Air Florida's Fleet Of Planes

doulasc · Tue Oct 27, 2015 3:58 am

When Air Florida started out in 1972 they had one ex Pan Am Boeing 707-331 non fan(NTU by TWA and went to Pan Am)
and operated a route Miami-Orlando-St.Petersburg-Miami,Why a 707 for such a short route structure,A DC-9 would
have been a better fit.Then toward the mid 1970s Air Florida acquired a fleet of Lockheed Prop Jet Electras ,According
to my book Great Airliners Lockheed Electra by David Powers,They had 3 Electras one was still wearing the Northwest
Orient paint job.By that time Air Florida moved from St.Petersburg to Tampa and added Jacksonville and Tallahassee.
Then by 1976 Air Florida retired the Lockheed Electra and moved on to Boeing 727-100s,how many did they have.
The 727-100s only lasted a few years then Douglas DC-9-15s came into the fleet as Air Florida expanded to more cities in
Florida.Then came Boeing 737s.Then deregulation came in 1978 and that's when Air Florida kind of over expanded
by getting Boeing 727-200s and Douglas DC-10s and flew to Central America and Europe and getting into the
lucurative Northeast to Florida which was dominated by Eastern,Delta and Pan Am(inherited from National).Then
had the 1982 the crash into the Potomic River. Most their Boeing 737s came from United then ended up with Pan Am
for their IGS, In 1979 they bought Air Sunshine for flights to Key West. If Air Florida wanted to expand into
the Bahamas like they planned they could have bought Mackey International. IN 1984 Air Florida folded.

[Edited 2015-10-26 21:26:14]

crownvic · Tue Oct 27, 2015 4:39 am

"Straight pipe" 707s were available for very cheap prices, because they were approaching the end of their useful lives and Pan Am had dumped their non fan fleet. Despite the looming oil crisis, fuel was still very cheap. So like Allegiant, Delta and AA still flying MD80s today, aircraft acquired at the right price and fuel prices at certain levels, can still make a profit for an airline. While that maybe a stretch of an analogy compared to Air Florida's 707s, the acquisition of 721s/DC-9s at the time, was probably cost prohibitive, until the airline really got going and had cash flow/investors. Those aircraft types were still in their prime, in the early 70s.

cf6ppe · Tue Oct 27, 2015 4:50 am

Quoting doulasc (Thread starter):
When Air Florida started out in 1972 they had one ex Pan Am Boeing 707-331 non fan(NTU by TWA and went to Pan Am) and operated a route Miami-Orlando-St.Petersburg-Miami,Why a 707 for such a short route structure

As I remember, Air Florida had a drop dead date in which to get their airline into operation. The B707-331 turbo-jet frame was available. We all didn't understand their aircraft choice, but...

Note: Air Florida was started as an intra-state airline, i.e., its operations were totally within the state of Florida. The state of Florida issued the operations license.

Likewise, SouthWest Airlines was operated as an intra-state airline in Texas for many years.
I suspect that Air Florida was modeled closely on the heels of SouthWest Airlines.

cf6ppe · Tue Oct 27, 2015 4:58 am

Quoting crownvic (Reply 1):
"Straight pipe" 707s were available for very cheap prices, because they were approaching the end of their useful lives and Pan Am had dumped their non fan fleet.

I'm not sure of the time (i.e., year) but there were more than twenty (maybe twenty-five) turbo-jet B707-300s parked at MIA on PanAm property between the PanAm maintenance base and the EAL Hartley training building on the south side of 36th Street.

crownvic · Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:17 am

Quoting cf6ppe (Reply 2):
Likewise, SouthWest Airlines was operated as an intra-state airline in Texas for many years.
I suspect that Air Florida was modeled closely on the heels of SouthWest Airlines.

Actually, both airlines started flying the same year (1971). Southwest immediately went into the high frequency, intra Texas flying business, where Air Florida seemed to have a different plan, by adding cities as fast as it could (vs. higher volume, same city pair flying).

Viscount724 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:44 am

Quoting doulasc (Thread starter):
The 727-100s only lasted a few years then Douglas DC-9-15s came into the fleet as Air Florida expanded to more cities in Florida.

AC acquired 8 DC-9-15RCs from CO in 1972/73. They were passenger/cargo convertible aircraft with main-deck cargo door. AC used them for both passenger service and a short-lived cargo operation. They were all sold to Air Florida around 1977/78 and a couple a little later.

