Florida’s Commuter Airlines from the 1960s to the 1980s: Part Three -- Executive Airlines, Gull Air, Mackey and Mackey International Airlines and Florida National Airlines
Islands Hopping
Back in the late '40s and 1950s, my parents spent many a weekend “island hopping”. Although Cuba was their favorite destination, they also spent many a weekend in Key West, and occasionally, in the Bahamas.
On Friday afternoons they would typically board a National Airlines flight out of Tampa International Airport and fly to Havana or Key West.
When the allure of the Bahamas beckoned, however, they would take a commuter carrier called Mackey Airlines. By the time I was collecting airline timetables (schedules) and visiting airports on a regular basis, Mackey Airlines had long before curtailed service to Tampa.
In this, the third of our series, we will look at this colorful carrier, as well as commuters Executive Airlines, Gull Air and National Florida Airlines.
Executive Airlines
This carrier is largely a mystery to me as I never actually saw their aircraft but only picked up a schedule of theirs at Tampa International Airport in July 1970.
The carrier had a Northern and Southern Division, a very common thing for commuters that served seasonal areas. For instance, the northern Division had higher traffic for the northeast in the summer, serving resort locations such as Martha’s Vineyard and Hyannisport, while traffic in the Southern Division increased during the winter in Florida.
Executive’s Southern Division had its headquarters in Sarasota and served Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Melbourne, Sarasota-Bradenton, Ft. Myers, West Palm Beach and Miami.
In as a little as a year (1971) I could find no evidence of the carrier existing at either Tampa or Miami International Airports.
Gull Air
Gull Air was an early to mid 1980’s commuter that provided passenger service with the boxy looking CASA C-212 and the smaller Cessna 402. Like Executive Airlines, it had a Northern Region and a Southern Region. Destinations in the Southern Region included Bimini, Freeport, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Stuart, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Key West, Nassau, Treasure Cay, Naples and Orlando. In the early 1980’s it served as an Air Florida commuter. I could find no evidence of the carrier at either Tampa or Miami International Airports after 1986.
Mackey Airlines and Mackey International Airlines
Joseph C. Mackey, a former stunt pilot who was the commanding officer of the army Air Corps base in Miami during World War II, organized Mackey Airlines. The airline was formed on September 30, 1946 and initiated scheduled services from West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas on June 2, 1953.
The operation started with three Lockheed Lodestars and progressed to three Douglas DC-3s by 1955. Prior to its merger on January 8, 1967 to Eastern Air Lines, the fleet was comprised of six Douglas DC-6s, one Douglas DC-4, two Douglas DC-3s and one Beechcraft B-18.
The route system by that time consisted of service to Jacksonville, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, West End, Freeport, Bimini, Nassau, Andros Town, Green Turtle Cay, Marsh Harbour, and Harbour Island.
Mackey International Airlines (http://www.mackeyairlines.com/) formed following the merger to Eastern in 1967. Convair 440’s and 580’s flew from Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami to the Bahamas. After de-regulation in 1978, the carrier expanded service to Las Vegas, Nevada utilizing three Douglas DC-8-51 fanjets from Delta Airlines. This once colorful Florida and Caribbean commuter ceased operations in October 1981.
National Florida Airlines
Approximately two years after the 1980 merger of National Airlines into Pan Am, it is alleged that several former National pilots and employees formed National Florida Airlines, a commuter based out of Daytona Beach that painted the liveries of their aircrafts in National’s “Sun King” colors of white, yellow and orange. The tails even sported a “smiley face” Sun King!
The carrier utilized Nord 262s, Fairchild-Hiller FH-227 “Metroliners”, DeHavilland Twin Otters and Piper Navajo Chieftains. It provided service to the cities of Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Walton Beach-Eglin Air Force Base.
Like Gull Air, National Florida Airlines was an Air Florida commuter in the early 1980’s. I remember seeing the carrier’s Nord 262 twin jet-prop at Tampa International Airport in the summer of 1982 to one year later, but never saw any further activity of that airline after that time.
Author’s Timetables:
Executive Airlines
1. June 17, 1970 (Southern Division: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Melbourne, Sarasota-Bradenton, Ft. Myers, West Palm Beach, Miami)
Gull Air
1. August 8, 1984 (Southern Region: Bimini, Freeport, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Stuart, West Palm Beach)
2. February 15, 1986 (Southern Region: Bimini, Freeport, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Stuart, West Palm Beach, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Key West, Nassau, treasure Cay, Naples, Orlando)
Mackey International Airlines
1. December 1, 1971 (West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, West End, Freeport, Treasure Cay, Marsh Harbour, Bimini, Great Harbour Cay, North Eleuthera, Governors Harbour, Nassau, San Andros, Andros Town, Georgetown, Stella Maris)
2. January 1, 1977 (West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, West End, Freeport, Treasure Cay, Marsh Harbour, Bimini, Great Harbour Cay, North Eleuthera, Nassau, Georgetown, Providenciales, Grand Turk, Cap Haitien)
National Florida Airlines
1. January 1, 1983 (Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Miami)
2. June 15, 1983 (Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Walton Beach-Eglin Air Force Base)
Keep your boarding passes handy as we change airlines and take a look at Vero-Monmouth Airlines, North American Airlines, Sun Airlines and Shawnee Airlines in Part Four of our series in next week’s PCR!
"La Floridiana" is ©2004 by William Moriaty. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2004 by Nolan B. Canova.
