1 airlines usa - airport spotting

1 Airlines USA

2Airlines USA

First published 2022

Destinworld Publishing Ltd

www.destinworld.com

© Matthew Falcus 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

3 Airlines USA

4Airlines USA

TABL

E O

FIntroduction

Scope of the Guide

The First Boeing 747-400

Passenger Airlines

Classic Airline Fleets – PSA’s Smiliners

Charter Airlines and Private Carriers

Reinventing Air Freight – Amazon Air

Cargo Airlines

5

9

5

92

112

6

99

115

CO

NTE

NT

5 Airlines USA

Introduction

Hunger among aviation enthu-siasts for good, accurate and up-to-date guides to the air-

lines and aircraft they see has always remained high. Yet with the prolifer-ation of online information it is diffi-cult to pick out one source where all information is available in one place.

This guide is intended to provide a one-stop resource on the airlines located within the United States of America and its dependencies with all the useful information to help with identification and background infor-mation.

Scope of the Guide

In this guide we have covered all airlines and air carriers with-in the United States, Micronesia and Puerto Rico. Only airlines carrying out scheduled cargo or passenger services, or regular

charter or military services using aircraft of at least six seats. This naturally leaves out many smaller carriers who provides on-de-mand charters and VIP flying services, however the nature of these operators fall outside the scope a guide to airlines.

Where possible we have provided graphical representation of each airline’s current livery, as well as previous livery if it is still seen on some of the active fleet. We have also tried to include special liver-ies, however these can come and go regularly so some may not be included.

The worldwide commercial aviation industry has seen massive changes during, and as a result of, the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Therefore it is now more relevant than ever to pro-vide and up-to-date guide to the airlines currently operating and their sphere of bases and aircraft fleets.

Naturally the situation changes reg-ularly and information does go out of date quickly. However, the bene-fit of providing this as a digital guide to our members means we can offer regular updates without the need to print physical copies.

6Airlines USA

The First Boeing 747-400

Riding high on the success of the world beating Jumbo Jet, Boeing was keen to introduce a new variant that would offer customers more advanced avionics, improved engines, bet-

ter passenger and crew comfort and, importantly, cost savings on its operation.

Having already introduced the 747-300 in 1980, offering great-er passenger capacity, the 747-400 was a natural progression in which this extra capacity was included, but changes in the wing design, engines, and cockpit were incorporated to make it a more fuel efficient aircraft with greater range. It also allowed a two-man cockpit crew for the first time, eliminating the Flight Engineer posi-tion, and included a so-called ‘glass cockpit’ with computers and LCD screens replacing traditional dials and gauges.

At the end of the wings, six-foot tall “winglets” were added to im-prove aerodynamic efficiency and reduce drag.

Airlines were quick to order the new variant, and the prototype – registered N401PW – flew for the first time on 29 April 1988 from Ev-erett Paine Field north of Seattle.

This particular airframe underwent a period of testing ahead of

7 Airlines USA

On 9 October 2002, N661US was involved in an incident while flying from Detroit to To-kyo Narita. While high over the Bering Sea, the aircraft sudden-ly banked hard to the left.

The crew de-clared and emergency and fought to regain control of the aircraft, using a combination of aileron and asymmetric thrust. They were able to land safely at Anchor-age’s Ted Stevens International a short while later.

An investigation found a fatigue fracture in the lower rudder power control module, resulting in all other 747-400s having their similar units inspected and replaced where necessary.

Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced they would merge on 14 April 2008, creating the world’s largest airline at the time.

Much of Northwest’s fleet, including its Boeing 747-400s (and N661US) would continue to fly with the new carrier. The fleet would be repainted in the co-lours of Delta, and be deployed around the airline’s now combined route net-work. However, in reality, the 747-400s would continue to ply the important Far East routes, as well as some serviced to Europe.

Disaster Averted

To Delta

certification. However, it was always intended for commercial service and would soon be delivered to Northwest Airlines as N661US, ship 6301.

Its first flight for the airline was between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Phoenix in February 1989, before being transferred to the long-haul trans-Pacific routes operated by the airline as other 747-400s were delivered.

8Airlines USA

As the planned life of the 747 fleet drew to a close, N661US was thankfully ear-marked by Delta for preservation.

Its popular Delta Flight Museum outside Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Interna-tional Airport has a growing collection of the airline’s important fleet types and it began to prepare to receive the largest aircraft yet.

N661US flew its final flight on 9 September 2015, between Honolulu and Atlan-ta, and was soon transferred over to the museum site where preparations began to open it as an exhibit for the public to enjoy. In its life it flew 61 million miles and carried hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Almost 700 examples of the 747-400 were built, across the original, freighter, combi and Extended Range variants, before production ceased in 2007 as Boeing switched to the new 747-8. Today few remain in passenger service, with airlines like British Airways, United Airlines, KLM, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic retiring their fleets over the past few year. Today the active 747-400s around the world mostly consist of freighters and passenger variants converted into cargo-carrying roles.

It is an important legacy to preserve this airframe for the future, allowing people to come aboard and see how it was constructed and learn about its life.

Into Retirement

9 Airlines USA

Passenger AirlinesPassenger AirlinesAirBahn

Air Choice One

FoundedHeadquartersHubsFleet

FoundedHeadquartersHubs

Fleet

: 2018: Santa Ana, CA: Santa Ana, CA: 1x Airbus A320-200

: 1979 : Concord, MO: Chicago O’Hare, IL; St. Louis Lambert International, MO: 1x Beechcraft 1900C 9x Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

Created by the founder of Airblue in Pakistan, this air-line hopes to com-mence operations from Santa Ana in Southern California in 2022 using Air-bus A320 aircraft and taking advan-tage of the low-cost model. One aircraft, formerly flown by Airblue, has been delivered so far.

Air Choice One, op-erated by Multi-Ae-ro, Inc, operated essential air ser-vice (EAS) routes from smaller re-gional airports into larger hubs. The livery is fairly non-descript and differs from aircraft to air-craft.

ARB

3E | WBR

© Icyaviator

10Airlines USA

Air Sunshine

Air Wisconsin



Fleet

: 1982: San Juan, Puerto Rico: San Juan, Puerto Rico: 2x Beechcraft 1900 4x Cessna 402 2x Saab 340

: 1965: Appleton, WI: Appleton International, WI; Chicago O’Hare, IL (United Express); Washington Dulles, VA (United Express): 63x Bombardier CRJ200ER/LR 1x Bombardier CRJ200SF

This Floridian air-line bases its op-erations out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, using various re-gional turboprops on flights around the Caribbean.

Its livery var-ies slightly be-tween aircraft, but is based around a sunshine motif on a blue tail, with waves of blue and gold running along the lower fuselage.

YI | RSI

ZW | AWI

11 Airlines USA

Air Wisconsin was founded as Fox Cities Airlines in 1965 to op-erate flights between Appleton, Wisconsin and Chicago ini-tially using de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

In 1985 the airline merged with Mississippi Valley Airlines - a regional air carrier serving the Upper Midwestern region of the United States – following a $10 million takeover; the combined carrier continued operating as Air Wisconsin.

In 1990, Air Wisconsin purchased Aspen Airways, based in Denver. Like Air Wisconsin it had a marketing deal with United Airlines to feed passengers into its hubs. The following year Air Wisconsin became one of the first airlines to pioneer the codeshare agreement when it joined United Airlines to fly as United Express, alongside Aspen Airways and WestAir. The deal did not involve any equity being taken in these airlines, but saw feeder operations taking place at United’s various hubs. In the case of Air Wisconsin, it would deliver passengers from regional airports into the United hub at Chicago O’Hare under the guise of a United flight number, where connections could be made to the worldwide network of flights on offer.

United Airlines agreed to purchase Air Wisconsin in 1991 for $72 million, in a stock-for-merger transaction. However, in 1993 United Airlines sold Air Wisconsin to CJT Holdings but it continued as a United Express feeder.

A brief feeder deal with AirTran Airways under the brand Air-Tran JetConnect was flown by a number of Air Wisconsin air-craft, but this ended in 2004. Two years later, the deal with United Express also ended due to problems with its unions.

From 2005 Air Wisconsin operated as a US Airways Express feeder carrier from East Coast hubs. It continued as an Amer-ican Eagle feeder following the merger of American and US Airways in 2013, until 2018 when, once again, it became a Unit-ed Express operator.

All aircraft wear the United Express livery, apart from a recent-ly acquired CRJ200 freighter aircraft, which wears the airline’s own livery.

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Alaska Airlines


Fleet

: 1932 : Seattle/Tacoma, WA: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Boise, ID; Los Angeles International, CA; Portland, OR; San Diego, CA; San Francisco International, CA; San Jose, CA; Seattle/ Tacoma, WA: 27x Airbus A320-200 10x Airbus A321neo 11x Boeing 737-700 3x Boeing 737-700(BDSF) 61x Boeing 737-800 11x Boeing 737-900 79x Boeing 737-900ER 15x Boeing 737 MAX 9

AS | ASA

Alaska Airlines can trace its history back to 1932, when McGee Airways was launched in Anchorage using Stinson single-engined aircraft to fly passen-gers and cargo to Bristol Bay. In 1934, McGee was sold to Star Air Service, an-other passenger and cargo carrier based in Anchorage, who had a fleet of 15 aircraft. Star Air also bought Alaska Interior Airlines in 1937.

In 1941, Star Air Service changed ownership, and three additional airlines were purchased and incorporated into the company, namely Lavery Air Service, Mirow Air Service, and Pollack Flying Service. It was decided to rename the carrier Alaska Star Airlines, and then in May 1944 Alaska Airlines following a

13 Airlines USA

Alaska’s Special Liveries

battle to secure rights to the name.

In the 1970s Alaska Airlines introduced the famous logo of an Eskimo face, which remains adorned on the airline’s aircraft to this day.

Seeing a significant opportunity to expand, the airline became a big sup-porter of the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act. When the Act came about, Alaska went from serving 11 cities with ten aircraft to a much-expanded operation. It added cities such as Burbank, Ontario, Palm Springs, Portland, and San Fran-cisco by 1981. In 1985 it added Boise, Oakland, Phoenix, San Jose, Spokane, and Tucson.

Horizon Air was another airline purchased by Alaska’s holding group, Alaska Air Group, in 1986. It continued to operate under its own brand name, but of-fered feeder and connection services to Alaska Airlines – which it continues to this day (see separate entry).

On April 4, 2016, Alaska Air Group announced it would acquire Virgin America, an airline based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. With Virgin America op-erating hubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the merger greatly expanded the presence of Alaska Airlines in California and the West Coast.

Today, Alaska Airlines is an immensely respected and sizeable airline with a network of over 115 cities stretching across the United States. It operates a fleet of modern Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 family aircraft, including the neo and MAX variants respectively. Despite its large presence at hubs such as Los Angeles and Seattle/Tacoma, the airline also continues serving communities in Alaska in combined passenger and cargo configuration aircraft.

The current livery was unveiled in 2016, with a blue tail and Eskimo face, and shades of blue and green incorporated.

Alaska Airlines continues to paint many of its aircraft in special liveries usu-ally relating to corporate advertising deals (such as with sports teams, drinks companies and The Walt Disney Company), as well as military organisations. Another special livery held over from the Virgin America merger is known as ‘More to Love’ and features an all-over red, blue and purple scheme.

14Airlines USA

Here’s the current Alaska Airlines special liveries at the time of printing:

San Francisco Giants – Airbus A320 N855VA

Boeing ecoDemonstrator – Boeing 737 MAX 9 N979AK

Russell Wilson – Boeing 737-900ER N296AK

15 Airlines USA

Pride in the Skies – Airbus A320 N854VA

Seattle Kraken – Boeing 737 MAX 9 N915AK

Spirit of the Islands – Boeing 737-800 N560AS

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UNCF Commitment Plane – Boeing 737-900ER N492AS

Honoring Those Who Serve – Boeing 737-800 N570AS

Starbucks Holiday – Boeing 737-900ER N238AK

17 Airlines USA

Celebration of Boeing – Boeing 737-900ER N248AK

Honoring Those Who Serve 2 – Boeing 737-900ER N265AK

More to Love – Boeing 737-800 N493AS

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Salmon Thirty Salmon – Boeing 737-800 N559AS

More to Love – Airbus A321neo N927VA

Friendship and Beyond at Disneyland® Resort – Boeing 737-800 N537AS

19 Airlines USA

Orca One – Boeing 737 MAX 9 N932AK

Spirit of Disneyland® II – Boeing 737-900 N318AS

Alaska Airlines’ partner feeder carrier Horizon Air also features a number of special liveries. See separate entry.

