Caribair was a Puerto Rican airline based in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...

, that served over a dozen destinations in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

as well as

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. In 1970, the air carrier was serving 16 destinations on 14 Caribbean islands, plus Miami. The airline offered

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

jet service via a number of intermediate stops including

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

(SJU) for its direct flight services between Miami (MIA) and Port of Spain, Trinidad. Caribair was the first Puerto Rico-based airline to operate

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, jet ...

on scheduled passenger services. The air carrier was acquired by

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. E ...

in 1973.

History

The history of Caribair dates to Powelson Airlines (aka, the Powelson Line and Powelson Air Service), an airline founded in 1938 by Dennis Powelson, a former pilot for Destileria Serralles in Ponce. On 27 February 1939, Powelson Air Service changed its name to Caribbean-Atlantic Airlines (aka, Caribair) simultaneous with the incorporation of Caribair. In 1946 Mr. Powelson sold Caribbean-Atlantic Airlines (Caribair) to Dionisio, Benigno and Juan Trigo, three Puerto Rican brothers with an import-export business and business interests in Spain. Caribair dissolved in 1973 when it was purchased by Eastern Airlines. The Caribair service was popular both with local residents and tourists alike, traveling between Puerto Rico and other

islands. By 1950, the airline's name had officially changed to Caribair and service to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

were initiated. Caribair continued to expand during the 1950s and 1960s, and by 1962, the Puerto Rico-based airline was serving a number of international destinations including

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands— Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and ...

, St. Thomas, St. Croix and

St. Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the north ...

. Domestic destinations included Mayaguez and Ponce. In the early 1960s, Caribair began operating select flights on behalf of

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

using

Convair 640 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

turboprop aircraft. In order to compete with an increase in flight activity from other airlines, including

British West Indian Airways BWIA West Indies Airways Limited, known locally as "Bee-Wee" and also as British West Indian Airways and BWIA International, was the national airline based in Trinidad and Tobago. At the end of operations, BWIA was the largest airline operating o ...

(

BWIA BWIA West Indies Airways Limited, known locally as "Bee-Wee" and also as British West Indian Airways and BWIA International, was the national airline based in Trinidad and Tobago. At the end of operations, BWIA was the largest airline operating o ...

) and

Leeward Islands Air Transport Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

(

LIAT LIAT (1974) Ltd, also known as Leeward Islands Air Transport Services and operating as LIAT, is a regional airline headquartered in Antigua and Barbuda that operated high-frequency inter-island scheduled services to 15 destinations in the Caribb ...

), Caribair put into service new

jetliners, becoming the first Puerto Rico-based airline to offer modern jet service.

Destinations

The following destination information is taken from the Caribair system timetable dated April 1, 1970. According to this timetable, Caribair was operating all scheduled passenger flights at this time with

jetliners as the airline's

turboprop aircraft had been withdrawn from scheduled services. * Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) * Castries, St. Lucia - ''Vigie Airport, now known as

George F.L. Charles Airport George F. L. Charles Airport (commonly known as Vigie Airport) is the smaller of the two airports in Saint Lucia, the other being Hewanorra International Airport. It is located north of Castries, the capital city. George F. L. Charles Airport is ...

'' (SLU) * Fort-de-France, Martinique (FDF) * Kingston, Jamaica (KIN) * Miami, Florida (MIA) * Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) * Oranjestad, Aruba (AUA) * Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe (PTP) * Port-au-Prince, Haiti (PAP) * Port of Spain, Trinidad (POS) * Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ) * St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (STX) * St. John's, Antigua (ANU) * St. Maarten (SXM) * St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (STT) * San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) - Home Base * Willemstad, Curacao (CUR) In 1968, Caribair was operating a mixed fleet consisting of both

jets and

turboprops with the latter being used to provide scheduled flights into destinations that were either operationally constrained with regard to DC-9 service or simply could not support the passenger numbers required for profitable jet operations. A number of these destinations were eliminated from the Caribair route system when the airline decided to operate only DC-9 jet service. These former destinations included the islands of Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and St. Kitts as well as Mayaguez,

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

and Ponce on the island of Puerto Rico.

Historical fleet

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...

(11 aircraft) - this was also the workhorse of the Caribair fleet well into the 1960s, making regular jaunts between San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez, particularly before the construction of modern highways on the island. * McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 (3 aircraft) - ''The DC-9 was the only jet aircraft type operated by Caribair''. *

Convair CV-340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

(9 aircraft) *

Convair CV-440 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

(leased) (2 aircraft) * Convair CV-640 (7 aircraft) - ''The CV-640 was the only turboprop aircraft type operated by Caribair''. * Lockheed Model 50 (leased) (2 aircraft) * Stinson SM-6000-A/B (5 aircraft)

Alleged UFO sightings

In June 1970, the Puerto Rican Air National Guard apparently received reports from a Caribair jet as well as from a

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United State ...

(Pan Am) jetliner concerning a mysterious object in the air. Pilots in both aircraft claimed to have seen an unidentified flying object (

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

) close to San Juan's Isla Verde International Airport. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

( FAA) released a statement about this incident in 1977.4

References

External links