Floridair Airlines
3rd In A Series: A Fictional US Charter and Scheduled Airline Based In Florida
Floridair Airlines is a low-cost scheduled and charter passenger airline, headquartered on the grounds of Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Kendall, Florida USA.
Fort Lauderdale-FLL serves as the company’s primary center of operations, from which Floridair operates a mix of worldwide commercial and ad hoc charter flights from 12 Florida airports, along with scheduled flights between three Florida cities and several destinations in the United States, Canada and western Europe. The company previously provided charter and ad hoc cargo services as well, but such services were ended by 2009.
History
Early Years 1970-1985
Floridair Airlines was established in 1970 by Charles K Crockett, scion of a family of Florida hoteliers and real estate types, who recently returned from military service in Vietnam as an infantry officer; and Roy Flagler, a Florida-born military pilot that Mr Crockett had befriended while serving overseas. While both men had a taste for alcohol to some extent, Mr Flagler was known to be especially fond of the bottle.
The two young men persuaded members of the Crockett family to provide seed money to start an airline and acquire a used Boeing 727-100 and a leased Douglas DC-8, with plans to initiate scheduled flights between Florida and certain major cities in the northeastern USA, and possibly to London as well.
Messrs Crockett and Flagler spent two years contending with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a US government agency that regulated aviation services at that time including scheduled passenger airline service and air mail service, in an effort to obtain clearances to fly scheduled routes. Floridair was blocked at every turn, until the company gave up on scheduled service and instead sought to enter the less-regulated air charter business by providing aircraft to travel clubs and tour companies flying tourists to Florida. Many of these visitors would be encouraged to stay at the Crockett family’s array of Florida hotel properties. The CAB finally gave approval to Floridair’s air operator’s certificate (AOC) as a charter operator.
Floridair began operations from its Fort Lauderdale-FLL base in the spring of 1972. Typically the carrier would use their DC-8 - which Roy Flagler personally flew in those days - to bring in affluent holidaymakers from Europe, while the Boeing 727 would bring in similarly well-heeled vacationers from Chicago-MDW, New York-LGA, and Boston-BOS. Most flights terminated back at Fort Lauderdale-FLL, but some would be routed to Miami-MIA or Orlando-MCO as necessary.
By 1976 the company began to provide air charter services beyond the travel club sector. Floridair replaced the original 727-100 with three new Boeing 727-200s and one new Boeing 707-320B. The 707 allowed the carrier to extend its reach further into Europe, as well as to the US west coast and South America.
Fleet Changes and Establishment of Cargo Operations
In 1985 Floridair overhauled its fleet. They removed their 727s from the active fleet and began to wet-lease them to other airlines, and took delivery of several Boeing 757-200s. The company also instituted a branding change, migrating away from its original, somewhat retro brand name to a more modern (for the 1980s) look.
In 1987 Floridair removed their DC-8 and 707 from active Floridair passenger service and replaced them with two new Boeing 767-300s to handle longer and busier routes. The DC-8 and 707 were converted into freighters and used to create a dedicated cargo operations division, Floridair Cargo, based at Fort Lauderdale-FLL. The company also began to recycle the 727s into converted freighters and add them to its profitable cargo unit.
Departure of Roy Flagler; Switching to Boeing 737NG
In 1994, company co-founder Roy Flagler decided to sell his interest in Floridair to Charlie Crockett and depart the company. The split was mostly amicable, and Mr Crockett used the occasion to buy out other family members’ remaining shares and become the sole owner of the airline.
For his own part, Mr Flagler went on to start up his own airline, Flagler Air, in 1997, operating flights between Miami-MIA and the Caribbean. His life after Floridair was fairly prosperous, although reportedly fueled by raucous parties typically involving copious quantities of hookers and blow. Mr Flagler mysteriously disappeared in 2010 while flying a pair of girlfriends in a private plane between Miami Executive-TMB and South Bimini-BIM, Bahamas. Neither he nor his aircraft were ever found.
From 1995, Floridair began purchasing Boeing 737-700s and Boeing 737-800s to use within the US and Canada, receiving their first examples of each in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The airline also started to phase out the older Boeing 757s, converting them into Boeing 757-200PCF freighters for the company’s growing cargo charter division. By 1999 the last of the company’s remaining 727 freighters were retired, while the DC-8 and 707 were retained.
