Northeastern Airlines Pilot Hat Badge

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1980 - 1986

Northeastern International Airways commenced operations on February 11th, 1982 between Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport using one Douglas DC-8 aircraft. The airline expanded rapidly; by the end of 1983, it served eleven cities in eight states, with its schedule consisting of flights to Florida from northeast, central and western US cities. On 8 January 1985, Northeastern International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and planned to cut its operations to sixteen daily flights from Florida to Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, using three Boeing 727s. In March, however, three of the aircraft were repossessed, and in August it was announced that JEI Airlines, which despite the name did not operate a scheduled airline service, had bought Northeastern, which had downsized to serving New York, Philadelphia, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale. Despite its stated intention to expand after the purchase by JEI, the company was liquidated during 1986.

© 2005 Stanley Baumwald @ stanwing.com All Rights Reserved.