CTS has been around for a long time. I think FedEx bought 'em around the 93-96 time frame. Doesn't matter anymore because CTS will cease to exist this summer. (I think it has something to do with the tax benefit of Puerto Rico going away) It wasn't really that much flying anyhow. It kept 3 Airbuses busy and had quite a few cancellations. Plus it wasn't uncommon to have a 6 hour "turn" in Puerto Rico.

I had a FedEx guy tell me I was "stealing" flying from FedEx on the 74. I said you need to be educated. First off the 747 had nothing to do with CTS and second Tradewinds or the previous incarnations of the airline had been around alot longer than FedEx and operating in a niche market. Third CTS is a subsidary of FedEx and is in a completely different market. Fourth, Tradewinds in an ACMI carrier, ya know a trash-hauler, I wished we were flying "for" FedEx. So, before you accuse anybody of stealing, you better know your facts. (By the way, the wikipedia page leaves out a lot of info).

I dont the exact history of how CTS was created but it had something to do with Wrangler (the jeans company) spinning them off in the 80s. It was known as Blue Bell-> Wranlger-> Tradewinds. They were flying the CL-44 up until the mid 90s and only stopped because they couldn't get engine overhauled anymore. Not to mention the pax service on the L-1011s that ran for a few years during the 90s.