Introduction of Schedule Air Service
A few days after Christmas in 2004, Charlie Crockett and his teenage granddaughter, Olivia Crockett (later known as Olivia Crockett-Galanis), were deep sea fishing together off the coast of Key West, Florida when young Olivia suggested that Floridair should offer not just chartered flights, but also regularly scheduled air service. Charlie, who was happy with the present arrangement and sometimes averse to change, disagreed. But young Olivia, known to be a bit headstrong, persisted until Charlie - remembering that Floridair was originally going to be a scheduled airline - finally agreed with her, that maybe the time had come to start daily scheduled flights to and from New York-LGA for example.
As a result of this discussion, in early 2005 Floridair finally entered the scheduled air service market as something of a low cost carrier (LCC), initially setting up daily nonstop service between New York-LGA and Chicago-MDW from Miami-MIA and Orlando-MCO, using the 737-800s. The move proved highly popular, and very lucrative for the company. Mr Crockett began to look at replacements for the company’s 767s, settling on the recently announced Boeing 787 as the solution. He placed orders for three of them.
Charlie Crockett’s Death
During the fall of 2005, Charlie Crockett became ill and was forced to hand over day to day control of the airline to Ken Hewett, who had replaced Roy Flagler as the company’s COO (chief operating officer) and Chief Pilot. A few months later in early 2006, Mr Crockett passed away due to complications from what would otherwise had been a routine medical procedure.
In his will, Mr Crockett passed all control of the airline over to his then-18 year old granddaughter, who would take over the company in 2013 at her 25th birthday. Until then, Ken Hewett would serve as CEO while Ms Crockett would attend college and receive appropriate executive training.
Ken Hewett Era (2006-2013)
Expansion of Schedule Routes
Mr Hewett began his tenure by adding more destinations to Floridair’s modest portfolio of scheduled routes. In Autumn 2006 he added scheduled routes to Miami-MIA and Orlando-MCO from London-LGW, Dublin-DUB, Paris-ORL and Frankfurt-FRA. Within North America, he also set up scheduled routes to MIA and MCO from Dallas-DFW, Houston-IAH, Boston-BOS and Philadelphia. Washington-DCA to MIA and MCO were also added in 2008, following a protracted bid to obtain takeoff and landing slots at slot-regulated DCA. Toronto-YYZ was added in 2009, and Denver-DEN joined the scheduled route network in 2011.
In 2008, Floridair began taking delivery of several Boeing 737-900ERs, most of them going to the scheduled services fleet to replace 737-700s and 737-800s that were in turn added to the charter fleet. Later 737-900ERs were added to charter flight operations as well.
Great Recession and Cargo Division Selloff
When losses began to occur due to the Great Recession of 2008-2009, Mr Hewett responded by looking for ways to quickly reduce costs. In early 2009 he retired the last of the airline’s Boeing 757 passenger jets, as well as the company’s vintage Boeing 707-320B and DC-8 freighters, while also cutting back on some scheduled flights.
In the Summer of 2009, Mr Hewett arranged to sell off Floridair’s entire cargo division to PDQ Express Aviation (now known as PDQ Aviation), thereby giving PDQ a more significant presence in southern Florida while infusing Floridair with more cash. As a result, Floridair managed to tough out the Great Recession and its lingering after effects without laying off a single employee.
2010s
With plans to reinvigorate Floridair’s fleet, during the Farnborough Air Show in 2012 Ken Hewett placed orders for the recently launched Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Boeing 737 MAX 9. It was a very substantial order, intended to replace the company’s current fleet of 737NGs while allowing the company to further expand the reach of its scheduled and charter operations.
In April 2013, fulfilling his promise to Charlie Crockett, Ken Hewett resigned as CEO of Floridair when Mr Crockett’s granddaughter, Olivia Crockett-Galanis, reached her 25th birthday. Mr Hewett resumed his former role as COO for three more years before retiring from the company in 2016 at the age of 60. He currently lives at his ease in South Bimini in the Bahamas.
Olivia Crockett-Galanis Era
As a child, Olivia Crockett-Galanis used to love visiting the cockpits of the company’s Boeing aircraft - particularly the older Boeing 727 trijets, but also the company’s venerable Boeing 707 freighter and Douglas DC-8. She was also impressed with the Boeing 767s that she occasionally flew on between Miami and various European cities. Often she would help the cabin crew serve passengers as well.
