Chalk's Ocean Airways
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| Founded | 1917 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 2007 | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Parent company | Flying Boat Inc. | ||||||
| Headquarters |
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Broward County, Florida, U.S. |
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| Key people | Rajan Nair, Owner, President & Director of Operations | ||||||
| Website | flychalks.com | ||||||
Chalk's International Airlines, formerly Chalk's Ocean Airways, was an airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in unincorporated Broward County, Florida near Fort Lauderdale. It operated scheduled seaplane services to the Bahamas. Its main base was Miami Seaplane Base (MPB) until 2001, with a hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. On September 30, 2007, the United States Department of Transportation revoked the flying charter for the airline, and later that year, the airline ceased operations.
The airline was founded by Arthur "Pappy" Chalk, and started ad-hoc charter operations as the Red Arrow Flying Service in 1917. After "Pappy" Chalk served in the Army Air Service in World War I, he returned to Miami and commenced scheduled service between Miami and Bimini in the Bahamas in February 1919 as Chalk's Flying Service. Chalk's first base was a beach umbrella on the Miami shore of Biscayne Bay. In 1926 a landfill island, Watson Island, was created in Biscayne Bay close to Miami. Chalk's built an air terminal there, and operated from the island for the next 75 years.
During Prohibition, Chalk's was a major source of alcohol smuggled from the Bahamas to the United States.
Pappy Chalk sold the airline to a friend in 1966, but continued to be involved in the daily operations of the airline until he retired in 1975. He died in 1977 at the age of 88.
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