© N

ick Sheeder

20Airlines USA

Aleutian Airways

Allegiant Air

FoundedHeadquartersHubs Fleet


Fleet

: 2021: Anchorage, AK: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK: 1x Saab 2000

: 1997 : Las Vegas, NV: Allentown, PA; Appleton, WI; Asheville, NC; Bellingham, WA; Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Des Moines, IA; Flint, MI; Fort Walton Beach, FL; Fort Lauderdale/Holly wood, FL; Grand Rapids, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Knoxville, TN; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles International, CA; Nashville, TN; Orlando/Sanford, FL; Phoenix-Mesa, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Punta Gorda, FL; Savannah, GA; St. Petersburg, FL: 38x Airbus A319-100 66x Airbus A320-200

A joint venture of Alaska Seaplanes and Sterling Air-ways. Due to com-mence operations in March 2022 with a single Saab 2000 on the route An-chorage to Dutch Harbor/Unalaska.

G4 | AAY

21 Airlines USA

One of the United States’ largest low-cost airlines which has made serving second-tier airports part of its strat-egy. This focus sees it deliver millions of leisure passengers every year to key destinations like Las Vegas (its home base), Florida and Arizona.

Founded in 1997, it was in 1998 that Allegiant began flying using Douglas DC-9 aircraft. It continued to grow and expand through the 2000s, ac-quiring a large fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series aircraft, add-ing Boeing 757s in 2010 to serve Ha-waii.

The airline now has a fleet made up entirely of second-hand Airbus A319s and A320s, with more due to arrive. Its livery features a bright sun on a blue tail, with white forward fuselage. Some aircraft still wear the previous livery, which has a slightly different rear fuselage scheme and ‘Travel is our deal’ titles.

22Airlines USA

American Airlines


Fleet

: 1926 : Dallas, TX: Charlotte Douglas International, NC; Chicago O’Hare, IL; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Los Angeles International, CA; Miami International, FL; New York JFK, NY; New York LaGuardia, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix Sky Harbor, AZ; Washington National, DC: 127x Airbus A319-100 48x Airbus A320-200 215x Airbus A321-200 38x Airbus A321neo (+ 32 on order) 266x Boeing 737-800 41x Boeing 737 MAX 8 (+ 59 on order) 47x Boeing 777-200ER 20x Boeing 777-300ER 24x Boeing 787-8 (+13 on order) 22x Boeing 787-9 (+30 on order) (+ 50x Airbus A321XLR on order)

AA | AAL

The story of American started on 25 January 1930 when American Airways was formed out of a number of companies which had been operating early airmail routes both within the USA and into Canada. Of these companies, Aviation Corporation, Colonial Airways, Southern Air Transport, and Universal Aviation Corporation became the four to merge and form the new airline.

23 Airlines USA

Later in the year, Standard Airlines was also acquired, along with its Los An-geles-Dallas mail route, which enabled American to complete its southern transcontinental link.

The airline changed its name to American Airlines on 11 April 1934, and was awarded contracts to fly from Boston to Cleveland and Newark, Fort Worth to Chicago, Los Angeles and Newark, Nashville to Cleveland, and Washington to Chicago. It took delivery of its first Douglas DC-2 aircraft to link New York and Chicago from December of that year. The airline worked with Douglas to develop the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) modification of the DC-2, which it put to use on transcontinental sleeper flights, allowing 14 passengers com-fortable beds on board for the long flight. The DST became the iconic DC-3.

American witnessed a period of route expansion in the 1970s to accompany its fleet expansion. It began services across the Pacific to Australia, New Zea-land, Hawaii, Fiji and American Samoa. With the acquisition of Trans Carib-bean Airways, it acquired routes to various Caribbean destinations. Then, in a route exchange with Pan American, routes to Barbados, Bermuda and Santo Domingo were also acquired.

In the 1980s, older jet aircraft such as the Boeing 707 and early 727s were retired, and new Boeing 767-200s and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series air-craft joined the fleet; the latter would grow into a large fleet of 170 examples at its peak – the largest fleet of the type with any airline.

The American Eagle feeder airline (see later) was started in November 1984 to provide regional flights to smaller airports from Dallas/Ft Worth using the airline Metroflight.

Having very little West Coast presence, in 1986 American merged with Air California (known by this stage as AirCal).

In 1999, American purchased Nevada’s Reno Air, taking on its network from Nevada and California bases, and its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83, MD-87, and MD-90 aircraft. The same year, American became a founder member of the oneworld alliance. Some aircraft wear its titles.

American continued expansion by purchasing the floundering Trans World Airlines in 2001, acquiring its fleet, route network, and St. Louis hub.

Rumours began of mergers between American and carriers such as Alaska Airlines, Frontier, JetBlue, and US Airways. However, it was the latter which would support the proposal and officially begin negotiations from 31 August, 2012. On 14 February, 2013, it was announced the AMR Corporation and US Airways Group would merge, forming an airline with a global reach of 336

24Airlines USA

destinations in 56 countries, and 6,700 daily flights. The airline retained the American Airlines name, and Dallas/Ft Worth hub.

For many years American’s aircraft wore a polished bare metal fuselage with red and blue cheatlines, titles and logos applied. Since 2013, however, the current livery which now features a painted fuselage, began to appear and, apart from some retro aircraft (see later), the polished metal has dis-appeared.

American Airlines and its Heritage Liveries

American Airlines Retro

The giant airline we know today as American Airlines is the product of a rich tapestry of airlines that have come before it, and mergers that have taken place over the years.

Thankfully American continues to reflect this heritage through a series of special liveries worn by aircraft in its fleet, marking the airlines that have been merged into it. These liveries are always a special catch for aviation photographers and are something of a reminder for older enthusiasts of how airports around America once looked.

To start with, Amer-ican Airlines has painted its old ‘As-trojet’ livery on one of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft (N905NN). This scheme was worn by the airline’s ear-ly jet airliners in the 1960s and shows off the polished bare metal worn by all American Airlines aircraft right into the 2000s.

It also incorporates the classic American Airlines font and title along the length of the fuselage, with the red lightning flash under the windows and early logo on the tail.

25 Airlines USA

AirCal

Allegheny Airlines

Air California was founded in 1967 to provide intra-state services through-out California using Lockheed Electra, and later Doug-las DC-9, aircraft. In 1978 it expand-ed to neighbouring states, and in 1981 was rebranded as AirCal. The region became a battleground for airlines on key routes, with the advent of low-cost carriers forcing prices down. American Airlines’ owners purchased AirCal in 1987 and merged its fleet. Today Boeing 737-800 N917NN wears a retro AirCal livery.

Between the 1950s and late 1970s, Al-legheny Airlines was a large re-gional airline with a growing fleet. It merged with Lake Central Airlines in 1968 and Mo-hawk Airlines in 1972, before being renamed USAir in 1979. USAir later became US Airways, and merged with America West, before merging with American Airlines (see later). Today N745VJ, an Airbus A319, proudly wears the former Allegheny Airlines livery.

Another aircraft to wear a heritage American livery is 737-800 N921NN, wear-ing the more recent bare metal livery. This scheme doesn’t seem very old, but has been phased out in favour of the current painted fuselage and mod-ified logos.

26Airlines USA

America West Airlines

Pacific Southwest Airlines

A familiar name and livery once seen throughout the United States, and based at Phoenix, AZ, was America West Air-lines. It would later merge with US Air-ways (see later), and in 2013 merge with American Air-lines. One of its former aircraft, Airbus A319 N838AW, still wears this America West heritage livery.

Airbus A319 N742PS proudly wears the PSA ‘Smiliner’ liv-ery which was once so common across the west-ern United States. Often considered the inspiration for low-cost pioneers Southwest Airlines, PSA was founded in 1949 and in 1988 merged with USAir – itself merging into American in 2013 (see later).

© Joe Pettit

27 Airlines USA

Piedmont Airlines

Reno Air

Another big name in American avi-ation history. Piedmont was founded in 1948 at Winston-Sa-lem, NC, and grew a large East Cost and internation-al network with a large fleet. In 1989 it merged with US-Air (later US Airways), which later merged with American Airlines (see later). Today Airbus A319 N744P wears the blue and white Piedmont livery.

Reno Air was an ambitious airline set up in 1990 to serve Reno-Tahoe airport in Nevada with links across the western and southern United States. It used Mc-Donnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-90 series aircraft. American purchased the niche carrier in 1999 for $124 million which helped fill gaps in its network. Reno Air’s mountain-themed livery appears on Boeing 737-800 N916NN.

28Airlines USA

TWA Trans World Airways

US Airways

One of the most famous names in US airline his-tory, TWA was founded in 1926 as Western Air Ex-press and eventu-ally merged with American Airlines in 2001. During its time it was a ma-jor airline with a worldwide reach. It often went head-to-head with Pan American, and its ec-centric owner between 1944 and 1966 was the movie and business mogul Howard Hughes, who led the airline to develop the Constellation airliner with Lockheed. Its familiar red and white livery now adorns American Airlines’ 737-800 N915NN.

The most recent merger in the American Airlines timeline is with US Airways. This car-rier was founded as All American Aviation in 1937 and went through a series of name changes and mergers in its own right. In the 1950s it became known as Allegheny Airlines, and by 1987 was called USAir. It merged with Mohawk Airlines (1972), Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) (1986) and Piedmont Airlines (1989). It became US Airways in 1997, and in 2005 it merged with America West Airlines – retaining US Airways’ brand-ing, and merged with American Airlines in 2013. This retro livery is worn today on Airbus A321 N578UW.

29 Airlines USA

American Eagle Airlines/Envoy Air


Fleet

: 1984 : Irving, TX: Chicago O’Hare, IL; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Miami International, FL: 59x Embraer ERJ-145 4x Embraer 170 (+3 on order) 98x Embraer 175

AA | AAL

American Eagle is the regional feeder operation of American Airlines, much like Delta Connection and United Express. This widespread network utilizes the services and aircraft of many different airlines – namely Mesa Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, PSA Airlines, Republic Airways and SkyWest Airlines at hubs throughout the country.

However, it also uses Envoy Air which is the new name for the original Ameri-can Eagle company, formed in 1984.

The original American Eagle feeder airline was started to provide regional

See also Mesa Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, PSA Airlines, Republic Airways, SkyWest Airlines.

© Alan Wilson

30Airlines USA

flights to smaller airports from Dallas/Fort Worth using the airline Metroflight. This was expanded out of Nashville, Ra-leigh/Durham, and San Juan, in 1985 using local airlines to each hub to operate the flights. Carriers such as Air Vir-ginia, Chapparal Airlines, Command Airways, Executive Airlines, Flagship Airlines, Simmons Airlines, Nashville Ea-gle, and Wings West would all operate services.

American Eagle was officially rebranded as Envoy in Jan-uary 2014, however the American Eagle branding would continue across this and all other partner carriers, with simple ‘Operated by Envoy’ titles near the forward fuse-lage.

The branding would also remain consistent with American Airlines, which had started introducing its current scheme in 2013.

Envoy operates out of the principal American bases at Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami Internation-al.

Some aircraft are still in the original white livery with red and blue cheatlines, including one Embraer 175 recently painted deliberately in this now ‘retro’ scheme.

31 Airlines USA

Avelo Airlines


: 2021 : Houston, TX: Hollywood Burbank, CA; Tweed New Haven, CT: 3x Boeing 737-700 3x Boeing 737-800 (+3 on order)

XP | VXP

One of America’s newest operators, Avelo Airlines is in the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) category.

Avelo has existed in some form since 1987, when Casino Express Airlines was formed. This became Xtra Airways in 2008 and in 2018 this airline was pur-chased by former United Airlines and Allegiant CFO Andrew Levy, who set about transforming it into a new business.

Avelo has a fleet of Boeing 737-700 and -800 aircraft, with bases in Holly-wood Burbank, CA, and Tweed New Haven, CT. Like other ULCCs it focuses on second-tier airports where little or no competition exists, offering leisure and business routes.

The livery includes large Avelo titles on the forward fuselage, with the com-pany logo on a blue tail.

32Airlines USA

Bering Air

Boutique Air


Fleet


: 1979 : Nome, AK: Kotzebue, AK; Nome, AK; Unalakleet, AK: 4x Beechcraft 1900D 15x Cessna 208B Caravan EX 2x CASA 212-200

: 2007 : San Francisco, CA: Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Denver, CO: 3x Beechcraft King Air 300 2x Piaggio P.180 Avanti 12x Pilatus PC-12-45 14x Pilatus PC-12-47

An Alaskan airline which performs charter and sched-uled routes, plus air ambulance and helicopter services. It is based at Nome but has a wide reach around the state. Aircraft wear a beige scheme, with orange and brown cheatlines.

Boutique Air oper-ates in various parts of the country, often on essential air service (EAS) routes connect-ing smaller communi-ties with larger hubs. These include Denver, Dallas/Ft Worth and Atlanta. The airline takes on a corporate image, especially with its large fleet of Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.

The standard livery is a silver fuselage with black lines along the lower portion. Howev-er, many aircraft in the fleet have variations in livery and colours.

