General Manager S. P. Allen’s company, having lost its independence, converts into a Part 121 carrier and the fleet is revised to include 4 Grumman G-73 Turbo Mallards and the first company landplanes, 2 de Havilland Canada DHC-7-102s leased from Aviation Enterprises, Inc. The Canadian-built turboprops operate five roundtrips per day from Fort Lauderdale to Paradise Island and four per day from Miami, while the Mallards maintain their earlier routes to the U. S. Virgin Islands. Combined enplanements grow by 12% to 96,000.
In May 1989, Resorts International is forced into Chapter XI bankruptcy. Under provision of the filings, the corporate debt is restructured, with Griffin retaining only 22% of his previous shareholding. The air transport subsidiary is split into two divisions: Chalk’s International Airlines (1) and Paradise Island Airways, it being a requirement of the bankruptcy court that PIA be sold with its Resorts International parent.
Retaining the original Chalk’s Part 121 certificate, the landplane operation is turned over to the latter and it is announced that the former will receive a new Part 135 license and be sold. The sale does not immediately occur and the Mallards continue their amphibious shuttle flights to the Virgin Islands on a charter basis.
Meanwhile, PIA’s two DHC-7-102s transport a total of 196,927 scheduled passengers to Paradise Island from Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Palm Beach.
In cooperation with Virgin Atlantic Airways, Ltd., PIA begins a series of charters during the spring of 1990 taking passengers from the British carrier to Walt Disney World in Orlando. John W. Presburg, an official with Henson Aviation, is hired in July as senior Resorts International vice president and chief operating officer of the airline subsidiaries, reporting to corporate CEO David Hanlon. Two more Dash 7s join the PIA fleet and negotiations are opened with the Illinois-based United Capital Corporation for purchase of the seaplane operation. In December, UCC’s president purchases the Chalk’s name, Part 135 certificate, and all 16 seaplanes.
The 160-employee, 4 Dash 7 PIA transports a total of 310,232 passengers, a significant increase over the previous year.
Chalk’s begins operations in January 1991 as Flying Boats, Inc., doing business as Chalk’s International Airlines. With no purchasers for PIA yet on the horizon, the fleet of the 198-employee, Part 121 operation is reduced to 1 in-service DHC-7-102 as customer bookings decline 7% to 288,625.
In 1992, the carrier’s 4 Dash 7s transport a total of 344,646 passengers, a 19.4% boost. Income exceeds costs and there are profits: $5.15 million (operating) and $99,553 (net).
The payroll grows by 12.3% in 1993 to 201 and 2 more DHC-7-102s join Chief Operating Officer Presburg’s fleet.
Passenger boardings fall another 7.8% to 317,815 and revenues drop 3% to $21.8 million. Expenses are $20.28 million and operating income dips to $1.51 million. There is a net loss of $3.32 million.
The workforce is cut by 10.4% in 1994 to 180. Late in the year, Merv Griffin sells out to an unidentified owner. At this time, the company flies six daily services from Miami, four or five from Fort Lauderdale, and two from West Palm Beach.
Customer bookings drop another 13.5% to 274,958.
The workforce of the Fort Lauderdale-based carrier is reduced to 135 during 1995. The company becomes the 11th “USAir Express” carrier in September. The company’s four DHC-7s are repainted in “USAir Express” livery, as USAirways begins to accept reservations on the carrier’s behalf.
During the last week of November, an FAA inspection uncovers deficiencies in aircraft maintenance and record keeping, which results in the carrier’s brief grounding. The first de Havilland is cleared to resume services on November 30, followed by a second on December 1. The remainder are back in the air by month’s end.
The 6 de Havillands fly a total of 246,260 passengers on the year, a 10.4% decline.
In January 1996, former U. S. Commerce Department Undersecretary Charles Cobb and Chuck Slagle purchase Chalk’s. That pioneer, the oldest continuously operated air taxi-some say airline—in the world, is reformed into Pan Am Air Bridge. Under the new name, the company resumes flights to and from its South Florida and Bimini destinations on March 1.
On September 15, Paradise and Carnival Air Lines enter into a five-year code-sharing agreement, under which the latter cancels its participation in the “USAir Express” program, while adding more flights in cooperation with the potential Pan American World Airways (2) merger partner.
