The episode title, "The Friendly Skies", is derived from the phrase "Fly the friendly skies.", coined by United Airlines in 1965.
Between the 1960s- 1980s, there were two major American flag carriers, TWA (Trans World Airlines) and Pan-Am (Pan-American). Before deregulation in the 1980s, about the only way airlines could differentiate themselves from each other was by their service, gourmet meals, plush interiors, in-flight entertainment, and designer uniforms for their invariably young and pretty female cabin staff. Pan-Am had this aura of unofficial "chosen instrument" of the US government overseas, a distinction of being one of the most recognizable symbols of America's aviation, giving it a slight advantage over TWA. TWA was more of a "Tiffany" or luxury airline, with a reputation for first-class service and had some Hollywood affiliations thanks to Howard Hughes' involvement in the airline's early days. They both flew clean and comfortable Boeing 707s across the Atlantic, had excellent in-flight service, and convenient schedules. When the deregulation wave hit the airlines, there was a race to the bottom, where costs where slashed across the board, which led to poor customer service, sub-par meals, bare-bones maintenance, and inoperable in-flight entertainment. Americans wanted cheaper fares. Neither Pan Am nor TWA was structured in a way that allowed them to compete effectively in the post-deregulation era. They were dinosaurs, doomed to extinction.
Trans Global Airlines seems to modeled on the former Trans World Airlines (TWA), right down to red uniforms worn by the flight attendants.
A flight engineer is a member of a flight crew responsible for the aircraft's engines and other systems during flight.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British rule.