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The story
Founder
John Paul Riddle (1901–1989) was an aviation pioneer, a barnstormer who founded several pilot instruction schools, one of which became Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He also helped create a Brazilian pilot school during World War II which grew into the Escola de Especialistas de Aeronáutica of the Brazilian Air Force, a school for aviation specialists, the largest such military institute in South America.
Startup
J.P. Riddle incorporated Riddle Aviation Company in Florida on 28 May 1945. The carrier's original primary activity was flying to Brazil in support of Riddle's Brazilian aviation school. By 1946 the airline was flying freight from New York to San Juan via Miami. By 1948 the airline achieved stability transporting needlework. Riddle flew raw materials five days a week in Douglas C-47s from Teterboro Airport to Puerto Rico (where skilled needleworkers were paid 1/5 the New York rate) and brought back finished goods (such as fine gloves). Needlework was over 80% of Riddle's business at this time. The carrier was initially an irregular air carrier, but in 1951 the CAB certificated it as a scheduled freight airline between New York and Miami on the one hand and Puerto Rico on the other. See External links for a picture of a Riddle Aviation Co Curtiss C-46. The CAB approved a name change to Riddle Airlines on 3 December 1952.
A decade of ownership and management changes
Arthur Vining Davis was a powerful business leader of his time, having built Alcoa and industrialized aluminum in the US. In retirement, he invested heavily in South Florida land and companies. In 1953, investors forced out J. P. Riddle, only for him to regain control in 1954. Shortly thereafter, Davis started buying what became a dominant stake in the airline. In 1955, Riddle won a contract to fly seven C-46s for Logair, an Air Force domestic freight network. Also in 1955, the CAB awarded Riddle some of the north–south domestic cargo routes previously flown by defunct U. S. Airlines, with AAXICO getting the rest.
Unfortunately, the new routes, which Riddle launched January 1956, were deeply unprofitable and as Table 1 shows, financial results for 1956–1960 were extremely poor. AAXICO was no more successful, suspending its scheduled routes in 1959. By 1956, Davis owned 38% of Riddle. Davis also had 27% of Mackey Airlines, a small Florida-based international passenger airline, which he put into a trust to satisfy CAB concerns. Davis kept investing in Riddle, including backing new issuances; Riddle went public in July 1956. By 1959, 92-year old Davis owned over 60% of Riddle.
Davis replaced J.P. Riddle with a new president in 1958, but in 1959 Riddle lost its Logair contract, leading to a 50% reduction in operations. During 1959, Riddle's fleet collapsed from 40 to 14 aircraft. Davis installed another president, Robert M. Hewitt, previously Davis's partner in aircraft leasing. In 1960, Davis sold most of his stake to a Hewitt-led group; Hewitt estimated Davis lost $5 million (over $55 million in 2026 terms) on his Riddle investment. Hewitt expanded into military charters and transatlantic commercial charters with Douglas DC-7s, and won a Logair contract for bulky freight by acquiring the Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy. Results initially improved, and Riddle became the largest airline military contractor for the year ending June 1962. But Riddle could not operate the Argosy profitably or to the military's satisfaction and returned them in 1962. The next year, the military initially eliminated Riddle as a contractor entirely. Despite being the largest shareholder, Hewitt was forced out in October 1962 in favor of James B. Franklin, a former Capital Airlines executive. A new name, "Airlift International," became effective on CAB approval 16 March 1964.
C-46R
After World War II, the C-46 was unable to meet standards for passenger aircraft operated by certificated scheduled carriers; it did meet the looser standards for cargo flights and passenger flights on irregular air carriers. In the early 1950s, government standards tightened, forcing modifications so C-46s could meet the higher standards. By 1957, Riddle developed the C-46R, one of three such programs that met the new standards and increased the aircraft's speed, load and safety. Riddle converted at least several dozen aircraft. External links has a photo of the program demonstrator.
Katy the Kangaroo
Starting in 1958, Riddle's aircraft tails featured a cartoon kangaroo, with a pouch full of boxes and trailing a cylinder labeled "TNT," with a lit fuse (See External links for a photo). TNT stood for the tagline "Tonight Not Tomorrow" referencing the speed of airfreight. The kangaroo's name was Katy and a live kangaroo made publicity appearances. Riddle created My Fair Katy, a musical number based on My Fair Lady. In 1961, Katy made news by escaping her Miami Airport quarters. In 1963 she was handed to a creditor.
1960s bubble: Vietnam, Slick and a diverse fleet
In early 1963, Riddle restructured its debt, as part of which Douglas Aircraft agreed to finance two Douglas DC-8 convertible freighters, the first of which delivered that year, making Airlift the first all-cargo carrier to operate a pure jet and qualifying it for military contracts. 1965 was only the second profitable financial year (ending June) in Airlift's two decade history. The scheduled east-coast system still lost money, but increased demand due to an east-coast dock strike, robust military charter business and a five-day-a-week DC-8 charter for Alitalia lifted the company into profit. Military charters surged. Eight months into the government's fiscal 1966 (also year ending June) Airlift's military charter volume to Europe was double the original $6 million commitment, and the military added a further $3 million contract to fly to Vietnam.
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After World War II, Slick Airways became the largest air freight carrier, certificated in 1949 to fly a scheduled transcontinental route. Like Airlift, Slick found scheduled domestic air freight unprofitable. It suspended scheduled flights in 1958, resumed in 1962 only to stop again in 1965, leaving it with six aircraft flying military charters to Vietnam. This was a problem because the military awarded long-term contracts only to airlines with a meaningful civil business. Airlift acquired Slick on July 1, 1966. In the following 12 months (year ending June 1967) Airlift flew over $52 million (over $500 million dollars in 2026 terms) in military charters, compared to $19 million the prior year. In 1968, the CAB awarded Airlift Slick's former east-west scheduled freight routes, giving Airlift access to the west coast.