8E | BRG

4B | BTQ

© Jeroen Stroes

33 Airlines USA

Breeze Airways


: 2018: Cottonwood Heights, UT: Charleston, NC; New Orleans International, LA; Norfolk, VA; Tampa, FL: 5x Airbus A220-300 (+75 on order) 10x Embraer 190 (+6 on order) 3x Embraer 195 (+27 on order)

MX | MXY

Another new carrier launched during 2021, and one of the most anticipated new airlines in America for some time.

Breeze Airways was founded by David Neeleman – an airline executive with a strong track record, having been behind such carriers as WestJet, JetBlue and Azul.

Seeing an opportunity for a new airline competitor in the United States, es-pecially in underserved markets, this airline began by offering point-to-point services to secondary airports, with ambitious ideas for growth.

Its focus cities are in Charleston, New Orleans, Norfolk and Tampa, and start-up was with a fleet of second-hand Embraer 190 and 195 aircraft. A large order for Airbus A220-300s has been placed, with the first aircraft already painted and pending delivery at the time of writing.

The airline’s livery features two shades of blue, with a variant of the ‘tick’ logo over the tail. The title has a lighter shade of blue on the letters ‘ez’ to imply ‘easy’, which is the airline’s mantra by offering simple booking options and service.

34Airlines USA

Cape Air


: 1988: Hyannis, MA: Billings, MT; Boston Logan, MA; Hyannis Barnstable Municipal, MA; Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Nantucket, MA; St. Louis Lambert International, MO; San Juan, Puerto Rico: 4x Britten Norman BN2 Islander 1x Cessna 208B Amphibian 70x Cessna 402 24x Tecnam P2012 Traveler (+40 on order)

9K | KAP

Cape Air is a large regional airline service smaller airports and communities traditionally throughout the New England area, but also now in other areas across the United States along with parts of the Caribbean. It operates code-shares with a number of mainline carriers, allowing them access to many smaller communities.

The airline is owned by Hyannis Air Service and operates a fleet of smaller turboprop types. It has also recently introduced the Tecnam P2012 Traveler, which is starting to replace older Cessna 402s, and in the future will add Evi-ation Alice electric aircraft.

The standard livery on its aircraft sees a white fuselage with grey and blue cheatlines leading to an all-blue tail with Cape Air titles and bird logo.

35 Airlines USA

CommutAir

Connect Airlines (Waltzing Matilda Airlines)


Fleet

: 1989 : Cleveland, OH: Denver, CO (United Express); Hous-ton George Bush Intercontinental, TX (United Express); Newark Liberty International, NJ (United Express); Washington Dulles, VA (United Ex-press): 76x Embraer ERJ-145

Founded: 2021

Headquarters: Bedford, MA

Hubs: Toronto Billy Bishop, Ontario, Canada

Fleet:2x de Havilland Canada DHC-8-400

Beginning life in 1989, Commu-tAir spent its early years as a feeder carrier for USAir. In 2000 it became a Continental Airlines feeder operator in 2000, and this con-tinued through the merger between Continental and United Airlines in 2011.

Its fleet wear the United Airlines liv-ery, which is slowly transitioning into the latest version of the livery.

Boston-based jet charter operator Waltzing Matilda Airlines is in the process of starting a new scheduled operator known as Connect Airlines. It will use de Havilland Canada Q400 aircraft to link Toronto’s downtown Billy Bish-op City Airport with points in the Northeast and Midwest United States.

C5 | UCA

36Airlines USA

Contour Airlines

Dash Air Shuttle



: 1982 : Smyrna, TN: Indianapolis, IN; Nashville, TN: 10x Embraer ERJ-135

: 2021: Seattle, WA: Port Angeles, WA: 3x Cessna 402

Contour Airlines of-fers scheduled and charter services onboard its Em-braer 135 aircraft out of its bases at Indianapolis, Nash-ville, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, as well as many small-er airports. Its fleet wear a smart blue and white scheme with large Contour titles on the for-ward fuselage.

Dash Air Shuttle is a new Pacific Northwest based airline which has announced plans to begin service from William R. Fairchild In-ternational Airport (CLM) in Port Angeles, WA to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) during 2022.

LF | VTE

4B | BTQ

© Colin Brown

37 Airlines USA

Delta Air Lines


: 1924 : Atlanta, GA: Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, GA; Boston Logan, MA; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI; Los Angeles International, CA; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; New York JFK, NY; New York LaGuardia, NY; Raleigh/Durham, NC; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle/Tacoma, WA: 41x Airbus A220-100 (+4 on order) 9x Airbus A220-300 (+41 on order) 57x Airbus A319-100 56x Airbus A320-200 126x Airbus A321-200 (+1 on order) 11x Airbus A330-200 31x Airbus A330-300 11x Airbus A330-900 (+26 on order) 22x Airbus A350-900 (+22 on order) 54x Boeing 717-200 77x Boeing 737-800 151x Boeing 737-900ER 111x Boeing 757-200 16x Boeing 757-300 41x Boeing 767-300ER 21x Boeing 767-400ER (+155 Airbus A321neo on order)

DL | DAL

Having formed in 1924, Huff-Daland Dusters was the crop-spraying business of the Huff-Daland aircraft manufacturing company. In 1928, the business was sold to a group of businessmen who wanted to turn the operation into a passenger-carrying company operating on airmail routes. It was renamed

© Erik Ritterbach

38Airlines USA

Delta Air Service, after the Mississippi delta area in which it was based. Using Travel Air aircraft, the first passenger service took off on 17 June, 1929, from Dallas to Jackson, Mississippi, via Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana. It would later extend to Birmingham, Alabama.

When the airmail route license was given away to another airline, a new in-carnation known as Delta Air Corporation was established and awarded mail routes from Atlanta to both Charleston and Fort Worth, beginning on 4 July 1934. With the award of more routes from Atlanta, the Georgia city became Delta’s main operating base, and it sought to strengthen its fleet, with Lock-heed Model 10 Electras, Douglas DC-2s, and DC-3s arriving by 1941.

Delta formed a feeder subsidiary called Delta Connection on 1 March 1984 when it contracted Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) to operate to regional airports from its Atlanta hub, and later Dallas/Ft. Worth. The same year Co-mair joined the network.

Looking to bolster its influence in the west coast market, Delta merged with Western Airlines in 1987. This filled a gap in Delta’s network radiating from Los Angeles International Airport to Alaska, western Canada, Hawaii, and Mexico, adding 44 new cities. It also added Salt Lake City-based SkyWest to Delta Connection.

During reorganisation from bankruptcy protection in 2005, Delta bolstered its New York City hubs and improved its onboard offerings. It also successfully avoided a takeover attempt from US Airways. At this time Delta also unveiled its current logo and scheme, which harked back to the ‘widget’ scheme pop-ular from the 1950s to the 1990s, following two less popular livery choices in the interim. It features a white fuselage with blue underside, and a blue tail with red logo.

In April, 2008, Delta announced that it would merge with Northwest Airlines. It created the world’s largest airline at the time, with 786 aircraft, operating under the Delta name from its Atlanta headquarters.

39 Airlines USA

Eastern Airlines

Founded: 2010

Headquarters: Wayne, PA

Hubs: Miami International, FL; New York JFK, NY

Fleet:4x Boeing 767-200/200ER5x Boeing 767-300ER3x Boeing 777-200ER(+35 Boeing 777-200/300P2F)

DL | DAL

Originally founded in 2010 as Dynamic Airways, this somewhat experimental airline changed its name to Eastern Airlines in 2018. It is, of course, entirely independent of the famous Eastern Air Lines which operated from 1926-1991, and the second incarnation from 2015-17.

This version has acquired a fleet of Boeing 767 and 777 aircraft, with different versions of colour scheme being used (including some which resemble the original Eastern). It seems to be standardizing on one scheme, with shades of blue and yellow on the tail, and a mostly white fuselage.

It currently focuses on routes from the United States to points in Central and South America, and is looking towards 777 freighter operations in the future.

40Airlines USA

Elite Airways

Endeavor Air



Fleet

: 2006: Portland, ME: Orlando Melbourne, FL; Portland, ME; Westchester County, NY: 6x Bombardier CRJ200ER/LR 2x Bombardier CRJ701ER 3x Bombardier CRJ900

: 1985 : Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, GA (Delta Connec-tion); Cincinnati, KY (Delta Connection); Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI (Delta Connection); Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (Delta Connection); New York JFK, NY (Delta Connec-tion); New York LaGuardia, NY (Delta Connection): 47x Bombardier CRJ200 14x Bombardier CRJ700 123x Bombardier CRJ900

A small private and scheduled passen-ger carrier which has tried a few dif-ferent markets. Its Bombardier CRJ fleet operates out of three hubs in Florida, Maine and New York and can be seen in many destinations on charters. The air-craft have a light blue finish across the fuselage and tail, with the Elite Airways titles and logo above the windowline.

7Q | M NU

4B | BTQ

© Tomás Del Coro

© Eric Salard

A regional airline operating as Delta Connection on feeder services out of the larger airline’s main hubs using a fleet of Bombardier CRJs. Its livery is that of Delta Air Lines.

41 Airlines USA

ExpressJet Airlines (aha!)

Frontier Airlines


: 1986 (aha! 2021) : College Park, GA: Reno-Tahoe, NV: 3x Embraer ERJ-145

ExpressJet Airlines dates from 1986. It became a feeder airline for Continen-tal Airlines. After pur-chase by SkyWest in 2010 and merger with Atlantic South-east Airlines (ASA), it was contracted to American Eagle, Del-ta Connection and United Express.

After being sold, it ceased flying in 2020 and began a process of rebuilding as a new carrier. It emerged in July 2021 with a new Air Operator’s Certif-icate, and in October 2021 it began flying again. This time it is doing business as

EV | ESQ

F9 | FFT

aha!, a new regional brand based at Reno-Tahoe in Nevada, using Embraer 145s.

Its bright livery features large ‘aha!’ titles on the white fuselage (plus ‘Air, Hotel, Adventure’ titles), and a blue tail with green ‘!’ logo.

42Airlines USA


Fleet

: 1994 : Denver, CO: Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, GA; Chicago O’Hare, IL; Cleveland, OH; Denver International, CO; Las Vegas, NV; Miami International, FL; Orlando International, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Tampa, FL; Trenton-Mercer, NJ: 16x Airbus A320-200 73x Airbus A320neo (+73 on order) 20x Airbus A321-200 (+ 34 Airbus A321neo on order) (+ 18 Airbus A321XLR on order)

Frontier Airlines was a name that had been associated with Den-ver, and the Rocky Mountain region, since the 1950s. The origi-nal airline of the same name had been swal-lowed up by Continen-tal Airlines in 1986 fol-lowing its purchase by People Express Airlines, and subsequently entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see previous chapter).

Continental scaled back the Denver base in 1993. As a result, former exec-utives of the old Frontier Airlines decided to start up a new airline under the same name, to fill this void out of Denver’s then Stapleton Airport, using Boe-ing 737-200 aircraft like the original, under the ‘Spirit of the West’ slogan, and in a clever marketing ploy displayed a colourful photograph of a different wild animal on the tail of each of its aircraft.

Airbus A318 and A319 aircraft allowed expansion and the retirement of older Boeing 737s. Today it is an all-Airbus operator.

Following reorganisation in 2006, Frontier signed a deal with Republic Airlines to operate regional services from January 2007 under the Frontier JetExpress banner using Embraer 170 aircraft particularly from Louisville, KY. However, this deal ended only a year later, with flights continuing under ‘Frontier Air-lines operated by Republic Airlines’ titles.

Problems with receiving the proceeds from its ticket sales led Frontier to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 10 April, 2008. It was announced on 22

43 Airlines USA

June, 2009, that Republic Airways Holdings would purchase Frontier, subject to bankruptcy court approval, for $108 million. Southwest Airlines also made a bid for the carrier for $113.6 million. However, the Republic deal went ahead on 13 August, 2009, and included its regional airline Lynx Aviation.

Frontier would continue to operate under its own identity, and emerged from bankruptcy on 1 October, 2009. From April 2010, Republic merged its other new acquisition, Midwest Airlines, with Frontier, to enable it to better match needs across the two airlines’ networks.

A new regional feeder airline was formed on 13 April, 2011, in the form of Fron-tier Express, to operate mainly from the Milwaukee hub. These flights were operated with Chautauqua Airlines Embraer ERJ-135/145 aircraft. Lynx Avia-tion, which had been formed in 2007 as a Frontier feeder carrier, continued to operate Bombardier Q400 aircraft out of Denver until its closure in 2012.

In 2013 Republic sold Frontier to Indigo Partners, who set about transforming it into an ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) with basic onboard services, low-ticket prices and pay-for extras, to compete with the likes of Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines.

Today Frontier Airlines operates to over a hundred destinations from ten hubs, including international services. Its livery has changed over recent years, but the use of animals’ images on the tails (and names of each aircraft) contin-ues. Large green titles are now bolder and incorporate the stylised ‘F’ used in the first incarnation of Frontier Airlines (1950-86).

For the time being, some aircraft still fly in the older scheme, with FlyFrontier.com titles in grey along the fuselage.

