growth.

Flying for Peanuts is a compelling read for anyone interested in the American airline industry and anyone wanting to apply a trailblazing executive's lessons for their own career success.