During her pre-CEO years she enjoyed spending time riding in the cockpit jump seat, where she would watch the pilots go about their work. Such visits were appreciated by both cockpit and cabin crews, who willingly shared their knowledge and experiences with her wherever she flew in those days. Having already received her private pilot’s license at age 17, Ms Crockett-Galanis went on to gain her commercial pilot’s license at age 20, then acquire her Airline Transport Pilot certificate at age 24.
Having completed college and gotten married, when Ms Crokett-Galanis turned 25 in April 2013 she became President and CEO of Floridair Airlines. Following her grandfather’s advice given shortly before his death, Ms Crockett-Galanis did not take any major decisions as CEO during her first year without first consulting with the more experienced Mr Hewett. She continued to visit with company employees at all levels very regularly, and encouraged them to share their concerns and suggestions with her.
Replacement of Boeing 767s with Airbus A350s
Ms Crokett-Galanis started things off by offering new scheduled flights to and from Los Angeles-LAX and San Francisco-SFO. She also decided to add Fort Myers-RSW as a destination for scheduled air service from several US cities and Toronto-YYZ.
However, the recent groundings of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which had been in service only two years at that time, suddenly became a prominent issue for her.
In line with the company’s best practices Ms Crockett-Galanis had always been generally pro-Boeing, and as CEO she was not inclined to consider adopting other types of aircraft. As Charlie Crockett would say, “Let’s not go fixing things that aren’t broken.”
However, after paying a visit to Boeing’s factories in and around the Seattle area during the spring of 2013 to meet their executives and discuss rescheduling the delivery of Floridair’s 787 aircraft, Ms Crockett-Galanis became apprehensive about the way Boeing went about doing things and the company’s cultural tendencies that were on display during her visit. Although she still liked the 737NG generation of aircraft, she became circumspect about the 787.
So it was that Ms Crockett-Galanis made the decision to go against the company’s history and not use Boeing as its longer haul wide-body aircraft provider.
In the spring of 2014, acting against the advice of Mr Hewett and despite an enticing counter offer made by Boeing, Ms Crockett-Galanis rejected the Boeing 787, instead signing a lease with JetStream Aerospace to acquire three Airbus A350-900s. Just over a year later JetStream delivered the first A350 to Floridair, and the 2nd aircraft arrived later in 2015. Both aircraft began flying on scheduled routes to Europe, and both 767s were retired.
The 3rd and final A350 arrived during the summer of 2016, and began servicing charter flights to Europe, Asia, and South America, as well as further flung cities like Johannesburg-JNB and Sydney-SYD. This 3rd A350 proved to be especially profitable.
Though he disagreed with Ms Crockett-Galanis’s decision to adopt the A350, Mr Hewett concluded that she was more than capable of running the company on her own. He retired in October 2016.
Boeing 737 MAX Cancellation and Switch to Airbus
Floridair was set to receive the first of its several Boeing 737 MAX 8s in the summer of 2019. Despite her increasing and somewhat instinctive dislike for Boeing, Ms Crockett-Galanis went against those sentiments and held firm on the 737 MAX orders previously set forth by the now-retired Mr Hewett, and she began planning for the company to receive them accordingly.
However, in March 2019, two similar crashes involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8 resulted in the grounding of all 737 MAX aircraft. After the 2nd crash occured, Ms Crockett-Galanis again reached out to JetStream Aerospace to discuss how to move the company over to Airbus jets.
At the 2019 Paris Air Show the company abrupted announced plans to cancel all of its Boeing orders, signing agreements with JetStream to facilitate a switch to the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft. The company also placed an order with Airbus directly to receive 6 of their new, groundbreaking Airbus A321XLR aircraft.
The Covid-19 Pandemic complicated operations for a time, forcing Floridair to store away a large share of its 737 fleet and both 767s. It also delayed the arrival of the new Airbus jets. Acting on timely advice provided by Mr Hewett, Ms Crockett-Galanis offered employees generous early retirement and closed out positions through attrition in a bid to avoid widespread layoffs. She also sent several stored 737-800s and all 767s to undergo freighter conversions, then wet-leased them to cargo and package delivery companies. These actions helped the company to bring in more income and avoid the risk of failure.