44Airlines USA

The animal tails of FrontierFrontier Airlines has, from its outset in 1994, endeavoured to feature photo-graphic images of wile animals on the tails of its aircraft; it refers to these as animal ambassadors, and the aircraft is usually named after the animal on its tail. For example, Hudson the Bog Turtle, or Cortez the Green Turtle.

The airline explains their use: “While working to reduce our carbon footprint to ensure a cleaner earth, we’re also committed to telling the stories of the incredible animals that call the oceans, forests and plains home to bring awareness and education to the public.”

While these tails do not cause any confusion over the identification of the airline, it does make each aircraft a little bit different.

With well over a hundred aircraft in its fleet, it is not possible to include an im-age of every aircraft and animal ambassador in Frontier’s fleet in this guide, here are a selection of images to give a taste of how they look.

45 Airlines USA

46Airlines USA

47 Airlines USA

48Airlines USA

GlobalX (Global Crossing Airlines)

GoJet Airlines



Fleet

: 2021: Miami, FL: Miami International, FL: 2x Airbus A320-200 1x Airbus A321-200

: 2004 : Bridgeton, MO: Chicago O’Hare, IL (United Express); Newark Liberty International, NJ (United Express); Washington Dulles, VA (United Express): 52x Bombardier CRJ550 (+8 on order)

A brand new air-line which flies as an ACMI, wet lease, and ad-hoc char-ter airline serving the US, Caribbean and Latin Ameri-can markets. It has acquired a small fleet of Airbus A320 family aircraft, which wear a styl-ish livery featur-ing a blue tail and blue-and-green underbelly on a white fuselage.

GXA

G7 | GJS

Airbus A320 N279GX wears a special all-blue livery with large GlobalX titles in white.

© GoJet Airlines

49 Airlines USA

Grant Aviation


: 1971: Kenai, AK: Anchorage, AK: 12x Cessna 207 11x Cessna C208B/CE208F Grand Caravan 4x GippsAero GA8 Airvan

Previously known as Delta Air Ser-vices, Grant Avi-ation is based in Kenai, and oper-ates out of many Alaskan airports including Anchor-age. It flies charter, contract, sched-uled and air am-bulance services. Its fleet wear a red livery with white cheatline.

GoJet is a large regional airline flying as a feeder operator on behalf of Unit-ed Express, in whose livery the aircraft are painted (a mixture of previous and current United Airlines livery).

The airline is the world’s only operator of the Bombardier CRJ550 variant.

It previously flew for Delta Connection also, but this ended in 2020.

GV | GUN

© Jeroen Stroes

50Airlines USA

Hawaiian Airlines


: 1929 : Honolulu, HI: Honolulu, HI; Maui Kahului, HI: 18x Airbus A321neo 24x Airbus A330-300 19x Boeing 717-200 (+10 Boeing 787-9 on order)

HA | HAL

Hawaiian Airlines is the main carrier serving the island state of Hawaii, and is one of the USA’s oldest airlines.

It was founded in January 1929 as Inter-Island Airways as a subsidiary of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, which was providing service between the islands of Hawaii by sea. Initially the airline provided pleasure flights over Honolulu, but the potential of scheduled service between the is-lands of the chain was realised and three Sikorsky S-38 amphibian aircraft were used from November 1929 between John Rodgers Airport in Oahu (near Honolulu), Molokai and Maui.

The name of the airline changed to Hawaiian Airlines on 1st October 1941, which is not to be confused with Hawaiian Airways, which had been operat-ing as a competitor to Inter-Island Airways.

© Bill Abbott

51 Airlines USA

When permission was granted to begin flights to the US west coast, and also to destinations in the South Pa-cific, Hawaiian took delivery of three Douglas DC-8-60 series aircraft in 1984, and five Lockheed L1011 Tristars from 1985. The airline was now able to make a name for itself in the leisure market, transporting passengers on vacations to Hawaii, and shuttling them between the islands on their expansive network of routes.

Since 2005, Hawaiian has pursued significant growth in its long-haul route network and has seen expansion to a number of new mainland USA destinations. In addi-tion, today it also serves destinations in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Hawaiian is one of only three airlines still flying the Boe-ing 717, and will soon introduce Boeing 787-9 Dreamlin-ers to complement its Airbus A321neos and A330s.

The airline’s current livery, introduced in 2017, has re-cently been adapted to incorporate a faint Hawaiian lei wrapped around the fuselage.

52Airlines USA

Horizon Air


: 1981: Seattle/Tacoma, WA: Portland, OR (Alaska Horizon); Seattle/Tacoma, WA (Alaska Horizon): 29x Bombardier DHC-8-402/402NG 30x Embraer 175

QX | QXE

Horizon Air has grown into one of the largest regional airlines in America, and has created its identity principally around its association with Alaska Airlines. It began operations in September 1981 with three Fairchild F-27 turboprops out of Seattle Tacoma Airport.

In 2001 it began taking delivery of the new Bombardier Q400 model of Dash 8, which today forms the focus of the airline’s fleet alongside Embraer 175s.

The Horizon Air brand was retired in 2011 with all aircraft now wearing Alaska Airlines titles. However, many aircraft in the fleet appear in special liveries promoting sports teams.

© William Musculus

53 Airlines USA

Horizon Air’s Special LiveriesLike mainline Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air features a number of special liver-ies on its aircraft, mostly promoting colleges and universities. Here’s a list of them:

Boise State University – Bombardier Q400 N437QX

Honoring Those Who Serve – Embraer 175 N651QX

Montana State University – Bombardier Q400 N403QX

© Eric Salard

54Airlines USA

University of Idaho – Bombardier Q400 N400QX

Oregon State University – Bombardier Q400 N440QX

University of Montana – Bombardier Q400 N402QX

© Eric Salard

© Eric Salard

55 Airlines USA

Retro Livery – Bombardier Q400 N421QX

University of Washington – Bombardier Q400 N435QX

Washington State University – Bombardier Q400 N401QX

© D

uncan Kirk

56Airlines USA

iAero Airways

JetBlue


: 1997: Miami, FL: Miami International, FL; Phoe-nix-Mesa Gateway, AZ: 10x Boeing 737-300/300F 22x Boeing 737-400/400F 9x Boeing 737-800/800F (+1 Boeing 767-300ER on order)

Operating as Swift Air until 2019, iAero operates a large charter business offering fractional operations, sports and college flying and flights on be-half of tour opera-tions. It flies larger types, with most flying without titles. The standard livery sees the airline’s logo on a blue tail, with white fuse-lage.

WQ | SWQ

B6 | JBU

© Tomás Del Coro

57 Airlines USA


Fleet

: 1985 : Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, GA (Delta Connec-tion); Cincinnati, KY (Delta Connection); Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI (Delta Connection); Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN (Delta Connection); New York JFK, NY (Delta Connec-tion); New York LaGuardia, NY (Delta Connection): 47x Bombardier CRJ200 14x Bombardier CRJ700 123x Bombardier CRJ900

JetBlue Airways was formed in February 1999 by David Neeleman, a veter-an of the airline industry, with the intention of making its mark on the low cost market dominated by Southwest Airlines in the USA. Initially to be named NewAir, and then Taxi, the airline was to emulate the approach of Southwest, but later turned to offering a better quality of product whilst still keeping fares low in a bid to distinguish itself. It was named JetBlue and by September 1999 had been awarded 75 slots at New York John F. Kennedy Airport, which was to be the airline’s main operating base.

Following a period of funding, Airbus A320 aircraft were sourced to start op-erations and orders for more were placed. Inside the aircraft passengers had use of personal TV screens showing live channels, which at the time was new technology and unheard of for a so-called low-cost airline.

The airline’s first flight was from New York JFK to Buffalo on 11 February, 2000.

In 2002 JetBlue committed to a massive order for 240 Airbus A320 aircraft in addition to its previous orders. In order to supplement its A320s and to help establish new routes, JetBlue also placed an order for 100 Embraer 190LR air-craft in 2003, with an additional 100 options. This led to the airline being the joint launch customer for the type, and saw the first deliveries in 2005.

The airline’s focus remained on the east coast and New York area for its base initially (with slots at La Guardia and Newark airports also gained), but soon focus cities and hubs were developed elsewhere as the carrier expanded. Other hub cities today include Los Angeles International and San Juan in Puerto Rico.

In 2021 the airline’s first Airbus A321LR aircraft arrived and it launched its first ever transatlantic schedules, linking New York with London, utilising the air-craft’s expanded range. They also include the airline’s Mint premium cab-in and seating, and prices to challenge the big players on the transatlantic market. More routes are set to follow.

58Airlines USA

The Special Liveries of jetBluejetBlue’s standard livery features a different blue pattern design on the tail fin, along with a mainly white fuselage, blue belly and jetBlue titling. The air-line also has many special livery aircraft promoting sports teams and organ-isations close to its heart.

There are around 37 different tail designs and special schemes currently in use, but new ones are added regularly, as recently seen with the introduction of Airbus A220 and A321neoLR aircraft types.

The most notable, non-standard special liveries are:

15th Anniversary “Bluemanity” Airbus A320 N598JB

10th Anniversary Airbus A320 N569JB

59 Airlines USA

“Binary Code” Airbus A320 N709JB

“Bear Force One” Airbus A320 N632JB

“Blue Bravest” Airbus A320 N615JB

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“Blueprint” Embraer 190 N304JB

“Blue Finest” Airbus A320 N531JL

“Boston Celtics” Airbus A320 N595JB

61 Airlines USA

Brooklyn Nets “BK Blue” Airbus A320 N633JB

“Boston Red Sox” Airbus A320 N605JB

“I Heart New York” Airbus A320 N586JB

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“jetBlue Vacations” Airbus A320 N648JB

“jetBlue for Good” Airbus A320 N809JB

63 Airlines USA

“Retrojet” Airbus A320 N763JB

“New York Jets” Airbus A320 N746JB

“Vets in Blue” Airbus A320 N775JB

64Airlines USA

JSX

Kenmore Air


: 2016: Dallas, TX: Dallas Love Field, TX; Hollywood Burbank, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Oak-land, CA; Phoenix Sky Harbor, AZ: 13x Embraer ERJ-135ER/LR 7x Embraer ERJ-145LR

Offering hassle-free hop-on scheduled services from various points in the west-ern United States us-ing Embraer 135 and 145 aircraft. Previously known as JetSuite X, its livery is basic all-over white with red outlines of the tail and fuselage underside. The JSX name and logo ap-pears on the tail and engines.

XE | JSX

M5 | KEN

© Pete Webber

65 Airlines USA

Key Lime Air / Denver Air Connection

Founded: 1946

Headquarters:Kenmore, WA

Hubs: Kenmore Lake Washington, WA; Seattle Boeing Field, WA; Seattle Lake Union, WA

Fleet:7x De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver/Turbine Beaver9x De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Turbine Otter2x Cessna 1803x Cessna C208 Caravan/C208B Grand Caravan2x Cessna 1722x Piper PA-18 Super Cub1x Pilatus PC-12

Kenmore Air is one of the world’s larg-est and most fa-mous seaplane operators. Based at Kenmore, WA, its fleet of amphibious piston and turbine types fly through-out the Washington and British Colum-bia region, offering scheduled, char-ter and sightseeing flights. Aircraft are white with yellow and black stripes.

KG | LYM

© Paul Thompson

66Airlines USA


: 1997 : Denver, CO: Denver Centennial, CO; Denver International, CO: 7x Dornier 328JET-300 1x Embraer 120 Brasilia 3x Embraer ERJ-145 4x Fairchild Swearingen SA-226 Metro II 10x Swearingen SA-227 Metro III

Key Lime Air is based at Denver’s Centennial Airport and its International Air-port. It operates a fleet of regional jets and turboprops on both scheduled and charter services. Its Metroliners operate cargo flights.

The Denver Air Connection brand is used on commuter services throughout the Western states with both Embraer 145 and Dornier 328JET types.

Both aspects of the airline have a similar livery, with green and blue swipes and cheatlines on a white fuselage. The Denver Air Connection aircraft have such titles, and white DAC logo on the green tail.

67 Airlines USA

Mesa Airlines

© Glenn Beltz

YV | ASH


: 1980 : Phoenix, AZ: Cincinnati, KY (DHL Aviation); Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (American Eagle); Houston George Bush Intercontinental, TX (United Express); Phoenix Sky Harbor, AZ (American Eagle); Washington Dulles, VA (United Express): 2x Boeing 737-400(F) 1x Bombardier CRJ100 64x Bombardier CRJ900 80x Embraer 175 (+4 on order) (+200 Heart Aerospace ES-19 on order) (+50 Mitsubishi SpaceJet M100 on order)

Starting as a small carrier with a single route, Mesa Airlines is today one of America’s most successful regional airlines with a large fleet.

From the late 1980s and through the 90s and 2000s, the airline began oper-ating franchise services on behalf of other carriers, like United Express, US Air-ways Express and America West Airlines, feeding passengers into their larger hubs from smaller regional airports.

