AIRWAYS HISTORY
24 industry should be deregulated because the CAB was too bogged down to act swiftly , the case was not heard until 1978 . But the outcome was positive : Mackey International was awarded a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity , which was approved by President Jimmy Carter on July 20 , 1978 . It was to become effective on September 22 of that year .
Because of Mackey International ’ s “ unusual circumstances ”, the company was also allowed to retain its air taxi authority , as Colonel Mackey told the Board : “[ W ] e operate one small aircraft , the Navajo … we serve 700 islands of which maybe 30 or 40 have potential growth … we can open many of these new markets with our small aircraft , building them into our large aircraft .”
At the time of its certification , in addition to the Navajo , Mackey International was operating five 44-passenger Convair 440s and three 85-passenger DC- 6Bs . The DC-6Bs were used on flights to Treasure Cay , Marsh Harbour , Providenciales , Grand Turk , and Cap Haitien . They also substituted for the Convairs on heavily-booked flights .
TOO LITTLE , TOO LATE
Mackey International ’ s certification was to become effective in September 1978 , but it would not be enough to save the Colonel ’ s financially ailing airline . Since 1971 , Mackey International had lost money every year except ’ 74 . And now , on the heels
70 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2024 www . airwaysmag . com