In early 2021 the first Airbus A319neos and Airbus A320neos began to be delivered. After the company also received its three Airbus A321LRs over the course of the same year, the carrier’s outstanding Boeing 767s were sold off. As operations gradually resumed under Covid restrictions, Floridair was able to retain nearly all of its scheduled flights and routes, but the carrier had to end all scheduled flights to Europe except to Dublin-DUB and London-LGW, which could be reached by the new A321LRs. Some deliveries of the new Airbus aircraft were delayed for various reasons, but by 2024 all Boeing 737-800s and Boeing 737-900s had been replaced by Airbus aircraft. Only a couple of Boeing 737-700s still remain, and they are scheduled to be removed by late 2024, thereby making Floridair an all-Airbus airline as Ms Crockett-Galanis had envisioned.
Destinations
Scheduled Service
Floridair provides regular scheduled air service to the following airports within the USA and Canada.
Boston-BOS
Chicago-MDW
Dallas/Ft Worth-DFW
Denver-DEN
Fort Myers-RSW - Focus City
Houston-IAH
Los Angeles-LAX
Miami-MIA - Focus City
New York-LGA
Orlando-MCO - Focus City
Philadelphia-PHL
San Francisco-SFO
Toronto-YYZ
Washington-DCA
Additionally, the following cities in Europe see daily scheduled flights to and from Miami-MIA and Orlando-MCO.
Dublin-DUB
London-LGW
Charter Services
Floridair provides scheduled charter flights to the following airports in Florida.
Daytona Beach-DAB
Destin-Fort Walton Beach-VPS
Fort Lauderdale-FLL
Fort Myers-RSW
Key West-EYW
Melbourne-MLB
Miami-MIA
Orlando-MCO
Panama City-ECP
Sarasota-SRQ
Tampa-TPA
West Palm Beach-PBI
Fleet
Current Fleet
The current Floridair Airlines fleet includes these aircraft types.
Boeing 737-700 - to be retired in late 2024
Former Fleet
Floridair Airlines previously operated the following aircraft types.
Boeing 707-320B/-320BCF - 1976-2009
Boeing 727-100 - 1972-1976
Boeing 727-200/-200BCF - 1976-1999
Boeing 737-800/-800BCF - 1995-2024
Boeing 737-900ER - 2008-2024
Boeing 757-200/-200SF - 1985-2009
Boeing 767-300ER/-300BCF - 1987-2021
Douglas DC-8-73/-73CF - 1972-2009
Ordered But Not Received
Floridair previously ordered the following aircraft, but later canceled them.
Boeing 737 MAX 7
= Nota Bene =
Floridair isn’t inspired by any real life airline. Air Florida and Florida Airlines provided a bit of insight about airlines historically based in Florida, but that was it.
No, Charlie Crockett was not a character on Miami Vice. That guy was named James “Sonny” Crockett. No relation.
Charlie Crockett’s portrait originally showed him manspreading in a big way, but I figured an official company portrait probably wouldn’t want to depict their boss like that so I trimmed it.
Observant readers may notice that Floridair’s flamingo logo evolved over time, from 1) a cartoonish looking 1970s dork-flamingo, to 2) a less cartoonish 1985-2014 flamingo, to 3) a very pretty and more realistic looking post-2014 flamingo depicted like the various animal mascots seen on modern day Frontier Airlines aircraft. Olivia Crockett-Galanis obviously played a role in the 2014 livery redesign. A woman with good branding instincts can do amazing things.
Olivia Crockett-Galanis’s sudden turn against Boeing probably wouldn’t be something most airline executives would do so quickly IRL, but a young CEO acting on instinct might, so she did. This is all fictional and I’m not necessarily anti-Boeing; in fact I recently flew to Mexico and back on Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft - the very same type that experienced the door plug blowout in January 2024. (I did decide not to sit in the exit row, though…) I think it’s incredibly important for Boeing to figure out how to overcome its quality control problems, because duopolies might suck but they don’t suck as bad as monopolies.
I had fun writing up this airline’s history, but it also showed me that writing up detailed histories about legacy airlines with longer histories can have their challenges, especially when they use lots of aircraft templates and portraits like this post did.
I’ll probably alternate posts between bigger/older airlines and newer/smaller airlines to even things out.
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
All aircraft templates shown in this article are licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.