The merger between American Airlines and US Airways (which had previously merged with America West) saw Mesa operating on behalf of American Ea-gle from 2014. Today it continues to provide service for this carrier, as well as

68Airlines USA

© Alan Wilson

United Express using a fleet of Bombardier CRJs and Embraer 175s. Each wears the livery of its respective airline.

Recently Mesa also began operating Boe-ing 737 freighters on behalf of DHL Aviation, in the yellow and red livery, marking a foray into cargo operations.

Mokulele Airlines


: 1994: Palm Beach, FL: Honolulu, HI; Maui Kahului, HI: See Southern Airways Express

MW | M HO

69 Airlines USA

Piedmont AirlinesPT | PDT

Northern Pacific Airways



: 2021: Anchorage, AK: Ted Stevens International An-chorage, AK: 6x Boeing 757-200

: 1961 : Salisbury-Ocean City, MD: Charlotte Douglas, NC (Amer-ican Eagle); Philadelphia, PA (American Eagle): 54x Embraer ERJ-145

A new airline which has plans to launch services in early 2022. Its ambition is to es-tablish an east-west hub at Anchorage Ted Stevens International in Alaska, where pas-sengers from cities in Asia and the Far East can connect to flights in the US East and West coasts.

Like PSA Airlines, this American Eagle feeder carrier is not the same airline as its previous namesake. The Pied-mont Airlines many will remember operated from 1948 to 1989 as a major domestic and in-ternational carrier swal-lowed up by USAir.

Today’s Piedmont flies Embraer 145s in Ameri-can Eagle’s standard liv-ery. It was formed in 1961 as Henson Airlines. It be-

The airline has secured a fleet of Boeing 757-200 aircraft, and early mockups show a silver fuselage with black tail and engines. The forward fuselage has the airline name and a stylized ‘N’, and the tail a white web-like logo and blue ‘N’.

came Allegheny Commuter in 1968, and was then bought by Piedmont Aviation in 1989.

USAir resurrected the Piedmont name in 1993 to preserve the brand of the larger, original airline. It operated as US Airways Express before the parent merged with American Airlines in 2013.

© Steve Knight

70Airlines USA

PSA Airlines


: 1979 : Dayton, OH: Charlotte Douglas, NC (American Eagle); Philadelphia, PA (American Eagle); Washington National, DC (American Eagle):2x Bombardier CRJ200ER61x Bombardier CRJ70067x Bombardier CRJ900

Today’s PSA Airlines is not the same car-rier as Pacific South-west Airlines (com-monly known as PSA) which began life in 1949 and merged with USAir in 1988. However, it is a part of the legacy that exists through the many airlines which have formed what we know as Ameri-can Airlines today.

PSA today operates under the American Eagle banner, fly-ing Bombardier CRJ regional jets out of hubs along the East Coast. It wears the standard livery seen

OH | J IA

across all American Eagle carriers.

This particular airline began as Vee Neal Airlines in 1979, later becoming Jetstream International Airlines in 1983, and PSA Airlines in 1995.

Ravn Alaska (Corvus Airlines)

Founded: 1948 Headquarters: Anchorage, AKHubs: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Cold Bay, AK; Fairbanks International, AK; Unalakleet, AK; Unalaska, AKFleet:10x De Havilland Canada DHC-8-1001x De Havilland Canada DHC-8-300

7H | RVH

71 Airlines USA

Republic AirwaysYX | RPA


: 1998 : Indianapolis, IN: Boston Logan, MA; Charlotte Douglas, NC; Chicago O’Hare, IL; New York LaGuardia, NY; Newark Liberty International, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Washington National, DC: 59x Embraer 170 (+9 on order) 151x Embraer 175

Republic Airways is one of America’s largest regional airlines and providers of feeder services to other airlines. It was founded in 1998 and now operates over 200 Embraer 170/175 aircraft on behalf of American Eagle, Delta Con-nection and United Express from hubs mostly in the Eastern Seaboard.

In the past Republic has also flown on behalf of US Airways, Frontier Airlines and Midwest Airlines, and in 2018 the airline merged with Shuttle America.

All aircraft wear the colours of their respective feeder operations and only operate on those services.

72Airlines USA

San Juan Airlines

Founded: 1947

Headquarters: Bellingam, WA

Hubs: Bellingam, WA

Fleet:2x Cessna 172 Skyhawk1x Cessna C206 Stationair2x Cessna C207 Skywagon

Named after Washington’s San Juan Islands, this airline operates small aircraft out of var-ious airports in these islands and throughout the state on charter and scheduled services. Its aircraft wear a yellow and red livery.

M RR

Seaborne Airlines


: 1992 : San Juan, Puerto Rico: San Juan, Puerto Rico: 2x De Havilland Canada DHC-6- 300 Twin Otter4x Saab 340B

4x Saab 340B

Owned by Silver Air-ways, Seaborne Air-lines is based at San Juan in Puerto Rico and flies scheduled services through-out the Caribbean. It also operates some scheduled seaplane services.

The airline’s livery in-corporates a black tail and lower fuse-lage and white upper fuselage. Various sea creatures feature on the aircraft tails.

BB | SBS

© Jonathan Payne

73 Airlines USA

Silver Airways3M | SIL


: 2011 : Fort Lauderdale, FL: Fort Lauderdale Hollywood, FL; Orlando International, FL; San Juan, PR; Tampa International, FL: 6x ATR 42-200/500 (+9 on order) 9x ATR 72-600 4x Saab 340

Silver Airways was founded in 2011 to operate regional services from Florida. It began operations with a fleet of Saab 340B+ aircraft, and initially operated on behalf of United Express. This arrangement ended in 2013.

The airline grew, adding more routes within Florida as well as to neighbouring states and across the Caribbean and Bahamas. It acquired Seaborne Air-lines of San Juan in 2019.

In 2018 the airline began operating ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600 turboprops, and has now implemented a change of livery and branding to a striking pink with silver titles and black underside.

In 2021 Silver Airways began operating ATR 72 freighter aircraft on behalf of Amazon Air, wearing a version of the cargo carrier’s livery. Some of the Saab fleet, which is to be retired, still wears the older livery.

© Alec Wilson

© Sam Combs

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SkyWest AirlinesOO | SKW


: 1972: St. George, UT: Chicago O’Hare, IL; Denver International, CO; Detroit Metro-politan Wayne County, MI; Houston George Bush Intercon-tinental, TX; Los Angeles International, CA; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Phoenix Sky Harbor, AZ; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco International, CA; Seattle/Tacoma, WA: 208x Bombardier CRJ200 127x Bombardier CRJ700 44x Bombardier CRJ900 203x Embraer 175

SkyWest Airlines has become one of the most prolific regional carriers in the United States, having grown to over 10,000 staff operating at hubs across the country on behalf of most major carriers.

The airline was founded by a lawyer in 1972 in St. George, Utah, to provide business travellers with a service to Salt Lake City using Piper Seneca aircraft. Expansion quickly followed, adding Piper Navajos and increasing the number of destinations across the western part of the country.

Following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, SkyWest was able to expand further. It took delivery of Fairchild Metro aircraft in 1979, and by 1981 had hubs in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. It acquired Sun Aire Lines in 1984, and

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in 1985 began its first codeshare agreement with Western Express, which was operating feeder flights for Western Airlines out of Salt Lake City. Western would later be purchased by Delta Air Lines, leading SkyWest to become a Delta Connection carrier. By this time it was the 11th largest regional airline in the world, and had 26 Metroliner aircraft in operation. The Embraer Brasilia joined the fleet in 1987, and in 1989 SkyWest became the first US carrier to or-der the new Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ); the first CRJ200 arrived in 1994.

SkyWest began operating feeder flights on behalf of Continen-tal Airlines from Los Angeles between 1995-1997, becoming the number one carrier at LAX with 115 daily flights. It then began a relationship with United Express, also out of Los Angeles, along-side Denver and San Francisco, which also saw the airline’s first international route (to Vancouver) begin in 1997. In 2003, an 11-year deal was signed with United that would see SkyWest operat-ing 140 aircraft on its behalf, including both Embraer Brasilias and CRJs. It revived its relationship with Continental from its Houston hub between 2003 and 2005.

In August 2005 SkyWest purchased Atlantic Southeast Airlines (see separate chapter) from Delta Air Lines, using it to expand services with its Delta Connection and United Express partner-ships. An agreement was also signed to operate six aircraft on behalf of AirTran Airways from Milwaukee in 2009. The next year 2010 SkyWest also purchased ExpressJet Airlines, merging it with Atlantic Southeast and creating the largest regional airline in the world with over 400 aircraft.

In 2011 SkyWest began operating a number of flights for Alaska Airlines out of Portland and Seattle, and with the merger of United and Continental Airlines, it began flying out of Houston Intercon-tinental again. Its agreement with AirTran also ended in 2011. In 2012 it began operating CRJ200s out of Phoenix on behalf of US Airways, and also signed a deal to fly six West Coast routes on behalf of American Eagle.

Today it operates Bombardier CRJs and Embraer 175s on behalf of Alaska Skywest, American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express.

Most of its aircraft operate in the colours of the airlines they serve, however a number can still be found in its own livery of white fu-selage with blue tail and Skywest titles.

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Southwest AirlinesWN | SWA


: 1967: Dallas, TX: Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International, GA; Baltimore/Washington International, MD; Chicago Midway, IL; Dallas Love Field, TX; Denver International, CO; Houston Hobby, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles International, CA; Oakland, CA; Orlando International, FL; Phoenix Sky Harbor, AZ: 461x Boeing 737-700 207x Boeing 737-800 69x Boeing 737 MAX 8 (+130 on order) (+250 Boeing 737 MAX 7 on order)

Setting the model for low-cost airlines worldwide, Southwest Airlines has grown to become the world’s largest such carrier, and has a network span-ning across the United States operated by an extensive fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.

Founded by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King as Air Southwest on 16 March, 1967, the airline initially focussed on providing flights within the state of Texas to avoid regulations in place at the time. Its operational base was Dallas Love Field.

Despite initial objections from Braniff, Trans-Texan, and Continental Airlines, Air Southwest was given clearance to start operations in 1971 by the US Su-preme Court. It changed its name to Southwest Airlines and began service

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between Dallas, Houston and San Antonio with a fleet of three Boeing 737-200s on 18 June.

In the early 1980s, Southwest opened a base at Houston Hobby Airport, and took delivery of its first Boeing 737-300 model, for which it was the launch customer. It would go on to operate hundreds of the type, along with later models of the 737, for which the airline would become famous. However, de-spite its reputation, Southwest also operated Boeing 727-200s between 1971 and 1987, following Herb Kelleher’s study of Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) and their operating model.

Southwest made two airline acquisitions in the 1980s and 90s, purchasing Muse Air in 1985 and renaming it TransStar Airlines, and Morris Air in 1992. TransStar was operated as a separate carrier, and sold on in 1987, whilst Salt Lake City-based Morris Air was merged into Southwest’s operation, including its routes to the northwest.

As the 2000s arrived, Southwest had started taking delivery of a large fleet of Boeing 737-700 Next Generation aircraft to replace older -200 models. It also replaced its classic orange and beige ‘Desert Gold’ livery with the new ‘Can-yon Blue’ scheme. In addition, it would go on to paint a number of aircraft in special schemes promoting various states and milestones (see next article).

Also in 2008, Southwest purchased the assets of the bankrupt ATA Airlines, with whom it had been operating a codeshare agreement for a number of years. It also bid unsuccessfully to take over Denver-based Frontier Airlines. In May 2011, however, it was successful in purchasing AirTran Airways.

Today Southwest has an extensive network across the United States, includ-ing Hawaii, as well as into Mexico and the Caribbean. Its fleet has grown to include the latest Boeing 737 MAX models, for which it will be the launch cus-tomer of the MAX 7 variant.

In 2014 the current ‘Heart’ liv-ery was introduced and is now standard across all the fleet (apart from the special liveries and a few unpainted aircraft). It features large Southwest titles in white on the forward fuselage, which is blue. The rear fuselage has red, blue and gold stripes running up the tail (which is re-peated on the aircraft winglets).

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Southwest Airlines Special LiveriesSouthwest Airlines has always flown a selection of its aircraft fleet in special liveries, marking the US states that it serves, as well as corporate sponsor-ships and retrospective schemes from its past. Each aircraft is named, usu-ally ending in ‘One’.

A number of schemes have been retired, but most years a new livery is add-ed. This is the current list of special liveries at the time of writing:

Colorado One – Boeing 737-700 N230WN

Maryland One – Boeing 737-700 N214WN

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Triple Crown One – Boeing 737-700 N409WN

Missouri One – Boeing 737-700 N280WN

Nevada One – Boeing 737-700 N727SW

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Illinois One – Boeing 737-700 N918WN

New Mexico One – Boeing 737-700 N781WN

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California One – Boeing 737-700 N943WN

Lone Star One – Boeing 737-700 N931WN

Florida One – Boeing 737-700 N945WN

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Tennessee One – Boeing 737-700 N922WN

Arizona One – Boeing 737-700 N955WN

Louisiana One – Boeing 737-700 N946WN

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Retro Desert Livery – Boeing 737-700 N711HK

Freedom One – Boeing 737-800 N500WR

A number of additional aircraft in the fleet wear special decals or names on the nose relating to people and events in the airline’s history.

