Fine Air was an international cargo airline that operated from 1989 to 2002, when it was renamed Arrow Air following its bankruptcy and acquisition. It operated Douglas DC-8 and Lockheed L-1011 type jets to destinations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean from Miami International Airport.
History
J. Frank Fine founded the predecessor of Fine Air in 1976 as a leasing company which owned two Boeing 707 aircraft. Fine owned farming operations in twelve countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and sought a reliable support system for third-party operators to ship his products to the United States. His company was certified as a Douglas DC-8 repair station in 1986 and received an air carrier operating certificate in November 1992; it began scheduled cargo service in 1994 as the largest international air cargo carrier at Miami International Airport (as measured by tons carried).
J. Frank Fine's son Barry Fine became president in 1997, by which point the airline had a fleet of fifteen Douglas DC-8 aircraft. The airline was wholly owned by the two men for most of its existence.
Fine Air raised $123.5 million in an initial public offering on August 6, 1997, and planned to use the funds to purchase new aircraft and expand its cargo route network to Europe. Fine Air cancelled its IPO the day after the crash, and returned the full amount of the capital raised to investors. It voluntarily grounded its fleet on September 5 as an alternative to having its license revoked by the FAA, but received government approval to resume operations in October 1997.
Arrow Air acquisition and bankruptcy
thumb|Fine Air L-1011 in 1999
Fine attempted to acquire Southern Air Transport in July 1998 but abandoned the deal in August.
By 2000, Fine Air had around $200 million in annual revenue, more than 125 scheduled flights each week and a staff of more than 900 employees, handling 240,000 tons of cargo through its Miami hub in 1999. J. Frank Fine died in April 2003.
Accidents and incidents
thumb|Fine Air DC-8-61F N27UA, the aircraft involved in the [[Fine Air Flight 101 crash]]
On August 7, 1997, the day after the IPO, Fine Air Flight 101, a DC-8-61F registration N27UA, crashed shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport at 12:36 p.m. In the minutes following the crash, police were alerted to a fire at NW 72nd Ave, only to discover it was a plane crash. For nearly 45 minutes, mixed reports claimed the plane was a passenger flight, but within the hour the control tower at MIA confirmed it was Fine Air Cargo Flight 101. FAA Security Special Agents working out of an office on airport property (at that time) responded to the scene and simultaneously to the Fine Air Cargo offices where they took possession of the flight documentation. Some relevant documentations were recovered from garbage receptacles causing a criminal investigation to be opened and ultimately leading to charges including destruction and covering up of evidence. Fine Air and their ground handling agent Aeromar Airlines pled guilty to several of the charges and were fined approximately $5 million.
- Douglas DC-8-51
- Douglas DC-8-54
- Douglas DC-8-55
- Douglas DC-8-61 (one crashed as Flight 101)
- Douglas DC-8-62
- Douglas DC-8-63
- Lockheed L-1011
See also
- List of defunct airlines of the United States