203-1144; Fax (416) 203-1120; Year Founded 1994. Victor Pappalardo establishes his new charter company, Trans Capital, at Ottawa in the spring of 1994 as successor to his defunct City Express. Revenue charter operations commence on regional routes in Ontario during the summer with a single de Havilland Canada DHC-7-110.
Flights continue in 1995-1999. During these years, a second DHC-7-110 is acquired and plans are made to purchase a used Boeing 727-100.
TRANS CARIBBEAN AIRWAYS: United States (1945-1971). With designs of capturing traffic away from it competitor Resort Airlines in the Caribbean area, O. Roy Chalk organizes Trans Caribbean as an irregular carrier on May 18, 1945. Revenue charter flight operations are launched in December with two war-surplus Douglas C-47s purchased for $6,000 and modified to civil DC-3 standard. After increasing capitalization by $250,000, DC-4s are acquired in the spring of 1946 with the first inaugurating service from Miami to Puerto Rico in August.
Unable to obtain CAB authorization for regularly scheduled services to that Commonwealth in 1949-1950, Chalk purchases three DC-6As. These are operated with high-density seating both in Caribbean charter work and on military contract flights following the start of the Korean War in June of the latter year. Another application for scheduled service is made in the fall of 1953; it, too, is turned down.
Under the 1955 CAB Supplemental ruling, Trans Caribbean begins biweekly, low-fare flights to Puerto Rico on June 15, 1956. On November 15, 1957, the company receives a scheduled certificate that will allow it to launch regular New York to San Juan flights with its three DC-6As on March 8, 1958. Trans Caribbean’s achievement is historic as the airline becomes the first ever to be reclassified upward from the ranks of the supplementals to that of the scheduled carriers.
In 1961, Chalk acquires a minority interest in older, scheduled Caribbean-Atlantic Airlines (Caribair), which operates throughout the West Indies. In 1962-1963, Trans Caribbean leases a DC-8F from Seaboard World Airlines, which makes the jetliner available to Chalk for weekend passenger flights from New York to Aruba and San Juan. Enplanements in the latter year reach 197,025 and revenues exceed $13 million.
Airline employment in 1964 stands at 550 and the fleet includes five aircraft. A second DC-8F is leased for weekend flights from New York down to the Caribbean and back. Passenger boardings jump 46.2% to 351,203 and revenues jump 43.9% to $24.62 million.
The workforce in 1965 grows to 671. The company now operates three DC-8Fs on its New York to San Juan route, with an order for a fourth pending. A DC-8-54F is lost in a ground fire at Miami (MIA) on November 25; there are no fatalities.
A total of 380,526 passengers are originated and freight ton-miles flown climb to 11,286,375.
Enplanements in 1966 are 440,000. During the year, the carrier’s two C-46s are sold.
The workforce in 1967 is 849. Emphasis continues to be placed on package tours to the Caribbean. The CAB grants permission for flights linking Washington, D. C. (IAD) and San Juan. Two offices are opened in Washington, D. C. and tourist excursion fares are inaugurated in the new Puerto Rican market in October. At year’s end, the fleet includes 3 DC-8-55Fs, 1 DC-8-61F, 1 B-707, and 1 B720-048, leased from Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd. Passenger boardings climb to 468,620 and 7.33 million freight ton-miles are flown.
Daily flights begin in 1968 linking Newark with San Juan and Aruba. The employee population numbers 1,028 and the fleet grows by two aircraft. The CAB’s decision in the Caribbean Route case results in a doubling of the carrier’s unduplicated mileage. New stops are added at Port-au-Prince, St. Thomas and St. Croix, and Cura9ao. Customer bookings accelerate 51% to 699,061 and cargo is up a spectacular 511%. Revenues are $47,369,209.
The fleet in 1969 comprises 1 Boeing 727-100, 2 B-727-2A7s, 2 DC-8-30s, and 3 DC-8-62s. Despite its successes, Trans Caribbean by 1970 has fallen on hard times. In January, Chalk is able to obtain a merger with American Airlines. While the two await the outcome of their joint request to the CAB for approval, the major advances TCA a $7-million loan for payroll.
En route from Newark to San Juan on August 19, Flight 401, a DC-8-62 with 154 passengers, is hijacked by 3 men armed with guns and grenades and is forced to fly to Havana; the plane is allowed to return to Miami the same day.
Flight 505, a B-727-2A7 with 7 crew and 48 passengers, bounces twice upon landing at Harry S Truman Airport, St. Thomas, from New York on December 28 and the third time comes down 2,700 ft. past the end of the runway. The Boeing crashes through a fence, across a highway, and into a hillside (two dead).
On February 21, 1971, the company is fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to a charge that it paid “unlawful gratuities” to obtain confidential information on its employees from New York City police files. On March 8, government permission to complete integration of the former supplemental is acquired. American has paid $18 million in stock for Chalk’s operation, receiving in return eight unwanted aircraft. More importantly, shortly thereafter it finds a way to gain a leading position in hotly contested New York to Puerto Rico service.
In an anticlimax and as the result of a 10-month federal grand jury probe, H. Davidoff, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 295, is arrested on November 2 on charges of extorting tickets worth $9,627 from the carrier between October 1966 and November 1970. He will eventually plead guilty and go to jail.
World History