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Spirit AirlinesN K | N KS


: 1980 : Miramar, FL: Atlantic City, NJ; Chicago O’Hare, IL; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI; Fort Lauderdale Hol-lywood, FL; Las Vegas, NV; Orlando International, FL: 31x Airbus A319-100 64x Airbus A320-200 43x Airbus A320neo (+48 on order) 30x Airbus A321-200 (+31 Airbus A319neo on order) (+20 Airbus A321neo on order)

Spirit Airlines has grown to become one of the main scheduled low-cost op-erators in the United States, operating an extensive network on domestic and international routes, covering destinations in Central and South America, Canada, and the Caribbean.

It was founded in Detroit, Michigan, as Charter One in 1980 to provide charter flights to popular vacation spots. It began scheduled services to Atlantic City and changed its name to Spirit Airlines in 1992. With a plan for rapid expan-sion, the airline began introducing new scheduled routes to destinations in Florida, Los Angeles and New York using the fleet of Douglas DC-9 aircraft it had begun introducing. McDonnell Douglas MD-80s were later added.

In 2005 the first Airbus A319 and A321 aircraft joined the fleet, with a follow-up order for A320s placed in 2006, allowing the airline to retire its older McDon-nell Douglas equipment. The main priority was to transition into an ultra-

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Sun Country AirlinesSY | SCX


: 1982 : Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 1x Boeing 737-700 46x Boeing 737-800/800F

low-cost carrier, offering fares as low as $10 and charging extra for onboard service, baggage, and seat reservations. Spirit Airlines became known for its aggressive no-frills operation.

No fewer than three liveries have been worn in the past 20 years, starting with the pixelated grey and black scheme from 2002-2007 and followed by the leisure-themed white and blue scheme worn from 2007-2014.

The current livery, introduced in 2014, resembles a New York City taxicab and sees the entire aircraft painted bright yellow, with large Spirit titles on the fu-selage, tail and engines.

Some aircraft wear promotional liveries in conjunction with movie releases, but all still feature the same yellow tail and forward fuselage.

© Colin Brown

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Sun Country Airlines emerged in the early 1980s with a single Boeing 727-200 aircraft operating charter and leisure services out of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Further Boeing 727s as well as high density McDonnell Douglas DC-10s were added.

Following record profits and further fleet and route expansion, Sun Country was sold to the Mark Travel Group in the early 1990s. A time of consolida-tion took place as the airline found difficult trading conditions and an ageing fleet. The DC-10s were retired in 2001.

In order to remain competitive, Mark Travel Group started a transition of Sun Country from a charter airline into a scheduled carrier capable of competing with the low cost airlines of the era.

A major fleet renewal also took place, with Boeing 737 Next Generation air-craft ordered for delivery beginning in 2001. However, with intense competi-tion from Northwest Airlines, and the dramatic effects of September 11, 2001 on the airline industry, Sun Country was forced to cease operations on De-cember 8, 2001.

The airline’s Boeing 727 and newly delivered 737-700/800 aircraft were most-ly sold. A single 737-800 and the airline’s operating certificate were salvaged in the bankruptcy court by MN Airlines, a group of investors keen to restart Sun Country.

© Erik Ritterbach

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The airline was sold again in 2006, to Petters Group Worldwide. Despite a strong start it began to struggle financially once again from 2008 as fuel costs and a struggling economy reduced its income. It once again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2008.

Following a successful reorganisation, Sun Country emerged from Chapter 11 protection in 2009 and announced a return to profitability, followed by route expansion. It currently has a large fleet of Boeing 737-700/800 aircraft.

The Sun Country livery features an orange forward fuselage with large white ‘Sun Country’ titles. This transitions into a white fuselage, followed by blue rear fuselage and tail with the airline’s orange logo.

The previous two liveries are still present on some aircraft, featuring dark blue upper fuselage, with lower orange cheatline and grey underbelly. The tail is the same shade of blue, with the airline’s orange logo. The airline’s name is in white letters above the windows, and in some cases the airline’s logo is in light blue on the forward fuselage.

This livery replaces a slightly older one, which can still be found on some of the fleet.

Some of the 737-800 fleet are Boeing Converted Freighter variants which the airline is operating on behalf of Amazon Air and in their livery.

© Tomás Del Coro

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United Airlines

© Anna Zvereva

UA | UAL


: 1926 : Chicago, IL: Chicago O’Hare, IL; Denver International, CO; Guam; Hous-ton George Bush Intercontinental, TX; Los Angeles Interna-tional, CA; Newark Liberty International, NJ; San Francisco International, CA; Washington Dulles, VA: 97x Airbus A319-100 (+9 on order) 96x Airbus A320-200 53x Boeing 737-700 (+7 on order) 141x Boeing 737-800 148x Boeing 737-900/900ER 14x Boeing 737 MAX 8 (+76 on order) 30x Boeing 737 MAX 9 (+49 on order) 40x Boeing 757-200 21x Boeing 757-300 38x Boeing 767-300ER 16x Boeing 767-400ER 74x Boeing 777-200ER 22x Boeing 777-300ER 12x Boeing 787-8 38x Boeing 787-9 13x Boeing 787-10 (+8 on order) (+70 Airbus A321neo on order) (+50 Airbus A321XLR on order) (+45 Airbus A350-900 on order) (+250 Boeing 737 MAX 10 on order)

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The origins of United Airlines can be traced back to a small mail carrier called Varney Air Lines, which was founded at Boise, Idaho, by Walter T. Varney in April 1926. He operated a small fleet of Curtiss Swallow biplanes to fly on US Air Mail routes to Elko, Nevada and Pasco, Washington.

A number of other carriers were operating different mail routes around the same time, including National Air Transport, and Pacific Air Transport. Be-tween them the Chicago to Dallas, and Los Angeles to Seattle mail routes were covered. In Seattle, the aircraft manufacturer William Boeing also got involved with mail services when he befriended Edward Hubbard, who was operating the Seattle to Victoria service. Boeing developed his Model 40A specifically for the service, which he named Boeing Air Transport in July 1927.

Boeing purchased Pacific Air Transport in January 1928, and a year later formed United Aircraft and Transport Corporation with Pratt & Whitney. Stout Air Services were later acquired, and in order to complete its coast-to-coast coverage of mail routes, Boeing also acquired National Air Transport on 7th May 1930.

A month later, Varney Air Lines signed a deal to become a subsidiary of Unit-ed, with all airlines now coming under the United Air Lines banner from 1st July 1931.

Through the years United grew into a major carrier, operating many classic types. It entered the jet age with Boeing 720s, Douglas DC-8s and Sud Avia-tion Caravelles, before becoming the launch customer for the 737-200. It was later an early adopter of the Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner.

From December 2002 United entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Fol-lowing widespread cost cutting, downsizing of bases such as Miami, renewed contracts with staff and United Express feeder operators, and the launch of low-cost offshoot Ted (now closed), United was able to exit from bankruptcy in September 2005.

The airline had been hit hard, and became a target for a merger. Continen-tal Airlines entered discussions in 2006. An agreement was reached in 2010 which would see the two giant airlines combine, under the United Airlines name, but with Continental’s livery and CEO.

Today United is an airline serving around 70 countries across six continents. Its fleet comprises close to 900 aircraft, with many more on order, and its United Express feeder services are operated by other airlines and regional aircraft.

United’s livery has changed many times over the years. Following the merger

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in 2010, all aircraft were gradually painted into that of Continental Airlines, with United titles. This includes the blue tail and golden globe, with the fuse-lage split along the middle by a gold cheatline, with white above and grey below. The introduction of the 787 Dreamliner and 737 MAX aircraft saw a slight modification, with a wavy golden cheatline.

An updated livery was unveiled in 2019. The white area of the fuselage is now larger, with larger blue UNITED titles. The cheatline is now blue, and the gold-en globe on the tail is also blue. This livery is gradually being rolled out across the United Airlines and United Express fleets.

There are also two heritage livery aircraft; one is a Boeing 737-900ER in the 1950s era Continental Airlines livery. The other is an Airbus A319 in the 1970s United Airlines ‘stars’ livery. Around 11 aircraft of various types are also paint-ed in the Star Alliance livery.

Two Boeing 737-800s are painted all black with promotional Star Wars schemes. A 737 MAX 8 is wearing a livery to promote sustainable aviation fuel, and a 757-200 wears a special livery known as ‘Her Art Here’ with im-ages of waves, palm trees and the Golden Gate Bridge sketched over the regular livery.

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Via Airlines (Sterling Airways)

Founded: 2021

Headquarters: Jacksonville, FL

Hubs:

Fleet:2x Embraer ERJ-145

VC

8V | WRF

Wright Air Service

Founded: 1966

Headquarters: Fairbanks, AK

Hubs: Fairbanks International, AK

Fleet: 16x Cessna C208B Grand Cara-van4x Helio Courier

A commuter and on-demand airline based at Fairbanks. It operates throughout Alaska utilizing a fleet of smaller types suitable for the airports and terrain. Its aircraft do not have a standard livery or logos applied.

A private charter operator using Embraer 145 aircraft painted all white. It is involved with the new Aleutian Airways carrier in Alaska and will be operating their Saab 2000s (see separate entry).

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Classic Airline Fleets – Classic Airline Fleets – PSA’s SmilinersPSA’s Smiliners

Pacific Southwest Airlines, commonly known as PSA, was a Californian air-line which was a pioneer in low-cost travel. It was founded in San Diego by Kenny Friedkin in 1949 using a leased Douglas DC-3 aircraft to operate flights to Burbank and Oakland, later extending to San Francisco.

The airline had great ambition and became the benchmark for the low-cost carrier model we know today, even inspiring Southwest Airlines which went on to create the formula which has been replicated across the world.

PSA was seen as a friendly, happy airline which oozed California sunshine. It was even considered the unofficial state carrier of California due to its popularity and presence. In later days its aircraft wore a curved black line underneath the nose which resembled a smile. Hence its aircraft became known as “Smiliners”, and PSA “The World’s Friendliest Airline”.

PSA’s Early Fleet

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When Douglas DC-4’s joined the fleet in 1958, the San Di-ego-San Francisco route was flown non-stop, and also estab-lished a base at Los Angeles Internation-al in addition to Bur-bank.

From 1959 the Lockheed L-188 joined the fleet to replace the ageing DC-4s. The type was retired in 1969, but later re-joined the fleet between 1975-1979 to operate services to Lake Tahoe – a popular holiday re-sort, which had an airport un-suitable for larger aircraft.

Enter the Jet Age© George Garrigues

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PSA joined the jet age in 1964 when it became an ear-ly customer for the Boeing 727, acquiring a fleet of -100 and -200 models; in 1970 the Boeing 737-200 also joined the air-line. These types be-came the mainstay

for PSA’s operations through-out California from its three main bases – San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Anticipating high demand for short-haul commuter ser-vices, PSA looked at the Lock-heed L-1011 Tristar in 1970, ini-tially making an order which was later cancelled. After

© GeorgeM757

© Ron Monroe

© Aero Icarus

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looking at the Airbus A300 and Douglas DC-10, the airline went back to its original plan and ordered five Tristars. These featured seating and lounges on a lower deck in part of the baggage hold. Two examples were operated, however, before the remaining three could be delivered a massive increase in the price of oil made the aircraft unprofitable and difficult to operate on such short routes. They were retired in April 1975.

The ultra-quiet British Aerospace 146 was introduced in 1984 to provide fu-el-efficient and cheaper operations to smaller cities in Northern California, Oregon and Washington states.

Whilst the BAe 146 operated into smaller cities, PSA moved its Boeing 727s, Douglas DC-9s and McDonnell Douglas MD-80s to longer trunk routes where higher capacity was required. The airline had been the US launch customer for the MD-80 when it was launched in 1980. Interestingly, these aircraft were fitted with Heads Up Displays (HUDs), allowing them to operate Category IIIB landings, which was often a bonus in fog-bound cities such as San Diego and San Francisco.

Merger With USAirIn 1987, a number of legacy car-riers began courting the thriving low-cost carriers in California in an attempt to regain market share. Amer-ican Airlines acquired Air-Cal, whilst Delta Air Lines took over Western Airlines. An hour after the AirCal deal was announced, US-Air announced it was taking over PSA.

The merger was completed, with the final PSA flight taking place on 8th April, 1988. Despite the ambition of acquiring a greater share of the Californian market, USAir was quick to close down PSA’s hubs and relocate assets to its own East Coast hubs. San Diego lost its hometown airline, and California lost a lot of its cheap capacity between major cities.

