RED CARPET AIRLINES
Red Carpet served St.
Petersburg, Key West, Tampa, and the Cayman
Islands with a fleet of Douglas DC-3s and Convair 440s. In 1981 the
airline changed its name to Aerosun
International.
DC-3 N700RC (msn 11628). Red Carpet's DC-3 flights between St. Pete and Grand Cayman took over 3 hours including a refueling stop in Key West.
DC-3 N700RC (msn 11628). Red Carpet's DC-3 flights between St. Pete and Grand Cayman took over 3 hours including a refueling stop in Key West.
Red Carpet Airlines timetable effective June 1, 1980 courtesy of Don Henchel. The airline had moved their operations from St. Pete to Tampa by this time.
Robert Decker sent
in this interesting note:
As a teen, my girlfriend Claudia and I were lucky enough to escort a live dolphin (keeping it wet in a hammock), to Flipper's Sea School in Marathon Key then on to Key West on the actual plane you have a photo of for RED CARPET AIRLINES. We went diving in the Keys and got to hang with folks at Flipper's Sea School. And yes, they did have a cargo area and some of the seats removed. I later moved to Key West and used to fly on Air Sunshine (Known in Key West as "Air Sometimes") quite a bit to and from Miami, and of course this was before they had any jets in the late 70's.
As a teen, my girlfriend Claudia and I were lucky enough to escort a live dolphin (keeping it wet in a hammock), to Flipper's Sea School in Marathon Key then on to Key West on the actual plane you have a photo of for RED CARPET AIRLINES. We went diving in the Keys and got to hang with folks at Flipper's Sea School. And yes, they did have a cargo area and some of the seats removed. I later moved to Key West and used to fly on Air Sunshine (Known in Key West as "Air Sometimes") quite a bit to and from Miami, and of course this was before they had any jets in the late 70's.
Becky Wilson was a flight attendant for Red Carpet and wrote:
I was a flight attendant for Red Carpet Airlines in the early 1970s. We took charter groups to dive trips for the most part. My "uniform" was an outfit I already owned and the passenger meals were bologna and cheese sandwiches made by me during the flight. On one trip to Grand Cayman we were given a shipment of 2 thousand pounds of frozen lobsters to bring to Pinellas Seafood. We took out the seats and flew those lobsters home. It was freezing inside the DC3. I got a garbage bag full of frozen lobsters for my efforts. What fun!
I was a flight attendant for Red Carpet Airlines in the early 1970s. We took charter groups to dive trips for the most part. My "uniform" was an outfit I already owned and the passenger meals were bologna and cheese sandwiches made by me during the flight. On one trip to Grand Cayman we were given a shipment of 2 thousand pounds of frozen lobsters to bring to Pinellas Seafood. We took out the seats and flew those lobsters home. It was freezing inside the DC3. I got a garbage bag full of frozen lobsters for my efforts. What fun!