With the VEP in hand, Borman was able to refinance the debt on the company's 254 aircraft. Profits jumped to a record $67.3 million in 1978. During this time, the employees received double their VER payments. Borman ordered $1.4 billion worth of new, more fuel-efficient aircraft, and the company's debt ballooned to $2.3 billion. But 1979 was the last profitable year until 1985. In the intervening five years, Eastern ran at a loss, accumulating $380 million in losses. The company's debt-to-equity ratio stood at 8:1, and servicing the debt required $235 million annually in interest payments, representing about cents in every dollar earned.