FLORIDA AIR TRANSPORT (FLORIDA AIRCRAFT LEASING CORPORATION): Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States; Year Founded 1970. Operated as a division of the rental concern Florida
Aircraft Leasing, Florida Air Transport, beginning in 1970, undertakes contract service and cargo charters from a base at Fort Lauderdale. Equipment employed over the years has included Douglas DC-4s and DC-6s as well as Convair CV-440s.
Operations by President/CEO Thomas E. Boy’s concern continue without headline or incident in 1993-1998.
During December of the latter year, Boy joins with Carlos Gomez to place an immaculately restored DC-7C into service. Painted in an original facsimile of an American Airlines paint scheme, the freighter is featured in the September-October 2000 issue of Airliners.
FLORIDA AIRLINES (1): United States (1936-1937). FA is formed in Jacksonville in December 1936 to offer scheduled passenger and air express flights to Sarasota via Tampa. A Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor is acquired and revenue services commence on January 2, 1937. Operations cease at the end of March.
FLORIDA AIRLINES (2): United States (1945-1981). Founded at Sarasota in 1945 as Florida Air Taxi, this charter operator elects, in the early fall of 1964, to initiate scheduled services. Employing Beech 18s and Piper PA-23 Apaches, FAT inaugurates daily roundtrip frequencies on October 30 between Tampa and Fort Myers.
The company changes its corporate identity in 1968, identifying itself as a provider of scheduled passenger, mail, and cargo services to a number of intrastate destinations. In addition to the Beechcraft and Apaches, FA commences the use of two Douglas DC-3s.
Operations continue apace during the remainder of the decade and into the 1970s. Between 1970 and 1974, scheduled frequencies are also initiated to Ocala, Gainesville, Jacksonville.
In 1975, Air South is purchased and merged and the two operate for the next six years as Florida Airlines-Air South. Frequencies are offered by 11 DC-3s and 2 Martin 4-0-4s to Atlanta, Miami, Sarasota, Fort Myers, St. Simons Island, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, and Hilton Head.
Airline employment in 1976 stands at 160 and enplanements reach 22,091.
Enplanements in 1977 increase to 68,899 and a net profit of $470,940 is earned.
Five additional Martin 4-0-4s are placed into service during 1978 and the DC-3s are retired.
Passenger boardings jump 34% to 104,391. On revenues of $4.1 million, expenses surge to $4.3 million and cause a net loss of $250,000.
When Eastern Air Lines, taking advantage of the route-setting provisions of the new Airline Deregulation Act, suspends its Macon route in 1979, it is assumed by FA; the company also expands to Columbus when Delta Air Lines halts its flights to that Georgia community. Passenger boardings for the year leap upward by 54.6% to 161,000.
Florida’s oldest commuter experiences a year of traffic disaster in 1980. Operations are suspended on January 11 to address safety concerns, followed by the loss of a DC-3 in a crash at Grand Bahama Island on September 12.
Customer bookings plunge by 86.9% to 21,063.
In February 1981, hoping to reverse this slide toward certain extinction, the carrier becomes the second member of the Air Florida commuter third-level network. Reorganized, the company, now with David Stempler as president, changes its name to Southern International and trades in its previous fleet for four Convair CV-440 Metropolitans. Flights are launched to Key West and the Bahamas Outer Islands.
Fiscal difficulties occasioned by higher fuel costs, recession, and the PATCO air traffic controller’s strike, force Southern International, after transporting 88,116 passengers, to cease operations late in the year.
World History
