Until a few months ago Air Florida was the cut-rate flight to the future of the airline business, a 9-year-old high flyer that used cheap seats and Green Stamps to teach the old established lines how to compete for riders.

One of the first small airlines to realize that deregulation of air service would revolutionize air travel, Air Florida in the last four years has grown from a $21 million-a-year operation that never flew outside of Florida to a $350 million international air carrier.