I was always curious why CO acquired those DC-9-15RCs. They took delivery of 19 in 1967/68. I can't recall CO ever using them on any type of service that would have required a main deck cargo door. And, like AC, CO didn't keep them long. They were all disposed of by 1973/74. I think those that didn't go to AC went to Hughes Airwest (they didn't need the main deck cargo door either, but I guess they were cheap).

cf6ppe · Wed Oct 28, 2015 4:29 am

Quoting doulasc (Thread starter):
Then deregulation came in 1978 and that's when Air Florida kind of over expanded
by getting Boeing 727-200s

The two B72s were of the advanced configuration - i.e., with -17R powerplants, nose wheel braking, etc.

Both frames were never put into service (by Air Florida) and remained parked adjacent to the MIA wash ramp just west of the PanAm base (south side of 36th Street).

I drove by both of those aircraft twice a day for a year or so. There was a guard posted, but when the aircraft were to be moved both frames were found to be missing most cockpit instruments, radios, etc.; much ado was made about the lack of MIA airport security by the new owner(s). Oh well...!!

Jetstar315 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 6:05 am

Air Florida used a very diverse fleet as follows:
3 x Lockheed L.188C Electras
2 x BAC1-11s, G-AXOX and G-AXBB both leased in short-term from British Island Airways
10 x DC-9-10s
B737 - 6 x 100s, 4 x 200Cs and 44 x 200s
3 x B757-200s
5 x B727-200s
1 x B727-100
1 x DC-8-60
1 x B707-320C
2 x B707-320(A)
5 x DC-10-30s

They also ordered 4 x VFW 614s but this order was cancelled.

Polot · Wed Oct 28, 2015 11:30 am

Quoting Jetstar315 (Reply 7):

While Air Florida had 3 757s on order they never took delivery of them and never operated any.

doulasc · Wed Oct 28, 2015 6:42 pm

I dont remember DC-8s or 707Cs at Air Florida.

SpaceshipDC10 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 6:50 pm

Quoting doulasc (Reply 9):
I dont remember DC-8s or 707Cs at Air Florida.

One and three respectively, although the former was a short time lease from Rich.

http://www.oocities.org/aeromoe/fleets/airflor.html

Polot · Wed Oct 28, 2015 6:53 pm

Speaking of their fleet real quick, why did Air Florida use a different shade of green (and maybe blue? Hard to tell on older photos) on their DC-10s compared to everything else?

SpaceshipDC10 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:03 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 11):
why did Air Florida use a different shade of green (and maybe blue? Hard to tell on older photos) on their DC-10s compared to everything else?

My (very uneducated) guess is because of this:

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Gary Vincent

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

Photo © Gerhard Plomitzer

Three of the DC-10s were leased from TV. I find the livery quite nice with that green.

American 767 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:43 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 8):
While Air Florida had 3 757s on order they never took delivery of them and never operated any.

I'm sure they would have if they had stayed in business. And I also think that they would have replaced the DC-10s with 767-300ERs. The 763ER would have been a good fit on the MIA-LHR or MIA-LGW route. By now, they would probably consider the 737-800/8MAX or A321NEO as 757 replacement and the 787-9 as 763ER replacement.

[Edited 2015-10-28 12:51:16]

nikeherc · Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:43 pm

While it is not unusual to see aircraft with bi-lingual signage, I saw what looked like Japanese no smoking and seatbelt signs among other things on several Air Florida DC-9s in the late 1970s. French or Spanish would not have been surprising, but the kanji characters were somewhat startling. Also, I believe that the safety information cards were bi-lingual and as I remember, very used and tattered. These aircraft did have the cargo door as I recall.

jetjack74 · Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:51 pm

Quoting doulasc (Reply 9):

Quoting SpaceshipDC10 (Reply 10):

It was a -323B N8437

SpaceshipDC10 · Thu Oct 29, 2015 4:31 pm

Quoting jetjack74 (Reply 15):
It was a -323B N8437

Not only...

View Large View Medium
Click here for bigger photo!

strfyr51 · Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:44 pm

I worked for a company that owned DC9-15F, N70AF N75AF and N1305T which both passed through Air Florida and Continental before we operated them. Other than an Anti skid harness damage? We had a LOT of luck with them flying Purolator Air Freight.. The Owner picked that airframe because it flew like a Banshee and had no leading Edge slats or flaps to deal with. (yeah, He was a Pilot as well, We also flew Emerald Airlines Freight from time to time out of LAX via PUB to CMH where Purolator had their hub. Later the airplanes flew for Emory after I left to work for United in 1984.

Air Florida's Fleet Of Planes

Air Florida's Fleet Of Planes

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