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TODAY IN THE SKY
Mike Pence

Mike Pence's campaign plane? An Eastern Air Lines Boeing 737

Ben Mutzabaugh
USA TODAY
The Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 being used by the Trump-Pence campaign is seen in Cleveland  on July 22, 2016, in this footage captured by USA TODAY NETWORK affiliate WKYC TV of Cleveland.

There’s a retro look to the aircraft flying Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence.

Aviation enthusiasts may recognize the Eastern Air Lines paint scheme on the Boeing 737-700 picked to shuttle Pence, Donald Trump's running mate, between campaign stops.

The aircraft first arrived to the campaign on Friday, with the news apparently first reported by a conservative site called The Conservative Treehouse.

Eastern Air Lines, of course, was one of the USA's biggest and most-identifiable airline brands before falling on hard times and abruptly shutting down in 1991.

So, why the Eastern logo for Pence’s plane?

That’s because the old Eastern name and logo has been resurrected by a new Miami-based start-up carrier. The “new" Eastern made its first revenue flight in 2015 on a charter from Miami to Havana, Cuba.

Eastern spokesman Nicholas Loudon confirmed to Today in the Sky it is an Eastern 737 that's flying the Republican candidate for vice president. The aircraft is configured in an all-business class layout that can seat 62 passengers.

As for the current incarnation of Eastern, the company has said it intends to eventually launch regularly scheduled flights from U.S. airports. For now, however, the  airline is focused on operating charter services to Cuba and destinations in the Caribbean region.

Already this year, Eastern chartered another of its Boeing 737s to Bernie Sanders during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Coincidentally, this isn’t the first time that the campaign plane of a Republican vice presidential has made news in the airline industry.

In 2008, a JetBlue Embraer E190 that had flown then-VP candidate Sarah Palin set a long-distance record as the plane was returned to go back into regular service. After dropping Palin off in Alaska, the jet flew nonstop from Anchorage to Buffalo on its way to JetBlue’s home base at New York JFK.

ARCHIVESJetBlue sets world record with McCain-Palin campaign plane (November 2008)

ARCHIVESPalin campaign plane returned to JetBlue (November 2008)

In a message to employees on the company's intranet at the time, JetBlue said “aircraft 239, the McCain-Palin charter jet, set a new record by jetting from Anchorage, to Buffalo nonstop. At 2,694 nautical miles, this was the longest E190 flight ever operated by any airline on the planet!"

The jet made stops in 29 states while flying for McCain-Palin, according to information provided by the carrier.

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