The story
Florida Airlines was incorporated on February 8, 1960, as Florida Air Taxi, Inc. in Tampa, Florida with William Taylor as owner. Taylor had purchased the company in the early 1950s from L. A. Stevens. The name was changed to Florida Airlines, Inc. on October 17, 1969. In 1969, the airline was sold to Lee H. Hill, Sr. and Lee H. Hill, Jr., owners of Hill-Donnelly Publishing company. In late 1973, it was sold by Hills to Arthur C. Allyn. Allyn had previously owned the Chicago White Sox and Executive Airlines. He was also the owner of Sarasota Jungle Gardens and a significant philanthropist in the Sarasota area. In 1975, the airline was purchased by Air South and Shawnee Airlines. The airline filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and suspended services in January 1980. The airline re-commenced operations as Southern International Airlines (SIA), based at Sarasota in early 1980 (operating under the 'Air Florida Commuter' banner). On December 2, 1981, Southern International Airlines (SIA) operations were suspended. The corporation was dissolved on December 14, 1982
From Wikipedia’s article on Florida Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3