Florida's Airport Boom: From 5 to 79 in Just 7 Years

NYRBA and Pan American vie for Dinner Key — and South America

In 1930, a challenger to Pan American begins service from Miami. Two well-managed, well-equipped airlines have South America in their sights. Only one will survive.

“Enchantment” of South America beckons

Founded by World War I aviation ace Col. Ralph O’Neill in August, 1929, the New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) had a high-profile, if short-lived, impact on Florida aviation history.

O’Neill had succeeded in cobbling together a formidable air route for NYRBA that extended from New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Well-financed, and with a fleet that included twelve luxurious 20-passenger Consolidated Commodore flying boats and nine 8-passenger twin-engine Sikorsky amphibians, O’Neill seemed poised to provide serious competition to Pan Am for service to Latin America.

Tampa hub rejected in favor of Miami

Initial plans to set up a southernmost U.S. hub in Tampa were scrapped after a NYRBA Sikorsky was damaged by a tree stump while landing at Tampa’s Drew Field in September 1929. The facilities were found inadequate for further use. Miami was quick to step forward with an offer to allow NYRBA to use Dinner Key, the site of the former WWI Navy base. Dinner Key was designated as an official port of entry for aircraft passengers on February 21, 1930, and on March 2, 1930, NYRBA inaugurated service from Miami to Havana, San Juan, Rio and Buenos Aires. NYRBA could, and did, boast that it had the largest and most comfortable planes regularly operating of any airline in the world — “giant all-metal liners built for the sea as their landing field.” In a visit to Miami in April 1930, O’Neill expressed satisfaction with the success of his airline.

At left: NYRBA Timetable, 1930. Courtesy https://www.timetableimages.com/

Lease negotiations falter

O’Neill’s satisfaction, however, soon turned to frustration as lease negotiations for Dinner Key became mired in a legal wrangle between NYRBA, Pan Am, the City of Miami and Hanover Trust Co., trustees for the property, which was owned by the estate of John E. Andrus of New York. In November 1929, Hanover Trust had given the City the right to lease Dinner Key temporarily, allowing NYRBA to use it while negotiations were still pending. Pan Am was also a party to the negotiations, having expressed its interest in sharing sublease rights to the former naval base with NYRBA. The City indicated its willingness to lease 80% of the Dinner Key base to NYRBA and Pan Am while retaining 20% for itself to be used for municipal seaplane operations. Months went by without agreement on the terms. At one point, NYRBA threatened to leave Miami. At another, the City threw up its hands, said it was abandoning the talks and demanded that Pan Am and NYRBA negotiate directly with Hanover Trust. On May 4th, after seven months and a lease that still hadn’t been signed, Hanover Trust served notice on NYRBA to vacate Dinner Key within 30 days. This finally appeared to have done the trick, as on May 15th it was announced that the two airlines had been able to reach an agreement with the estate trustees. “The people of Miami are assured by this arrangement that these two great aviation companies will maintain headquarters in Miami and will add important improvements to this property,” said The Miami Herald.

Pan Am plays its trump card

For NYRBA, the respite was brief. Pan Am, through its joint venture with the W. R. Grace & Co. shipping line, Panagra, already had a west coast route in Latin America that extended as far south as Santiago, Chile. In addition, Pan Am had been quietly, and successfully, conducting negotiations in Washington for Latin American foreign Air Mail rights without which profits could not be assured. The stock market crash of October 1929 had left NYRBA’s investors shaken and wary of putting additional cash into the enterprise. In July, NYRBA was forced to read the writing on the wall and agreed to a merger with Pan Am. A formal announcement of the completion of the merger was made on August 21, 1930, with a deadline of September 15th being set for transfer of property and equipment. For NYRBA, it was a bitter end. For Pan Am, it was a giant step forward. Not only did Pan Am acquire uncontested rights to the use of Dinner Key, but the acquisition of NYRBA’s east coast routes in South America now meant that Pan Am could provide service to the entire continent.

At left: Miami Herald, May 4, 1930

1930-1940