Aeromarine Airways

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Aeromarine Airways was a Miami-based flying-boat airline that operated from 1920 to 1924, in the era when air travel still felt like a maritime adventure with a better view. Its lineage began in October 1920, when Aeromarine Sightseeing and Navigation Co. consolidated with Florida West Indies Airways, creating Aeromarine West Indies Airways.

On November 1, 1920, the new concern began scheduled passenger and mail service between Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Converted naval flying boats, adapted for civilian travelers, traded long water crossings for an airborne dash over the Florida Straits. The operation also served Miami, Nassau, and other Caribbean points.

The airline was reorganized under the Aeromarine Airways name in 1921 and added seasonal Great Lakes service between Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan. In a short, very 1920s run, it carried passengers, mail, and freight—and even put an in-flight movie on the itinerary. Aviation had clearly decided subtlety was overrated.

Financial overreach brought another reorganization in early 1924, as Aeromarine Airways Corporation of New Jersey; flying operations ceased later that year. Its service had nonetheless helped prove that scheduled international passenger flying could be more than a stunt with tickets.

Our Aeromarine Airways collection celebrates the audacious flying-boat years: salt spray, leather luggage, Cuban-bound mail, and the magnificent confidence of taking a seaplane somewhere it had absolutely no business being late.