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Today another PSA Airlines exists, as a regional carrier serving under the Amer-ican Eagle brand. This is a different carrier, formed in 1979 as Vee Neal Airlines, but is an important reminder of the heritage that exists through American Air-lines and US Airways which was merged into it in 2013.

Disaster Strikes

Two well-known and horrific air disasters befell PSA Airlines during its lifetime.

The first – which was the worst air crash in US history at the time - occurred on 25th September, 1978 when one of PSA’s Boeing 727-200s (N533PS) collid-ed with a Cessna 172 over San Diego. Both aircraft fell to the ground, killing all on board and seven on the ground.

The large airliner was on approach to the city’s airport, and a picture of its final moments with wing ablaze has become the defining image of air crash investigation books and documentaries.

A second accident occurred on 7th December 1987. British Aerospace BAe 146-200A N350PS was on a flight from Los Angeles International to San Fran-cisco International. On board was a disgruntled employee of USAir (who now

97 Airlines USA

PSA TriStar Survivor

owned PSA) who had recently been dismissed. Before surrendering his travel pass, he boarded the flight with a concealed firearm. During the flight he is assumed to have killed the crew, before forcing the aircraft to dive into the ground at San Luis Obispo County, killing all 43 on board.

Aircraft Types Operated

Boeing 727-100/200 1964-1985

Boeing 737-200 1968-1976

British Aerospace BAe 146-100/200 1984-1988

Douglas DC-3/C-47 1949-1955

Douglas DC-4/C-54 1954-1959

Douglas DC-6B 1960-1961

Douglas DC-9-31/32 1967-1969; 1983-1988

Lockheed L-188 Electra 1958-1969; 1975-1979

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1974-1975

McDonnell Douglas MD-81/82 1980-1988

NAMC YS-11 1972-1974

The first Lockheed L-1011 TriStar delivered to Pacific Southwest Airlines was N10112 in August 1974. Because PSA operated shorter routes, it did not place importance on lots of baggage space. Instead, it converted part of the bag-gage hold in its TriStars into a lower-deck lounge for passengers to enjoy.

However, the gamble didn’t pay off. Fuel prices rose dramatically in 1974, and the airline wasn’t able to achieve the short turnaround times it wanted with such a high-density aircraft. The fleet of two aircraft were retired after only six months of service, and the remaining three examples on order were not delivered.

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After a spell on lease to Aero Peru, N10112 was then sold to Worldways Airlines in 1985 as C-GIES. Then, at the end of its useful life carrying passengers, it was bought by Operation Blessing International Relief & Development Corp in 1994 and based at Tucson, AZ for many years.

The aircraft still survives today as N910TE, having been purchased by TriStar History & Preservation Inc in 2015 and reactivated for a flight to Kansas City International Airport. Today it is operated by TriStar Experience, an organisa-tion which encourages kids and future engineers through its new role in STEM (Science, Engineering, Math, Technology) Education. The aircraft remains active and potentially airworthy, but has not flown since 2017.

© Piergiuliano Chesi

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Charter Airlines Charter Airlines and Private Carriersand Private Carriers

Advanced Air


: 2005: Hawthorne, CA: Hawthorne Municipal, CA, Taos Regional, NM: 8x Beechcraft Super King Air 350 1x Bombardier Challenger 300 2x Dornier 328JET 2x Learjet 45 10x Pilatus PC-12

A semi-private airline based at Hawthorne Municipal near Los Angeles. It pro-vides mostly executive charter flights, but does provide a network of sched-uled services from smaller executive airports around Arizona, Calfornia, Neva-da, New Mexico and Texas.

Most of its fleet are painted in nondescript liveries, however its two Dornier 328JETs operate on behalf of Taos Air in their own livery.

AN | WSN

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Ameristar Jet Charter

Berry Aviation


: 2000: Dallas, TX: Addison, TX; Detroit Willow Run, MI; El Paso, TX: 2x Boeing 737-200 4x Douglas DC-9-15F

Founded: 1983

Headquarters: San Marcos, TX

Hubs: San Marcos Municipal, TX

Fleet: 5x De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter6x De Havilland Canada DHC-8-2009x Embraer 120 Brasilia2x Swearingen SA226TC Metro II6x Swearingen SA227AC Metro III

Ameristar is a char-ter cargo and pas-senger provider with a small fleet based in Addison, TX, and Willow Run, MI. It op-erates contract car-go flights, as well as passenger charters for sports teams, col-leges and VIPs.

The livery is based on red and blue cheat-lines rising up to a

7Z | AJ I

BYA

S-shape design up the tail with no titles. The DC-9s have a simplified version, with Ameristar titles.

© Jeroen Stroes

A regional freight airline based at San Marcos, TX. It flies postal routes and charter cargo services with a mixed fleet of turboprop airliners.

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Gem Air

Bighorn Airways



: 1968 : Salmon, ID:: 2x BN-2A Islander

: 1947: Sheridan, WY: Sheridan County, WY: 5x CASA 212-200 3x De Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 4x Dornier 228-200

A small commuter airline flying scheduled, charter and contract services with a small fleet of commuter and light aircraft. It operates mostly in the Idaho area. The aircraft wear a red-and-white livery.

S6 | M BI

BH R

© Gem Air

A small contract operator based in Wyoming with an eclectic mix of aircraft. The current livery, worn on the larger aircraft at least, has a red tail with the airline’s logo in grey. Red and grey cheatlines run from the tail along the lower fuselage.

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Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines


: 1967 : Boulder City, NV: Boulder City, NV: 4x Cessna C208B Grand Caravan 13x De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter

Well-known to tourists visiting Las Vegas, Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines is an amalgamation of Grand Canyon Airlines and the historic Scenic Airlines, which dates from 1967. It operates De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters with enlarged windows, known as Vistaliners, in the traditional Scenic Airlines livery, as well as Cessna C208B Grand Caravans which wear a basic livery.

YR | SCE

© Pete Webber

Griffing Flying Service


: 1937: Port Clinton, OH: Erie-Ottaway International, OH: 1x Beechcraft King Air 1x Britten Norman BN2 Islander

BH R

A wide-ranging company offering flight training, charter flights, maintenance, aerial tours as well as on-demand services from Erie-Ottawa International to points in the USA, Cana-da and Caribbean.

103 Airlines USA

: 1991: Fort Lauderdale, FL: Fort Lauderdale Hollywood, FL; Mi-ami International, FL: 1x Embraer ERJ-145 10x Saab 340

: 1972: Las Vegas, NV: Las Vegas, NV: 2x Beechcraft 1900 5x Beechcraft King Air B200/B300 6x Boeing 737-600

© Cory W Watts

© Erik Ritterbach

IBC Airways

Janet



An on-demand car-go operator based at Fort Lauderdale and Miami in Florida. It flies mostly to the Caribbean. Its fleet now wears a blue tail with diamond logo, and light blue sweeping cheatline along the white fuse-lage.

A legendary airline owing to its secretive nature. Flying work-ers to government and military sites like the fabled Area 51, it operates in full sight out of Las Vegas. It flies rare Boeing 737-600 aircraft in a white livery with red cheat-line. Its other aircraft wear a more basic livery, and none have titles.

I I | CSQ

WWW

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Kalitta Charters


: 2001: Ypsilanti, MI: Detroit Willow Run, MI: 4x Boeing 727-200(F) 3x Boeing 737-300(BDSF) 6x Boeing 737-400(SF)

An offshoot of the main Kalitta Air (see separate entry) un-der the same organi-zation, Kalitta Char-ters offers private and on-demand charter passenger and cargo flights us-ing Boeing 727 and 737 aircraft, a well as a fleet of executive aircraft.

The cargo fleet wears Kalitta Charters II ti-tles. Their livery fea-tures a grey tail and cheatline, flanked by twin red cheatlines on a white fuselage.

CB | KFS

Legends Airways


: 2021: Lakeland, FL: Lakeland, FL: 6x Saab 340(F)

Traditionally a flying school and private charter company based in central Florida, Legends Airways recently acquired a fleet of Saab 340 freighters for charter work. So far these are all white in appearance.

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New England Airlines

Omni Air International


: 1970 : Westerly, RI: Westerly, RI: 4x Britten Norman BN2 Islander

Founded: 1993

Headquarters: Tulsa, OK

Hubs: Tulsa International, OK

Fleet:3x Boeing 767-200ER9x Boeing 767-300ER3x Boeing 777-200ER

A small regional car-rier operating sched-uled and charter ser-vices out of Westbury to Block Island and other destinations. Its Britten Norman Is-landers have a red tail, with red and grey cheatlines along a white fuselage. Tiny New England Airlines titles appear in grey.

Omni Air has a fleet of large airliners. It specializes in charters and ACMI leas-es to other airlines. Its fleet fly with a silver fuselage with red titles, while a gold ‘OAI’ logo appears on the red tail.

EJ | NEA

X9 | OAE

© Timothy J Quill

© Tomás Del Coro

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Reliant Air


: 1988: Danbury, CT: Danbury Municipal, CT; Nantucket, MA: 4x Cessna Citationet 2/2+/3/4 3x Beechcraft King Air/Super King Air

A small regional airline flying services in New England. Its aircraft are mostly in plain biz jet liveries, however the King Airs have a wave of blue, red and gold cheatlines along the fuselage and upper tail.

RLI

Ryan Air Services


: 1953 : Anchorage, AK: Aniak, AK; Bethel, AK; Emmonak, AK; Kotzebue, AK; Nome, AK; St. Mary’s, AK; Unalakleet, AK: 5x CASA 212-200 11x Cessna C207 Skywagon 3x Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 1x Pilatus PC-12 2x Saab 340A

A bush operator fly-ing throughout Alas-ka, mostly on cargo services to smaller communities and airports. It also op-erates a series of scheduled passen-ger services from Anchorage, Aniak, Bethel and Unalak-leet.

The fleet most-ly wears a varia-tion of a red livery with shades of grey on wavy cheatlines along the fuselage.

7S | RPA

© Jeroen Stroes

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Servant Air


: 2003: Kodiak, AK: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Boston Logan, MA; Kodiak, AK; Manassas, VA; Westchester County, NY: Beechcraft King Air/B200 King Air Cessna 208 Caravan/208B Grand Caravan

A regional airline offering scheduled services within Alaska from its Kodiak base. It also offers on-demand charters within Alaska, and seasonal sched-uled services in New England. Its fleet wear a fairly standard corporate livery, with two shades of wavy blue cheatlines on a white fuselage.

8D

Sierra Pacific Airlines


: 1971 : Tucson, AZ: Tucson, AZ; Yuma, AZ: 2x Boeing 737-500

A charter airline based in Tucson, AZ. It previously flew scheduled services, but today only operates on behalf of clients like the US military and gov-ernment departments. Its Boeing 737 aircraft are painted white, with a two-tone blue cheatline starting under the nose and travelling almost diagonally along the fuselage to the top of the tail. Sierra Pacific titles in the same two tones of blue are on the upper fuselage.

SI | SPA

© Steve Knight

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Southern Airways Express

Founded: 2013

Headquarters: Palm Beach, FL

Hubs: Dallas/Forth Worth, TX; Denver International, CO; Honolulu, HI; Kahului, HI; Los Angeles International, CA; Memphis, TN; Nantucket Memorial Airport, MA; New York City, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington Dulles, VA

Fleet:19x Cessna 208 Caravan/208B Grand Caravan

Southern Airways Express has a vast reach across the United States, including Hawaii. It flies many public service routes and relies on a large fleet of Cessna 208 Caravans to smaller air-ports and communities.

In 2019 it acquired Mokulele Airlines in Hawaii, with aircraft still flying in the colours and ti-tles of the carrier on its estab-lished routes. Other aircraft in the Southern Airways fleet have slight variations in liveries.

9X | FDY

109 Airlines USA

Taquan Air

Tradewind Aviation



: 1977 : Ketchikan, AK: Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base, AK: 1x Cessna 208 Caravan 6x De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver 3x De Havilland Canada DHC-3T Turbo Otter

: 2001 : Oxford, CT: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Teterboro, NJ; Waterbury-Oxford, CT; Westchester County, NY: 4x Cessna Citationjet 3 21x Pilatus PC-12

A regional airline based in Ketchikan and operating scheduled, charter, cargo and sightsee-ing flights through-out Alaska. They are largely known as a seaplane operator, and fly many essen-tial air services to re-mote communities.

The aircraft are painted which with two-tone blue cheatline along the fuselage, and motif on the tail.

Largely operating as a private air char-ter airline, Tradewind Aviation also op-erates scheduled flights around New England and the Caribbean using its smart fleet. These wear a silver liv-ery with wavy black cheatline and grey tail featuring the air-line’s logo.

