page_title: Air Florida
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Air Florida / History
caption_attribution_description: Lockheed L-188C Electra N25AF of Air Florida at Miami International Airport in 1976
context_page_description: Air Florida was an American low-cost carrier that operated from 1971 to 1984. In 1975 it was headquartered in the Dadeland Towers in what is now Kendall, Florida in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.
context_section_description: Air Florida was based at Miami International Airport. It was founded in September 1971 by a Miami, Florida,  native, Eli Timoner, and was organized by company president Ted Griffin, a former marketing director of Eastern Airlines. It initiated revenue operations on September 28, 1972, operating as an intrastate airline using two Boeing 707 jetliners purchased from Pan American World Airways and offering twice-daily service in Florida between Miami (MIA), Orlando (MCO) and St.Petersburg (PIE) on a "triangle" routings of MIA-MCO-PIE-MIA and MIA-PIE-MCO-MIA with a one way introductory fare of $12.00. The airline later acquired Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft which replaced the Boeing 707s. Although Air Florida began operations as an intrastate air carrier flying wholly within the state of Florida, it subsequently began adding domestic and international destinations outside of the state. With this expansion, Air Florida's fleet grew to include Boeing 727-200, Boeing 737-100, Boeing 737-200, Douglas DC-8-62, Douglas DC-9-10, and McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 jetliners.
  Ed Acker, formerly CEO of Braniff International Airways, led an acquisition of Air Florida in 1975 and expanded the airline into the interstate market following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. In addition to Air Florida having a large presence in the Northeast-to-Florida market during the 1970s and 1980s, the airline also expanded internationally and served various points in the Caribbean and Central America, as well as a number of European destinations including Amsterdam, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Shannon and Zurich. The European services were primarily flown with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft, although British Island Airways provided connecting passenger service with their British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven jets for Air Florida on some intra-European route segments with an example being London-Amsterdam . The airline also operated a leased Douglas DC-8-62 for use on transatlantic flights at one point.  Air Florida was well known for its attractive flight attendants and, on international flights, four-star cuisine. In 1981, shortly before the crash of Air Florida Flight 90, Acker left Air Florida to become the Chairman, CEO and President of Pan American World Airways (Pan Am).
  Air Florida tried to buy out Western Airlines during the 1980s in order to increase its presence in the West and also begin proposed flights to Mexico and western Canada. The negotiations with Western ended up with Air Florida owning 16 percent of the California-based company. Western was later acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines.
  The crash of Flight 90 on January 13, 1982, coupled with Air Florida's high financial leverage and reliance on foreign currency trading for profits, led the company to declare bankruptcy and cease operations on July 3, 1984, despite an effort by new head Donald Lloyd-Jones (an alumnus of American Airlines) to save the company. When operations ceased, Air Florida had over 18 months of unprocessed credit card ticket purchases and dozens of flight crews idle at home because management had failed to renew leases on all DC-10-30 aircraft. Midway Airlines acquired most of the assets of Air Florida for $53 million while Air Florida was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
caption: Lockheed L-188 Electra of Air Florida landing at Miami International Airport in 1976
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