Caribbean Sun Airlines Inc., trading as World Atlantic Airlines is an American airline operating on-demand and scheduled charter services. Its corporate headquarters are located in Virginia Gardens, Florida.

History

The airline was founded in September 2002 as ''Caribbean Sun Airlines''. in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

and began operations in January 2003 with flights from

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muñoz ...

in San Juan de Puerto Rico to Tortola, using the Bombardier Dash 8 Q100. On the flights, Caribbean Sun cooperated with the Antiguan sister company

Caribbean Star Airlines Caribbean Star Airlines was an airline based in Antigua and Barbuda. It operated scheduled passenger services in conjunction with Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) to destinations in the eastern Caribbean. Its main base was VC Bird Internation ...

, which also belonged to the

Stanford Financial Group The Stanford Financial Group was a privately held international group of financial services companies controlled by Allen Stanford, until it was seized by United States (U.S.) authorities in early 2009. Headquartered at 5050 Westheimer in Uptown ...

and enabled connecting flights to other Caribbean islands. Flight operations ceased towards the end of January 2007. The resumption of the same under the name ''Merengue Airlines Dominicana'', which was sought after a subsequent change of ownership was also unsuccessful, and so Caribbean Sun Airlines was finally sold to Tomas Romero, who renamed the company to ''World Atlantic Airlines''. The company, which from then on only operates under this name, then focused on the ACMI charter area. World Atlantic was one of the charter providers to Myrtle Beach Direct Air until the airline's bankruptcy in 2012, and was fined by the Department of Transportation in 2012 for regulatory violations in connection with this business. Since 2013, World Atlantic has acted as a charter provider to the

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

for deportation of individuals from the United States and recently per the NY Post delivering immigrants to Westchester NY. In April 2013, World Atlantic transported

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n voters from Miami to New Orleans to vote in the Venezuelan presidential election. In September 2017, World Atlantic Airlines also entered into a partnership with Venezuelan airline

Avior Airlines Avior Airlines C.A. (legally ''Aviones de Oriente C.A.'') is an airline based in Barcelona, Anzoátegui, Venezuela. It operates scheduled and charter services within Venezuela and the southern Caribbean out of its main hub at Generál José Anto ...

, having previously worked with LASER Airlines as part of the ACMI charter. As part of the business relationship with Avior Airlines, World Atlantic operated ACMI charter flights to Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Fleet

Current fleet

As of September 2022, World Atlantic Airlines operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

World Atlantic Airlines formerly operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

*On April 20, 2018, A World Atlantic

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

(registration N807WA) suffered a right hand main landing gear collapsed during landing rollout at Alexandria International Airport, in Louisiana, USA. Due to the gear failure, the right wing dragged on the runway creating a friction fire which was quickly put out by the airport rescue and firefighting personnel. The aircraft operated on a flight on behalf of the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

and originated from

Chicago-O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

. None of the 101 passengers on board were injured, but the aircraft suffered significant damage and was later written off as irreparable.

References

External links

World Atlantic official page
{{US-airline-stub Charter airlines of the United States Airlines based in Florida Airlines established in 2002 2002 establishments in Florida Companies based in Miami-Dade County, Florida