| |||||||
Founded | September 30, 1946 incorporated in Florida as Mackey Air Transport | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commenced operations | January 2, 1953 | ||||||
Ceased operations | January 8, 1967 | ||||||
Fleet size | See Fleet below | ||||||
Destinations | See Destinations below | ||||||
Headquarters | Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States | ||||||
Founder | Joseph C. Mackey | ||||||
Employees | 230 | ||||||
Notes | |||||||
(1) IATA, ICAO codes were the same until the 1980s |
Mackey Airlines (until 1953 Mackey Air Transport) was a small United States scheduled international airline flying from Florida to the Bahamas certificated in 1952 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transport. The airline was founded by Joseph C. Mackey. Mackey also flew to Cuba prior to the Cuban Revolution. In 1956, Mackey absorbed Midet Aviation, an even smaller CAB-certificated airline also flying between Florida and the Bahamas. Mackey merged into Eastern Air Lines in 1967.
Joseph C. Mackey learned to fly as a teenager in Cleveland, flew liquor across Lake Erie during Prohibition and partnered with Roscoe Turner in air races in the 1930s. In 1940, delivering aircraft to the UK for the Royal Air Force, engine trouble forced his aircraft down in Newfoundland. Mackey, the only survivor, was left with a scarred depression in his forehead. Two others died on impact, a third, Canadian Nobel Prize winner (for co-discovery of insulin) Frederick Banting, died of injuries and exposure later. Mackey flew for the United States Army Air Force Air Transport Command during World War II and emerged a colonel. [2] Mackey died February 1982, age 72, only a few months after his second eponymous carrier, Mackey International, ceased operations. [3]
In 1965, the airline had 230 employees. [4]
Mackey Air Transport was incorporated in Florida 30 September 1946. [5] The airline's first flight was 2 January 1953. [6] In June, the airline changed its name to Mackey Airlines, the CAB reissued the certificate in that name in October. Flights flew primarily out of its Fort Lauderdale base and from West Palm Beach and Miami. On 3 December 1956, Mackey acquired Midet Aviation, another CAB-certificated scheduled airline flying from Florida to Bahamas. [7] The original Mackey Airlines certificate was transferred to Eastern Air Lines on 8 January 1967. [8]
As of November 1966 (same order as the timetable): [9]
In March 1955, Aviation Week said Mackey Air Transport had four Douglas DC-3s. [10]
As of September 1961: [11]
The following types were operated by Mackey Airlines: [12]
Type | Total | Introduced | Retired | Type | Total | Introduced | Retired | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Beechcraft 18 | 1 | 1960 | 1966 | Douglas DC-4 | 3 | 1959 | 1966 | |
Douglas DC-3 | 5 | 1953 | 1964 | Douglas DC-6 | 7 | 1961 | 1967 |
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services and, until the establishment of the National Transportation Safety Board in 1967, conducted air accident investigations. The agency was headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Saturn Airways was a US supplemental air carrier, certificated as such by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US air transport. Saturn operated from 1948 until 1976. Originally a Florida company, Saturn moved to Oakland, California in 1967 where its headquarters were located on the grounds of Oakland International Airport.
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Rich International Airways was primarily a United States charter and cargo airline founded by aviation pioneer Jean Rich, one of the few women in the U.S. to own and operate an airline. The air carrier was based in Miami, Florida. The airline ceased operations in 1996 and filed for bankruptcy in 1997.
Wiggins Airways is a long-lived American aviation company that pursued many lines of business during its existence, including:
Northeast Airlines was an American trunk carrier, a scheduled airline based in Boston, Massachusetts, originally founded as Boston-Maine Airways that chiefly operated in the northeastern United States, and later to Canada, Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda and other cities. It was notably small and unprofitable relative to other trunk carriers, being less than half the size, by revenue, than the next biggest trunk in 1971. Northeast was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in August 1972.
American Flyers Airline Corporation (AFA) was a United States airline that operated from 1949 to 1971, certificated as a supplemental air carrier by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, regulated almost all commercial air transportation in the United States. AFA was owned and operated by aviator Reed Pigman until his death in an AFA accident in 1966. In 1967, ownership passed to a Pennsylvania company, and in 1971, AFA merged into Universal Airlines, another supplemental airline.
Southern Air Transport (SAT), based in Miami, Florida, was, in its final incarnation, a cargo airline. However, it started life as an irregular air carrier, a type of carrier defined and tightly controlled until 1978 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, closely regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. From 1965 onward, such airlines were charter carriers. Up until 1965, they were charter/scheduled hybrids. For much of that time the carrier was owned by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (1960–1973).
Bonanza Air Lines was a local service carrier, a US scheduled airline focused on smaller routes in the Western United States from 1949 until it merged with two other local service airlines to form Air West in 1968. Its headquarters was initially Las Vegas, Nevada, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1966.
Zantop International Airlines, Inc. was a United States charter operator, originally uncertificated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, otherwise tightly regulated almost all US air transport. ZIA escaped CAB regulation by not being a common carrier, but originally worked exclusively for the Big Three automakers, transporting parts. In 1977 it received its certification as a supplemental air carrier from the CAB. ZIA was incorporated in May 1972 as a Michigan corporation, the stock of which was predominantly owned by the Zantop family.
