As a tiny mid-Atlantic island some six-hundred miles away from the nearest land, it’s safe to say that life would be very different without the air services that connect us with the rest of the world. While we have all the advantages of our geographical remoteness, like clean air and crystal-clear ocean, modern aviation services mean we are just a couple of hours from New York and seven hours from London, enabling our international business and tourism sectors to thrive.
But the air passengers who arrived on the first scheduled flights to the island in June 1937 from Port Washington, New York, would have experienced a far less comfortable journey than the smooth ride we typically enjoy today. The route was shared by two different airlines, alternating weekly, using different models of four-engine flying boats. Imperial Airways, one of the predecessors of the modern British Airways, flew a Short S23, a two-storey aircraft known as the Cavalier. It was not considered safe for the British-made aircraft to fly all the way from London, so it was shipped to Bermuda in pieces and assembled on the island to resume service. Meanwhile, Pan American Airways flew the Sikorsky S-42B Bermuda Clipper.
The flying boats cut the journey time from New York down to five-and-a-half hours from forty hours. Passengers were subjected to the loud roar of the four engines in the minimally soundproofed cabin and frequently bumpy takeoffs and landings, which could be especially rough when sea conditions were lively. Because the cabins were not pressurised, these planes flew at low altitudes where weather turbulence was more common. However, the flying boats were considered the height of luxury travel at the time. Passengers disembarked at the air station on Darrell’s Island in the Great Sound, a facility that had been built by Imperial Airways.
On January 21, 1939, the Cavalier was forced to crash-land in the Gulf Stream about 400 miles off Bermuda after its carburetors iced up in bad weather. The plane sank into the ocean within fifteen minutes. Three people died, but the other ten survived eleven hours at sea before being picked up by the tanker Esso Baytown. The high-profile incident did little to deter the appetite for air travel to Bermuda, as the novelty of flying added to the sense of adventure for our mostly well-heeled visitors.
The Second World War brought a turning point with the arrival of military bases. When the war ended, Kindley Field — formerly a US Army airbase — became Bermuda’s first true airport for land-based aircraft. No longer reliant on seaplanes, Bermuda could now host larger, more efficient aircraft, regardless of weather or sea conditions. The first commercial flight to the new airport, operated by Pan Am, was the Boeing Stratoliner S-307 Flying Cloud, which flew from New York in January 1946. Later the same year, British South American Airways (BSAA) Corporation launched a fortnightly London-Azores-Bermuda-Jamaica-Caracas service, using Avro Lancaster aircraft.
An important development for Bermuda tourism came in 1948 when Trans-Canada Air Lines (known today as Air Canada), launched regular scheduled services from Montreal and Toronto. The arrival of commercial jets in the late 1950s and early 1960s revolutionised island access again. Jet engines cut travel time, increased passenger capacity and reduced costs. Airlines like BOAC (now British Airways), Eastern Air Lines, and American Airlines began offering regular services to more destinations. Bermuda was now firmly on the global map. For tourism, this shift was seismic. Air travel opened the floodgates for a new kind of visitor — those coming for long weekends, conferences or short getaways, not only extended holidays. The volume of tourists grew dramatically, peaking in 1987 at more than 637,000, as tourism became the main pillar of Bermuda’s economy. Hotels flourished, and restaurants and retailers thrived on the tourist dollar.
At the same time, after the birth of new insurers ACE and XL in the mid-1980s, international business really started to take off. Bermuda’s position between the time zones of the world’s great financial centres of New York and London made it attractive for international companies. The scale and frequency of air services that had grown to service the tourism industry made it feasible for executives to fly in and out within a day if needed. And that made the island more viable as a base for global operations, helping to fuel further business growth. Today, L.F. Wade International Airport connects Bermuda to numerous major cities. The swish, ultra-modern terminal building, opened in 2020, is a far cry from the old seaplane port at Darrell’s Island where it all started. From the splash of flying boats to the roar of commercial