Under the block-seat, dual-designator pact of September 15, Carnival and Paradise Island on November 15 increase the number of flights between Florida and Paradise Island, the Bahamian resort island. Paradise also adds connecting service from Fort Lauderdale to Key West, from Miami to Fort Myers, and from Orlando to Key West. Late in the year, Paradise notifies USAir that it does not, after all, wish to withdraw from its franchise arrangement.
The traffic picture for Paradise Island, meanwhile, finally improves; passenger boardings jump 9.7% to 270,196.
On February 27, 1997, USAir is renamed USAirways and “USAir Express” becomes “USAirways Express.” During the remainder of the year, this regional paints its aircraft in a modified version of the major’s new grey and dark blue livery. Also, new services to Branson, Missouri, are promised.
Customer bookings fall 17.8% to 244,644.
In April 1998, Air Alaska signs a letter of intent to purchase all of the company’s outstanding stock from PIA Holdings. The April acquisition arrangement with Air Alaska having fallen through, the “USAirways Express” company Paradise Island Airways again becomes available.
On July 31, Gulfstream International Airlines is acquired by G-Air Holdings Corporation, a public corporation, through a reverse merger transaction. On August 1, Paradise Island Airways is sold to G-Air Holdings, the new parent of Gulfstream, which will now operate both airlines as its subsidiaries. Chief Operating Officer Roger Larreur indicates that PIA will continue to operate its daily service between airports in South Florida and Paradise Island in the Bahamas under its historic marketing name Chalk’s International Airlines (2). However, the PIA arrangement with USAirways will now be terminated and the carrier will join GIA in operating under “Continental Connection” flight codes and branding.
Like GIA, Paradise Island suspends service on September 24-25 in the face of Hurricane Georges. All flights are resumed from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach on September 26.
Although Paradise returns to service, it is also bankrupt.
Customer bookings for the 12 months drop 15.7% to 206,000.
By the beginning of 1999, Paradise Island has cut its airline employment by 16.7% to 150.
On Wednesday, February 10, Pan Am Air Bridge files for Chapter XII bankruptcy protection with the U. S. Bankruptcy Court at Dallas, Texas, and suspends service the next day. On February 12, the court reaches an agreement with Gulfstream International to resume service to Bimini on a temporary basis, effective February 26, as the historic carrier attempts to reorganize under the protection of the bankruptcy laws.
The U. S. Bankruptcy Court at Dallas, on February 24 requests that Gulfstream International Airlines also continue to operate PIA as it, too, reorganizes under the protection of the bankruptcy laws.
GIA’s President Cooper indicates that the historic airline will be preserved and that it will resume its 12 daily Grumman amphibian roundtrips on February 26 from Miami to Bimini and Paradise Island and from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini, Paradise Island, and Walker’s Cay. While a final decision on the future of Pan Am Air Bridge is made, its planes, like those of Paradise Islands Airways, are repainted in the colors of Chalk’s International Airlines (2). As Chalk’s International Airlines (2), PIA and PAAB continue and expand daily services as of February 26.
PIA ceases operations on May 11. Afterwards, Gulfstream International Airlines continues to operate its aircraft from Florida to Paradise Island. For the first-five-and-a - half months of the year, the division’s passenger boardings drop 13.1% to 179,000.
On August 18, 2000, USAirways Group begins negotiations with Gulfstream International Airways concerning a takeover the stock of Paradise Island Airways. The same day, a new USAirways subsidiary, Potomac Air, is established to operate in the Northeast and MidAtlantic regions as part of the larger merger proposal between its parent and United Airlines. A deal between the major and Gulfstream is struck on August 24 wherein USAirways acquires 100% shareholding in PIA. On October 2, Merv Griffin’s old commuter is merged into Potomac Air, giving it an automatic Part 121 operating certificate.
PARADISE ISLAND HELICOPTERS, LTD.: P. O. Box N-3725, Nassau, The Bahamas; Phone (242) 363-4016; Fax (242) 363-4016; Http://bahamasnet. com/helicopter. html; Year Founded 1998. PIH is
Set up at Paradise Island Heliport, 1/4 mi. E of Nassau Harbour in 1998. Employing a Bell 206B JetRanger, the company begins sight-seeing tours of the Harbour, over cruise ships and the downtown area of Nassau, to Paradise, Gilligan’s, Rose and Blue Lagoon Island, including views of Dolphin Encounters and the Stingray Club, and Cable Beach.
World History
