Owen Roberts International Airport in August 1968 following the purchase of 51% of Cayman Brac Airways by the Cayman Islands Government from LACSA, an air carrier based in Costa Rica. The first aircraft type operated by Cayman Airways was a Douglas DC-3. International service was initially operated to Miami with a leased Douglas DC-6 propliner and the first jet operations were flown between the airport and Kingston, Jamaica with a British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven leased from LACSA. In 1972, the airline was operating its own stretched BAC One-Eleven series 500 jets on nonstop flights to Miami and Kingston as well as operating Douglas
Regional airline equipment, brought the independent regional airlines into direct competition with the major airlines, forcing additional consolidation. To improve on their market penetration, larger airline holding companies rely on operators of smaller aircraft to provide service or added frequency service to some airports. Such airlines, often operating in code-share arrangements with mainline airlines, often completely repaint their aircraft fleet in the mainline airline's sub-brand livery. For example, United Express regional airline partner CommutAir branded its entire fleet as United Express. On the other hand, regional airline Gulfstream International Airlines does not brand their aircraft. When Colgan Air was still operating, they