Challenger Airlines was a local service carrier, a United States scheduled airline certificated to fly smaller routes by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct US Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all air transport. Challenger merged with two other local service carriers, Monarch Air Lines and Arizona Airways, in 1950 to form the first Frontier Airlines.
AAXICO Airlines was an airline based in the United States. AAXICO is an acronym for American Air Export and Import Company. Initially founded as a non-scheduled airline or irregular air carrier, AAXICO was awarded certification as a scheduled air cargo airline in 1955 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportion. However, in 1962 AAXICO reverted to a supplemental air carrier. In 1965, it was nominally bought by Saturn Airways, another supplemental airline, but AAXICO was the surviving management and ownership. In its later years, AAXICO was noted for its consistent profitability, financial strength and its near total focus on flying for the military.
Local service carriers, or local service airlines, originally known as feeder carriers or feeder airlines, were a category of US domestic airline created/regulated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct federal agency that tightly regulated the US airline industry 1938–1978. Initially 23 such airlines were certificated from 1943 to 1949 to serve smaller US domestic markets unserved/poorly served by existing domestic carriers, the trunk carriers, which flew the main, or trunk, routes. However, not all of these started operation and some that did later had their certificates withdrawn. One other carrier was certificated in 1950 as a replacement. "Feeder airline" alludes to another purpose, that such airlines would feed passengers to trunk carriers. It was expected that a significant number of passenger itineraries would involve a connection between a local service carrier and a trunk carrier.
Midet Aviation was a small US international airline certificated to fly between south Florida and West End on Grand Bahama Island by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that at the time tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. Midet's fate was tied to the progress of tourist facilities on Grand Bahama Island, which prior to the 1950s were limited. An enormous resort was constructed at West End from nothing, but then abandoned, only partially complete, after one season, crimping Midet's prospects. Meanwhile, Mackey Airlines, which the CAB had also certificated to fly from South Florida to elsewhere in the Bahamas, did better. It made sense to fold subscale Midet into Mackey, which occurred in 1956.
Florida Airways was a brief-lived United States local service carrier, also known as a feeder airline. On March 28, 1946, the US Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct federal agency that, at that time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportation, certificated Thomas E. Gordon, dba Orlando Airlines to provide air service from Orlando, Florida to points in central and north Florida for a three-year period. Gordon beat out competition from trunk carrier National Airlines and from another local service carrier, Southern Airways, for the routes. Gordon owned a fixed-base operator at Orlando Cannon Mills Airport.
Wilmington-Catalina Airline, Ltd. (WCA) was a US scheduled airline founded in 1931 by the Wrigley family of chewing gum fame to provide air transportation with amphibious aircraft on the 30-mile flight from Wilmington, California to Santa Catalina Island. In 1941, the name of the company changed to Catalina Air Transport (CAT) in anticipation of changing to land-based aircraft, but it ceased operation in June 1942 as a result of World War II. After the war, United Air Lines provided service to the island under contract to CAT until 1954. In 1955 CAT formally lost its airline certificate and the company dissolved in 1956.
Resort Airlines was an unusual United States scheduled international airline certificated in 1949 by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all commercial air transport in the United States. Resort's scheduled authority was restricted to offering all-expenses paid escorted tours to nearby foreign destinations, known as sky cruises. Resort could offer conventional charter service but no other scheduled service. The market for sky cruises was limited and quite unprofitable, so the vast majority of Resort's business was charters, and for several years, only charters. At the time, the US did not have pure charter carriers, but rather supplemental air carriers, which at the time had a limited ability to offer scheduled service. Since Resort was functionally a pure charter carrier, it had in some ways the most restrictive certificate in the US airline industry. The airline ceased operations in 1960 at which time it tried selling its certificate to Trans Caribbean Airways. But in 1961 the CAB rejected the deal and revoked the moribund carrier's certificate.
Mackey International (MI) was a US airline, initially flying under commuter regulations until it was certificated in 1978 as an international scheduled airline by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, until 1979, tightly regulated almost all commercial US air transportation. MI's founder was Joseph C. Mackey, who earlier founded Mackey Airlines, which flew similar routes until sold to Eastern Air Lines in 1967. Through 1978, MI flew between Florida, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and Haiti under a number of names, including Mackey International Air Taxi, Mackey International Air Commuter and Mackey International Airlines. However, the legal name remained Mackey International. MI grew during the early 1970s but never achieved profitability. In 1977, its offices were destroyed by a terrorist bomb.
Uraba, Medellin and Central Airways (UMCA) was a Pan American Airways-affiliate airline that from 1932 flew from the then US-controlled Panama Canal Zone to Colombia. The carrier was majority and then wholly-owned by Pan Am, and certificated in 1940 as a United States international scheduled carrier by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial transportation. In 1959 the CAB permitted UMCA to cease operations. The carrier did not have a fleet or crews of its own; instead, Pan Am flew on behalf of UMCA.
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