Laker Airways (Bahamas) was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

founded in 1992,''Laker resurfaces with new Bahamas airline'', Air Transport, Flight International, 8-14 April 1992, p. 8
/ref> which operated until 2005.

History

Laker Airways (Bahamas) was a US-registered airline based in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

to which Sir Freddie Laker lent his name and operational expertise. The airline was established in 1992 with financial assistance from

Oscar Wyatt Oscar Sherman Wyatt Jr. (born July 11, 1924) is an American businessman and self made millionaire. He was the founder of Coastal Corporation and a decorated bomber pilot in World War II. In 2007 the U.S. federal court in Manhattan tried him for ...

, a Texas oilman and business partner of Sir Freddie Laker. The initial fleet comprised two

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

Advanced narrow-bodied jet aircraft. Laker Airways (Bahamas) stopped operating in 2005 when the firm was wound up.

Laker Airways "Mark II"

In 1996 Sir Freddie Laker and his

business partner A business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, an ...

, a self-made Texas oilman, established Laker Airways, Inc. as a sister airline to Laker Airways (Bahamas) to follow in the original, UK-based

Laker Airways Laker Airways was a private British airline founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966. It was originally a charter airline flying passengers and cargo worldwide. Its head office was located at Gatwick Airport in Crawley, England. It became the sec ...

footsteps.PR Newswire for Journalists (''Florida Attorney General sets July mediation deadline in Laker Airways antitrust suit against British Airways'', July 9, 1997)
/ref> Laker Airways "Mark II" leased two

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 197 ...

widebodied jets to operate low-fare, high quality

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

scheduled services, which commenced on 5 July 1996 between

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

London Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...

at a frequency of two return flights per week.HighBeam Research (PR Newswire, ''Laker Airways inaugurates Fort Lauderdale - London schedule service'', July 5, 1996)
/ref> Additional scheduled services subsequently linked

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

with

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and Glasgow Prestwick. Laker Airways, Inc. ceased operations in 1998.

Destinations in 1994 and 1995

According to the September 15, 1994 edition of the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight st ...

(OAG), Laker Airway (Bahamas) was operating nonstop

jet service between its main base in

Freeport, Bahamas Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama of the northwest Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted of pineyard with substantial areas of sw ...

(FPO) and the following U.S. destinations: *

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

(BWI) *

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

(BHM) *

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

- O'Hare International Airport (ORD) * Fort Lauderdale, Florida (FLL) * Greenville/

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Off ...

(GSP) *

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

(MEM) *

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

/ Durham, North Carolina (RDU) * Richmond, Virginia (RIC) *

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

(PBI) The April 2, 1995 OAG edition listed nonstop Laker 727 service between Freeport and the same U.S. cities above with the exception of Birmingham, Greenville and Memphis which were no longer served by the airline by this time with the following new destinations being served by Laker nonstop from Freeport as well:April 2, 1995 OAG Desktop Flight Guide, North American Edition, Freeport, Bahamas flight schedules * Cleveland, Ohio (CLE) * Hartford, Connecticut/ Springfield, Massachusetts -

Bradley International Airport Bradley International Airport is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England. The airport is about hal ...

(BDL) According to other OAG flight listings, additional U.S. cities were served at various times as well during the airline's existence.

Historical Fleet

Laker Airways Bahamas Boeing 727-200 at Piarco International Airport

Notes

References/External links

*
AirlinersNet PhotosCode and Aircraft Data
Airlines established in 1992 Airlines established in 1996 Airlines disestablished in 1998 Airlines disestablished in 2005 Defunct airlines of the Bahamas {{Bahamas-stub