 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Founded | 1960 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 1981 | ||||||
| Destinations | Regional Florida | ||||||
| Headquarters | Tampa, relocated to Sarasota in August 1974 | ||||||
Florida Airlines was a commuter airline based in Florida that operated from 1960 to 1982. It is said to have had the largest Douglas DC3 fleet in the world in 1976. [1] Airline deregulation eventually resulted in the demise of the airline.[ citation needed ] The company slogan was The Florida Connection.
During the 1960s, Florida Airlines operated a fleet of aircraft described in the below table. [2]
| Aircraft | Total |
|---|---|
| Piper Apache | 3 |
| V-tailed Bonanza | 2 |
| Beechcraft D18 - 55C, 90Z | 3 |
| Piper Aztec -69Y, 60Y, 37Y | 3 |
| Douglas DC-3 - N8701, N6102 | 2 |
| Cessna 402 - 97Q | 1 |
Florida Airlines also operated Martin 4-0-4 propliner aircraft during its existence. [3]
Florida Airlines was incorporated on February 8, 1960, as Florida Air Taxi, Inc. in Tampa, Florida with William Taylor as owner. Taylor had purchased the company in the early 1950s from L. A. Stevens. [4] The name was changed to Florida Airlines, Inc. on October 17, 1969. [4] In 1969, the airline was sold to Lee H. Hill, Sr. and Lee H. Hill, Jr., owners of Hill-Donnelly Publishing company. In late 1973, it was sold by Hills to Arthur C. Allyn. Allyn had previously owned the Chicago White Sox and Executive Airlines. He was also the owner of Sarasota Jungle Gardens and a significant philanthropist in the Sarasota area. In 1975, the airline was purchased by Air South and Shawnee Airlines. [1] The airline filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and suspended services in January 1980. [5] The airline re-commenced operations as Southern International Airlines (SIA), based at Sarasota in early 1980 (operating under the 'Air Florida Commuter' banner). [1] On December 2, 1981, Southern International Airlines (SIA) operations were suspended. [1] The corporation was dissolved on December 14, 1982 [6]
The cities that Florida Airlines served in the 1970s: [7]
In addition, Shawnee Airlines DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft were operated on special commuter connection services from Orlando and Tampa to the former STOLPORT at Walt Disney World until 1982.
Air Florida was an American low-cost carrier that operated from 1971 to 1984. In 1975 it was headquartered in the Dadeland Towers in what is now Kendall, Florida in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Bahamasair Holdings Limited is an airline headquartered in Nassau. It is the national airline of The Bahamas and operates scheduled services to 32 domestic and regional destinations in the Caribbean and the United States from its base at Lynden Pindling International Airport.
Silver Airways LLC. is a United States regional airline with its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. It was founded in 2011 with assets from the former Gulfstream International Airlines, and currently operates scheduled flights from its hubs in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Tampa, Florida; and a smaller base in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It started flying on December 15, 2011.
St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport is a public/military airport in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay Area. It is right on the northeast municipal boundary of Pinellas Park, 9 miles (14 km) north of downtown St. Petersburg, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Clearwater, and 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Tampa.
Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport is located within three jurisdictions: Sarasota County, the city limits of Sarasota, and Manatee County, in the U.S. state of Florida. Owned by the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, it is 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Downtown Sarasota and 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Bradenton.
Carnival Air Lines Incorporated was a charter and scheduled airline division of the Carnival Corporation & plc that started in 1988 after Carnival Cruise Lines purchased Pacific Interstate Airlines. It was headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida.
Brendan Airways, LLC, doing business as USA3000 Airlines, was a U.S. airline headquartered in Newtown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It operated both scheduled and charter service with a fleet of five Airbus A320 aircraft. The airline's last flight departed on January 30, 2012.
Mesa Air Group, Inc. is a Nevada Corporation commercial aviation holding company with headquarters in Suite 700 at 410 North 44th Street in the Camelback East area of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The company operates one regional airline subsidiary: Mesa Airlines which operates as American Eagle and United Express under contractual agreements with American Airlines and United Airlines respectively.
Midway Airlines was a United States airline based in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded on August 6, 1976, by investor Kenneth T. Carlson and joined by Irving T. Tague and William B. Owens on October 13, 1976, filing with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CA) for an airline operating certificate. Although it received its operating certificate from the CAB prior to the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, it is widely recognized as the first post-deregulation start-up. The airline commenced operations on October 31, 1979.
Mackey Airlines, Inc., later known as Mackey International Airlines, was a United States airline that primarily served Florida and The Bahamas. At one point, the airline also operated Douglas DC-8 jetliners in scheduled passenger service between Florida, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
Muse Air was a domestic U.S. airline founded in 1981, headquartered near Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Texas, later moving to William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Southwest Airlines acquired Muse Air in 1985 and later renamed it TranStar Airlines, but it was unprofitable, and was shut down in 1987.
Northeast Airlines was an American airline based in Boston, Massachusetts that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Los Angeles and other cities. It was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in August 1972.
JAGS McCartney International Airport, also known as Grand Turk International Airport, is an airport located 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Cockburn Town on Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is the second largest airport in the Turks & Caicos, after Providenciales International Airport.
Provincetown-Boston Airlines was an airline that operated between 1949 and 1989. The airline operated a route network in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and at one time was the largest commuter airline in the United States before its purchase by People Express Airlines and then eventual consolidation with other commuter airlines into Continental Express, now United Express after the merger of Continental Airlines and United Airlines.
National Airlines was a major United States airline that operated from 1934 to 1980. For most of its existence the company was headquartered at Miami International Airport, Florida. At its height, National Airlines had a network of "Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast" flights, linking Florida and the Gulf Coast such as New Orleans and Houston with cities along the East Coast as far north as Boston as well as with large cities on the West Coast including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. From 1970 to 1978, National, Braniff International Airways, Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines (TWA) were the only U.S. airlines that were permitted to operate scheduled passenger flights to Europe.
Air New Orleans was an airline based in Birmingham, Alabama that was conceived as a commuter air carrier to provide scheduled passenger service to cities throughout the Southeastern United States from Texas to Florida. The airline was founded in 1981 in Panama City, Florida and operated scheduled passenger service between 1981 and 1988.
Altair Airlines was an airline based in Philadelphia. It was in service from 1967 to 1982. According to its June 15, 1982 system timetable, the Altair name was taken from the first magnitude star "Altairius" brightest in the constellation "Aquila" (Eagle) from which the airline's Blue Eagle symbol was derived.
Walt Disney World Airport, also known as Lake Buena Vista Airport and Lake Buena Vista STOLport, is a former small airfield owned by The Walt Disney Company, located within Walt Disney World, just east of the former Walt Disney World Speedway, in Bay Lake in Orange County, Florida, United States. When it was active, it accommodated smaller commuter airliners such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop, which had STOL capabilities and could operate from airfields with short runways. It is no longer registered as an active airport by the FAA, ICAO, and IATA and as of December 2017 serves Walt Disney World as a parking and storage lot.
Intrastate airlines in the U.S. are defined as air carriers operating inside of one individual state and thus not flying across state lines. Larger intrastate airlines in the U.S. that operated mainline turboprop and/or jet aircraft were created as a result of former federal airline regulations, as passenger air carriers that only flew intrastate service were not regulated by the federal government but were instead primarily regulated by the respective state governments in their home states. For example, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and Air California were both regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) prior to the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. Although intrastate airlines in some states used only turboprop aircraft, scheduled passenger service on jet aircraft was operated by intrastate air carriers in California, Florida, Hawaii and Texas.
 | This article relating to a United States airline is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
