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History Of Florida International Airways Air Florida Airlines was a small national and international airline based out of Miami International Airport. It started operations in 1972, after being formed in 1971. Air Florida operated jet service within Florida cities, but in 1978 it started flying beyond Florida and into other states. Air Florida was able to have a large presence on the Northeast-to-Florida market for quite some time during the 1970s and 1980s. It also operated international services to various points in the Caribbean as well as to London, Brussels, Shannon and Amsterdam from Miami. On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into Washington, DC 's 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River shortly after taking off. A total of 70 passengers and 4 crew people died, as well as four motorists; only four passengers and one crew member survived. It was discovered that the cause of the crash was that the plane's engines had been frozen by the snow just prior to the crash. Despite the freezing weather and snowy conditions, the crew failed to activate the anti-ice systems. Air Florida tried several times to buy out Western Airlines during the 1980s, to increase their presence in the West and begin flights to Mexico and Western Canada. However, the negotiations with Western, which later was absorbed by Delta Airlines, only got Air Florida 16 percent of the California based company. After it filed for bankruptcy, Air Florida eventually folded on July 3, 1984. The airline operated such types as the Boeing 707, McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and DC-10, Boeing 727s and Lockheed Electras along with the 737 jets. National Airlines National Airlines was a United States -based airline. It was founded in 1934 as a Florida-based airline. November 10 of 1958, National became the first airline to introduce domestic jet service in the United States, with a flight between Miami 's international airport and Idlewild International Airport in New York. In 1964, it became the first exclusively jet powered service in the United States, and by 1970 became the third airline to offer transcontinental passenger flights. National Airlines merged with Pan Am in 1980. In 1995, National Airlines came back, in the shape of a western region airline based in Las Vegas. Profitable at first, the second National used Boeing 757 jets with a party atmosphere-like livery to fly to many important regional points, such as Los Angeles and Phoenix. However, the new National was in financial trouble and it was forced to close its service once again. Also See:
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