Mackey Airlines (until 1953Mackey Air Transport) was a small United States scheduled international airline flying fromFlorida to theBahamas certificated in 1952 by theCivil Aeronautics Board (CAB), the now defunct Federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transport. The airline was founded by Joseph C. Mackey. Mackey also flew toCuba prior to theCuban Revolution. In 1956, Mackey absorbedMidet Aviation, an even smaller CAB-certificated airline also flying between Florida and the Bahamas. Mackey merged intoEastern Air Lines in 1967.

Joseph C. Mackey learned to fly as a teenager inCleveland, flew liquor acrossLake Erie duringProhibition and partnered withRoscoe Turner in air races in the 1930s. In 1940, delivering aircraft to the UK for theRoyal Air Force, engine trouble forced his aircraft down inNewfoundland. Mackey, the only survivor, was left with a scarred depression in his forehead. Two others died on impact; a third, CanadianNobel Prize winner (for co-discovery ofinsulin)Frederick Banting, died of injuries and exposure later. Mackey flew for theUnited States Army Air ForceAir Transport Command duringWorld War II and emerged a colonel.^[2] Mackey died February 1982, age 72, only a few months after his second eponymous carrier,Mackey International, ceased operations.^[3]

In 1965, the airline had 230 employees.^[4]

Mackey Air Transport was incorporated in Florida 30 September 1946.^[5] The airline's first flight was 2 January 1953.^[6] In June, the airline changed its name to Mackey Airlines, the CAB reissued the certificate in that name in October. Flights flew primarily out of itsFort Lauderdale base and fromWest Palm Beach andMiami.On 3 December 1956, Mackey acquiredMidet Aviation, another CAB-certificated scheduled airline flying from Florida to Bahamas.^[7] The original Mackey Airlines certificate was transferred toEastern Air Lines on 8 January 1967.^[8]

As of November 1966 (same order as the timetable):^[9]

In March 1955,Aviation Week said Mackey Air Transport had fourDouglas DC-3s.^[10]

As of September 1961:^[11]

The following types were operated by Mackey Airlines:^[12]

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• List of defunct airlines of the United States

• Defunct airlines of the United States
• Eastern Air Lines
• Airlines established in 1946
• Airlines disestablished in 1967
• 1946 establishments in the United States
• 1967 disestablishments in Florida
• Airlines based in Florida

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