AIRWAYS HISTORY
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13 14 Two photos of DC-6 N90713 , the first at West Palm Beach , the second at West End . // BOTH PHOTOS : PROCTOR / LIVESEY / THOMAS COLLECTION
15 After selling Mackey Airlines to Eastern , Col . Joseph Mackey launched a scheduled air taxi operation called Mackey International Air Commuter . Beech 99 N699JM is seen here in the new company ’ s livery at Fort Lauderdale . // PAUL ZOGG COLLECTION
Also , in an unusual granting of seventh freedom rights , the airline was authorized to operate non-stop between Nassau and Havana . Now , the morning DC-4 flight — which had previously left the aircraft sitting all day on the ramp at Nassau ’ s Oakes Field before returning to Fort Lauderdale in late afternoon — took on a different flight number after arriving in Nassau and proceeded on to Havana . In Havana , the aircraft was serviced , changed flight numbers again , and returned to Nassau in time to operate the late afternoon flight back to Florida .
The purpose of this routing was to give holiday-makers the opportunity to experience both Nassau and Havana over a triangle route . A customer could fly Mackey non-stop from Fort Lauderdale to Havana , stay a few days , then travel on to Nassau for a continued vacation before returning to Florida Or , the triangle route could be taken advantage of in the opposite direction .
While Mackey ’ s passenger loads between its Florida points and Nassau , and between Florida and Cuba were excellent , the Nassau to Havana non-stop service was soon dropped .
As part of Mackey ’ s record at the renewal hearing , the CAB declared that , to date , the company had provided “ convenient , reliable [ service ]… at a low fare .” At the same hearing , Mackey received authorization to serve Bimini , Eleuthera , and Great Abaco in the Bahamas .
In January 1957 , the CAB dropped its requirement that Mackey passengers from Tampa and St . Pete had to be traveling to the Bahamas , allowing the company to carry customers domestically trans-state from both
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of those cities to either West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale . A total of 6,685 domestic passengers were carried on Mackey ’ s trans- Florida route in 1957 alone .
In 1958 , the gap between Miami and Fort Lauderdale was filled when the CAB allowed Mackey to operate between the two cities and to carry domestic passengers from Tampa and St . Petersburg to Miami , as long as the flight would involve a stop in West Palm or Fort Lauderdale . The company ’ s petition to extend its network northward to Atlanta via Orlando was denied .
The suspension of service to Havana in 1960 , after Fidel Castro ’ s rise to power , affected Mackey ’ s traffic . The number of revenue passengers carried by the airline dipped from 123,000 in 1960 to 104,000 in 1962 . But Mackey ’ s turf had always been the Bahamas , and traffic to the islands picked up when Mackey introduced larger , faster , pressurized DC-6s and a DC-6B . Although these were second-hand airplanes previously flown by trunk carriers as those airlines transitioned to jets , they perfectly fit Mackey ’ s purpose for transporting Florida day-trippers to Nassau , and even for those wishing a longer stay .
To further entice visitors from the US mainland , Col . Mackey built a 40-room hotel with a large restaurant and bar on South Bimini Island . Called the Sunshine Inn , the hotel was a testament to the Colonel ’ s faith in the Bahamas as a tourist destination .
66 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2024 www . airwaysmag . com