Slick's Canadair CL-44 turboprops and Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellations joined Airlift's DC-8s, DC-7s and C-46s. In 1967, Airlift added Boeing 707s, 727s, Lockheed L-100 Hercules and put a deposit on a Boeing 2707 SST; its May 1968 fleet comprised 36 aircraft across eight types (see Fleet). Good times ended abruptly. The need for cargo flights to Vietnam diminished in 1967, and the military first cut back propeller aircraft, including CL-44 turboprops (two of which Airlift was able to shift to flying on behalf of Lebanese carrier Trans Mediterranean). In fiscal year 1968 the military largely ceased chartering propeller aircraft, including the CL-44, which jets rendered uneconomic. Military revenue dropped and Airlift took large writedowns for obsolete aircraft. From financial year 1968 through 1971 Airlift posted $36 million in losses. The fleet shrank to only seven aircraft by December 1971 from 42 at December 1966 (see Fleet). Net losses in financial years 1970 and 1971 were disastrous, as shown in Table 2. The 1971 figures included $3 million in forfeited deposits (over $24 million in 2026 terms) when Airlift failed to finance delivery of three DC-8-63CFs, despite selling its three L-100s (and an associated Logair contract) to Saturn Airways in October 1970 to raise money. An ex-Airlift L-100 crashed, killing its three still-Airlift crew, the day after it was sold. (See Airlift Hercules). World Airways got the foregone DC-8s, (see External links for a photo of one of these failed DC-8 deliveries with World Airways registration and Airlift livery). Airlift recapitalized in October 1972 and at the end of the year Franklin stepped down in favor of Paul J. Finazzo. In October 1973, Flying Tiger tentatively agreed to buy Airlift, but by January 1974, the deal was off, Tiger and Airlift citing the energy crisis as a reason to end it.
Deregulation and Latin America
Airlift, along with Flying Tiger, World Airways and Trans International, attracted attention by flying DC-8s to Cambodia into the besieged city of Phnom Penh in early 1975.
The mid 1970s saw passenger carriers retreat from the domestic cargo business. Western, Continental, Eastern and Delta eliminated all-cargo aircraft service in 1970, 1973, 1973 and 1975 respectively. Passenger carriers increasingly relied on belly space of passenger aircraft to carry freight, nonoptimal because such aircraft fly during the day, not at night. Unfortunately Airlift took a 109 day pilot strike ending early March 1976, and the lack of freighter service by the passenger carriers induced air freight forwarders like Emery and Airborne to charter nascent freight hub-and-spoke systems of their own, limiting Airlift's ability to leverage reduced competition from the passenger carriers. At the end of 1977, the Air Cargo Deregulation Act deregulated the US domestic air cargo market. Airlift was in a self-admittedly weak position entering deregulation compared to the other two remaining all-cargo carriers. And Flying Tiger expanded into Airlift domestic markets in early 1978, putting further pressure on Airlift. But Airlift finally got what it long desired, authority to fly to Latin America.
Riddle first tried to enter Latin America in 1961 by buying Aerovias Sud Americana (dba ASA International), a small Florida-based freight airline certificated to fly to Latin America. Riddle argued ASA (which was in financial trouble) would improve with better aircraft connected to Riddle's domestic system. The CAB turned down Riddle in 1963. Airlift tried again in 1965. In 1968, with ASA moribund since 1965, the CAB refused Airlift (which wanted to use L-100s on ASA routes) a final time (after appeals), saying the ASA network would lose money for Airlift, and distract it from making the former Slick routes a success. Airlift sought Latin American routes again in 1973, but the CAB did not respond. In 1978, the CAB, acting against the advice of its own administrative law judge, finally gave Airlift authority to fly to 12 countries or territories between Argentina and the Dominican Republic. Airlift saw it as the break it was waiting for, but some of the most desirable destinations at the time, such as Venezuela, refused to allow it to enter. But Airlift was unable to handle domestic competition: 1980 was one of the worst financial years in its history. It ended service at 18 domestic cities, reducing the network to New York, Miami, San Juan and five Latin American points.
A near-ghost
In May 1981 Airlift stopped operating, unable to pay employees or aircraft insurance. It declared bankruptcy in June. Creditors forced appointment of a trustee in November, sidelining Finazzo. In 1982 he was named head of Hawaiian Air Lines. In June 1982, Airlift resumed service in a small way, initially flying military charters with a DC-8. Airlift limped along in Chapter 11, under trustee control, for over 10 years. In the late 1980s it acquired Fairchild F-27/Fairchild-Hiller FH-227 turboprop aircraft, for casino flights to the Bahamas and Atlantic City, and operated a DC-8 under contract to CF Airfreight. The airline filed a plan of reorganization in June 1988, approved by the bankruptcy court in January 1989, but it fell through. A planned 1991 liquidation was averted when an investor group made an offer; that also fell through. In March 1992, over 10 years into what was then South Florida's longest-running bankruptcy, Miami aviation entrepreneur George Batchelor made an offer, further forestalling liquidation; Airlift then had eight employees and a contract to fly prisoners for New York State. But Batchelor pulled out. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records show F-27/FH-227 operations as late as June 1992, but none in July. Remaining assets were auctioned in early August. Later that month, two former Airlift Fairchild F-27 aircraft were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew (see Accidents).
Depleted as it was, in 1992 Airlift was the last CAB all-cargo carrier standing. Seaboard World merged into Flying Tiger in 1980, Flying Tiger merged into Federal Express in 1989. Airlift, Seaboard and Flying Tiger were the only remaining CAB cargo carriers in 1978.
From Wikipedia’s article on Airlift International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3