This Florida Airline Closed Down After Just One Flight

You’ve heard of TV shows getting canceled after one episode, but what about an airline that got canceled after just one flight? According to a book titled Commuter Airlines of the United States by R.E.G. Davies and I.E. Quastler, one airline has this dubious honor.

While many airlines today go by ‘Sun Air,’ a regional airline known as ‘Sunair’ lasted less than 24 hours. This airline was slated to provide plenty of air travel throughout Florida. Unfortunately, several financial setbacks stopped the airline dead in its tracks.

SunAir Rises and Sets

Sunair was founded in 1980 by a Fort Lauderdale accountant named A. Wayne Lackey. At the start of the decade, Florida had already been bustling with regional airlines such as Air Florida, Florida Airlines, Southern Airways, Provincetown-Boston Airline, and Shawnee Airlines.

Still, Lackey insisted that his airline would be a hit with state travelers. The airline launched a marketing campaign featuring a Pepsi-esque logo and the tagline ‘The Number One Way to Fly Florida.’

The founder took out television and newspaper ads to promote the airline and its vast network of 15 key locations. These included the base of Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Miami (MIA), Tampa (TPA), Jacksonville (JAX), Pensacola (PNS), and Orlando (MCO).

This commercial was even created by Bo Gehring and Associates and was found inside a company demo reel from 1983.

A marketing pamphlet also advertised the airline’s launch date of 15 January 1981. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

Lackey Wasn’t So Lucky

Despite the airline’s lofty ambitions, Lackey didn’t have the proper planning or finances to live up to them. Before even buying a single plane, Lackey had hired over 400 employees to manage flights.

Sunair was reportedly in talks with Swearingen to order four Metroliners in December 1980. However, something happened on SunAir’s end that left the airline empty-handed.

‘We don’t know why Sunair didn’t want to pay for them,’ a Swearingen spokesperson told local paper Florida Today dated 27 February 1981.

By the time the anticipated start date came around, the airline reportedly still had no aircraft to its name. According to the same article from Florida Today, Lackey stated he declined to purchase the aircraft because Swearingen only had two aircraft ready when it promised four. Lackey ‘hoped to have one aircraft’ by the following week.

While Lackey was counting on having a fleet of brand new Metroliners, he could only cobble together money to lease one Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, which was reportedly much slower in comparison. The Embraer came from Charlie Hammonds Flying Service in Louisiana.

‘Fly Until the Money Runs Out’

Sunair’s only day of service was 17 March 1981. The airline took just one flight from Fort Myers to Miami. Prior to the flight, Lackey reportedly gave the pilot a stack of cash and told him, ‘Fly until the money ran out.’

The airline closed down immediately afterward. While Sunair reportedly had hundreds of customers booked for flights, they all had to be canceled as the company had debts of over a million dollars.

Ten days later, Sunair filed for bankruptcy protection. Lackey insisted he could persevere and help SunAir through bankruptcy, but alas, the airline did not live to see another day.