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interCaribbean Airways
Flying in the heart
of the Caribbean
Airways
“I
started the company by having a
love affair, not with the air –with a
lady.” So begins the history of inter-
Caribbean Airways Ltd., founded in
1991 by Lyndon Gardiner, who, by following his
own heart, wound up owning and operating
a wide-ranging group of air transport and air
services companies in the Turks and Caicos
Islands in the heart of the northern Caribbean.
“I was working at a bank and I had fallen in
love with a lady from the Dominican Republic
and I wanted to have the opportunity to go
over there and see her,” Gardiner continues.
“The scheduled flight left on Friday morning,
so I would have to leave work to try and catch
that flight. I took a couple of Fridays off and
then my boss got upset with me, and com-
plained that I was never there on a Friday, so
he asked me if there was anything he could
do for me. I told him if I had
enough money, I would be able
to go to Florida and get my pilot’s
license and then I’d be able to fly,
myself. He went ahead and gave
me a loan– about $5,000– and I
went to Florida, and in three week’s
time, I had my private
pilot’s license.
“A couple of months