US intrastate airline briefly successful after deregulation (1972–1985)
Air Florida
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
QH
FLA
PALM
Founded
4 November 1971[1]
Commenced operations
27 September 1972 (1972-09-27) (as Air Florida) 15 October 1984 (as Air Florida dba Midway Express)
Ceased operations
3 July 1984 (as Air Florida) 14 August 1985 (1985-08-14) (becomes "Midway Airlines (1984)")
Hubs
Miami
Fleet size
29
Destinations
99
Parent company
Air Florida System, Inc.[2]
Headquarters
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Key people
Eli Timoner Ed Acker Donald Lloyd-Jones
Air Florida was an American low-cost carrier that operated under its own brand from 1972[3] to 1984. During the period from 1972 to 1978 Air Florida was an intrastate airline. Until a notorious 1982 aircraft crash in Washington DC, Air Florida was considered a high-profile early success of U.S. airline deregulation, having expanded rapidly from its original Florida network, including internationally to Europe and Latin America. After the crash, the airline struggled for over two and a half years before finally succumbing to bankruptcy in 1984.
After being grounded for three months in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Air Florida flew again for 10 months in 1984 and 1985 under contract to Midway Airlines using the brand "Midway Express", with Midway selling the tickets and doing the marketing. In 1985 it was sold to Midway.
In 1975 Air Florida was headquartered in the Dadeland Towers in what is now Kendall, Florida in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.[4][5]
Air Florida's former IATA code is now used by Bamboo Airways of Vietnam.
^Florida SunBiz corporate record accessed 19 April 2024
^Air Florida System, Inc. Form 10-K for five month period ending December 31, 1980
AirFlorida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight operated by AirFlorida from Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington...
The FloridaAir National Guard (FL ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Florida. It is, along with the Florida Army National Guard (FL ARNG), an...
AirFlorida Commuter was the regional feeder network for AirFlorida. AirFlorida Commuter was not an airline, but a system of affiliated commuter carriers...
Eglin Air Force Base (IATA: VPS, ICAO: KVPS, FAA LID: VPS) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about three...
Southwest Florida Regional Airport was served by AirFlorida Commuter (operated by Finair Express), Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines...
Tyndall Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located 12 miles (19 km) east of Panama City, Florida. The base was named in honor of World War...
downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force of the Air Mobility Command...
was an entrepreneur and business executive most notable for creating AirFlorida in the 1970s. Timoner's death in 2021 under California's End of Life...
The FloridaAir Museum, formerly known as the International Sport Aviation Museum and the SUN 'n FUN Air Museum, is designated as Florida's "Official...
Rickenbacker in its early years. It had a near monopoly in air travel between New York and Florida from the 1930s until the 1950s and dominated this market...
Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, is the special operations component of the United States Air Force...
The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin...
Florida Railroad History, University Press of Florida, LCCN 2007-50375, ISBN 978-0-8130-3233-7, p. 94. Shettle, Jr., M. L., United States Naval Air Stations...
7, 1929) is an American businessman who was CEO of Braniff Airways, AirFlorida, and Pan American World Airways. He is a principal at Intrepid Equity...
upon the latter's merger with Pan Am. Air Florida ceased operations in 1982 after the crash of AirFlorida Flight 90. British Airways flew a Concorde...
approach phase of the flight. Another was the January 13, 1982 crash of AirFlorida Flight 90. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the crash included...
The Florida National Guard is the National Guard force of the state of Florida. It comprises the Florida Army National Guard and the FloridaAir National...
1980, Table 5.5 AirFlorida Moves to Acquire Westgate, Parent of Air California, Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1980 AirFlorida buys Air California, Sacramento...
by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas...
central business district of Jacksonville, Florida, United States. NAS Jacksonville is located in Duval County, Florida, within the city limits of Jacksonville...
known as Air Crash Investigation(s) outside of the United States and Canada and also known as Mayday: Air Disaster (The Weather Channel) or Air Disasters...
Florida Wing Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is part of Southeast Region (SER) and the highest echelon of Civil Air Patrol in the state of Florida. Florida Wing...
Florida (/ˈflɒrɪdə/ FLORR-ih-də) is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the...
SkyWest became a Delta Connection code sharing airline. In the early 1980s AirFlorida tried to buy Western Airlines, but it was able to purchase only 16 percent...
to start long-haul flights on West Berlin-Brussels-Florida routes, in cooperation with AirFlorida (an agreement to that effect had been signed in February...
Global Information