K3 | TQN

TJ | GPD

© Kimberly Vardeman

© Tomás Del Coro

110Airlines USA

Ultimate Air Shuttle

Warbelow’s Air Ventures



: 2009 : Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Municipal Lunken, OH: 1x Embraer ERJ-135 9x Fairchild Dornier 328JET

: 1958: Fairbanks, AK: Fairbanks International, AK: 15x Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain

A private charter and scheduled ser-vice operator based in Cincinnati’s two smaller airports. Scheduled services were suspended in December 2021 “un-til further notice”, however, private and on-demand char-ters will continue. Air-craft wear variations on gold and black cheatlines sweeping along a white fuse-lage.

Founded by Marvin E Warbelow in 1958, this is a domestic scheduled, charter and tour flight pro-vider based at Fair-banks and operating throughout the inte-rior of Alaska. Many of its routes are part of the Essential Air Service programme.

Aircraft have a basic livery, with many fea-turing the WA logo

UE | UJC

4W | WAV

© Pete Webber

© Steve Barnes

and map of Alaska on the tail, and Warbelow’s Air titles on the fuselage.

111 Airlines USA

World Atlantic Airlines

© Eric Salard

WL | WAL

Founded: 2002

Headquarters: Virginia Gardens, FL

Hubs: Miami International, FL

Fleet:9x McDonnell Douglas MD-83

One of the few airlines left that are still flying the McDonnell Doug-las MD-80 series in North America. World Atlantic are based at Mi-ami International and flies mostly on contract to other carriers, often from countries in the Caribbean and South America.

Its fleet wear a white fuselage with a blue tail and the airline’s logo, and titling on the forward fuselage.

112Airlines USA

Reinventing Air Freight - Reinventing Air Freight - Amazon AirAmazon Air

BeginningsThe first sight of what was then Am-azon Prime Air was in 2016 when a fleet of second-hand Boeing 767 freight-er aircraft were sourced to begin flying out of Wilm-ington Air Park in Ohio following a brief trial the previous year.

In 2017 a new sorting and distribution hub was built at Cincinnati/North-ern Kentucky International Airport in Kentucky, where the bulk of operations transferred.

The aircraft wore a livery distinctive to customers of the company and its Prime premium content brand.

However, later that year the company renamed the air freight arm to Ama-zon Air in order to differentiate it from the Prime Air drone delivery system it is developing. Aircraft would still wear the Prime logo, however.

Since 2015 the sight of the Prime name and logo on blue and grey aircraft has become more familiar around the world.

This new arm of the retail giant Amazon was developed to fa-cilitate the growing need for a logistics solution as the world increasingly turned to online retail – particularly through its own website.

Having relied on ground transportation, and rival airfreight companies, it has been Amazon’s wish to take this in-house as much as possible as a cost-sav-ing measure and to have full control over this aspect of the business.

113 Airlines USA

Diversifying

As the Amazon Air operation grew, the company looked to expand into new areas and even internationally. However, such growth would prove difficult and expensive, and so it looked to other carriers to contract out aircraft for their services, alongside the fleet owned by Amazon itself.

New hubs were opened at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas, San Bernardino in California, and Leipzig/Halle in Germany.

Alongside the growing number of Boeing 767-300 freighters, Ama-zon Air also introduced the 737-800BCF (Boeing Converted Freight-er) in 2019, with the fleet having grown to 24 at the time of writing. These are operated by ASL Airlines Ireland, Atlas Air and Sun Country Airlines.

The 53-strong 767 fleet is operated by Amazon itself, as well as Air Transport International, Atlas Air and Cargojet Airways in Canada, and most wear the full Amazon Air livery.

© Erik Ritterbach

114Airlines USA

The Future

In 2021 Amazon Air introduced the smallest aircraft in its fleet. The ATR 72-200 and -500 turboprop have both been added, with three initially and more in the pipeline. These aircraft are to be operated by Florida-based Silver Air-ways, but again in Prime Air livery. The type will allow service to smaller re-gional airports and act as a feeder service into the main hubs.

Given the huge growth in eCommerce and airfreight during the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon Air has seen phenomenal demand for its aviation busi-ness. It continues to source more aircraft, and is thought to be in talks with numerous airports – particularly outside the US – where it can develop its logistics operation and transport packages more efficiently to its global cus-tomer base.

The airline is also thought to be assessing new aircraft technologies, such as sustainable fuels, electric aircraft, and eVTOL aircraft for local and short-dis-tance deliveries.

While established air freight operators like FedEx, UPS and DHL are not yet at danger from Amazon Air, the disruptive nature of this business means they will continue to grow and look for dominance and new technologies to take a greater slice of the market.

115 Airlines USA

Cargo AirlinesCargo Airlines

21 Air

ABX Air


: 2014: Miami, FL: Miami International, FL: 3x Boeing 767-200ER(BDSF) 4x Boeing 767-300ER(BCF)

Founded:1946

Headquarters: Wilmington, OH

Hubs: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Miami International, FL

Fleet:13x Boeing 767-200(BDSF)8x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF)

Provides charter, ACMI and CMI ser-vices to cargo carri-ers and companies around the world. Based at Miami In-ternational, its fleet of Boeing 767s wear a lively livery with bands of two shades of red twisting along the fuselage to the tail.

2I | CSB

GB | ABX

© Erik Ritterbach

116Airlines USA

Founded as Airborne Freight Corporation in 1946 following World War II to provide a service to deliver fresh flowers and other perishable cargo in San Francisco, California. The company merged with Pacific Air Freight in October 1968, relocating to its Seattle headquarters and growing into one of the larg-est freight forwarders in the country.

From 1978 the airline introduced the Japanese-built NAMC YS-11 aircraft to its operation, and in 1980 it purchased Midwest Air Charter and entered the overnight express industry, becoming known as Airborne Express. It based its operation at Wilmington Air Park in Ohio, which it purchased, and began developing a major hub.

In August 2003, Airborne Express was purchased by DHL. It retained the air operation, renaming it ABX Air. However, in 2007 Cargo Holdings International purchased the carrier. It continues to operate mainly on behalf of DHL, using Boeing 767-200 and -300 aircraft, many of which are painted in its yellow livery.

One aircraft, N768AX, is also painted with retro Airborne Express titles

Air Cargo Carriers


: 1980 : Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee, Wi; San Juan, Puerto Rico: 3x Cessna 208 Caravan 1x Embraer 120 Brasilia 3x Short 330 18x Short 360

A large cargo oper-ator using commut-er turboprop aircraft types from bases in Milwaukee and Puer-to Rico, to destina-tions throughout the USA, Canada and Caribbean. It has a large fleet of Short 330/360 aircraft.

The livery features a white forward fuse-lage and logo, with diagonal stripes de-lineating the dark blue tail.

2Q | SNC

© Josh Beasley

117 Airlines USA

Air Transport International8C | ATI


: 1978: Wilmington, OH: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY: 4x Boeing 757-200(F) 7x Boeing 767-200(BDSF) 32x Boeing 767-300ER(F)/(BDSF)

Air Transport Interna-tional began life as US Airways in 1978, and later known as Inter-state Airways before rebranding to its cur-rent form in 1988. It merged with Interna-tional Cargo Express in 1994.

ATI has grown to be-come one of the best-known cargo and freight operators in the United States, and today provides contract work for a number of other carriers, including Amazon Air and Aloha Cargo, in whose livery some of its aircraft fly, as well as the US Transportation Command.

Three of ATIs Boeing 757s are in passenger configuration and used on char-ters.

The current livery, used on non-contracted aircraft, incorporates a red globe image in the upper portion of the tail, with red and blue cheatlines running along the fuselage to ATI titles behind the cockpit.

118Airlines USA

Alaska Central Express

Aloha Air Cargo



: 1996 : Anchorage, AK: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK: 19x Beechcraft 1900C

: 1946 : Honolulu, HI: Honolulu, HI: 3x Boeing 737-300(F)

A passenger and cargo carrier which operates through-out the communi-ties of Alaska from its Anchorage base. Its aircraft wear a white star on a navy blue background on the tail. The fuselage features a thick blue cheatline under the windows culminating in a lightning streak under the cockpit.

The last remnant of one of the best-known names in Hawaiian aviation is Aloha Air Cargo. The passenger divi-sion ceased flying in 2008. Today the Boe-ing 737-300 fleet op-erate a freight ser-vice throughout the Hawaiian islands. Meanwhile Boeing 767s are contracted out from Air Trans-port International for services to mainland USA.

KO | AER

KH | AAH

© Frank Kovalchek

© Bill Word

The airline’s livery features large orange and green titles along the fuselage, with a flower motif in shades of green on the tail.

119 Airlines USA

Alpine Air Express

Amazon Air


: 1971 : Provo, UT: Billings Logan, MT; Denver, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; Sioux Falls Regional, SD: 55x Beechcraft 1900C/D 12x Beechcraft Model 99

A well-established commuter and car-go airline operat-ing over 100 routes throughout the Rocky Mountain region, with hubs in Colorado, Montana, South Da-kota and Utah. The airline’s aircraft have horizontal stripes of light blue on the tail, with red and blue cheatlines running along the white fuse-lage.

5A | AI P

MZN

© Patrick Feller

© Alec Wilson

120Airlines USA


: 2015: Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Fort Worth Alliance, TX; Leipzig/Halle, Germany; Ontario, CA; San Bernardino, CA; Wilmington Air Park, OH: 1x ATR 72-212AF (opb Silver Airways) 5x ATR 72-500F (opb Silver Airways) 8x Boeing 737-800(BCF) (opb Atlas Air) 12x Boeing 737-800(BCF) (opb Sun Country Airlines) 2x Boeing 737-800(BCF) (opb ASL Airlines Ireland) 30x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF/BCF) (opb Air Transport Inter national) 19x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF/BCF) (opb Atlas Air) 2x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF/BCF) (opb Cargojet Airways)

Formed in 2015 as Amazon Prime Air, this growing logistics carrier provides global support for the giant online retailer and its customers.

It began operations at Wilmington Air Park, and in 2017 opened a hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. At the same time, it rebranded as Amazon Air. Despite this, the airline still wears the Prime Air logo on its aircraft to promote familiarity with customers.

The carrier is growing in dominance and now has hubs across the United States and in Germany, and is likely to grow the number and reach of these over coming years.

Amazon Air’s entire fleet is operated by contract providers, including Air Transport International, ASL Airlines Ireland, Atlas Air, Cargojet Airways and Sun Country Airlines.

Recently Florida’s Silver Airways began operating the smallest type in the fleet in the form of ATR 72 converted freighters.

The airline’s livery varies slightly across each aircraft type. The Boeing 737 freighters wear a light blue fuselage with dark blue underside and tail, and white Prime Air titles.

The Boeing 767 freighters have a white fuselage with light and dark blue un-derside, and dark blue tail, and blue Prime Air titles.

The new ATR fleet has a white fuselage and tail, with part of the two-tone blue sweep on the rear fuselage, and blue Prime Air titles.

© A

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Zver

eva

121 Airlines USA


: 1968 : Dallas/Fort Worth, TX: Aguadila, Puerto Rico; Buffalo, NY; Cache County, UT (UPS); Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; DeWitt, MI; Hollywood Burbank, CA; Louisville, KY; Manches-ter-Boston, NH; Omaha, NE; Ontario, CA; Phoenix Sky Har-bor, AZ; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; San Antonio, TX; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Spokane, WA: 25x Beechcraft 1900C 55x Beechcraft Model 99 14x Embraer 120 Brasilia 19x Swearingen SA.227AT Merlin IV 19x Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III

One of America’s largest freight airlines, with a fleet of over 120 aircraft – mostly smaller commuter types – operating from bases throughout the country. It flies to destinations in Canada and Mexico, the Caribbean and South America too.

The airline’s hub is Dallas/Ft Worth Airport in Texas, where all maintenance is carried out.

Ameriflight’s aircraft wear a standard livery of blue cheatlines running along the white fuselage, and curving down towards the nose. The tail is also blue, and large titles appear along the fuselage.

Some aircraft, however, have a simplified or older livery, often with thinner cheatlines, smaller titles and a white tail.

AmeriflightA8 | AMF © Peter Webber

122Airlines USA

Amerijet International

Asia Pacific Airlines



: 1974 : Miami, FL: Miami International, FL; Piarco In-ternational, Trinidad: 1x Airbus A321(P2F) leased 1x Boeing 757-200(PCF) 6x Boeing 767-200(BDSF) 8x Boeing 767-300ER(F)/(BDSF)

: 1998 : Tamuning, Guam: Guam; Honolulu, HI; Marshall Islands International: 4x Boeing 757-200PF/PCF/SF

Amerijet is based in Miami and Trinidad and operates a fleet of large freighter air-liners throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America.

The airline’s corpo-rate livery adorns its aircraft, with a blue tail featuring the company logo, and twin blue and red cheatlines along the otherwise white fu-selage, broken by Amerijet titles to-wards the front.

A cargo carrier based at Guam, with a sphere of operations covering the Pacific region and Hawaii. Its Boeing 757s (which recently replaced 727s) have space-age green titles on a mostly white fuse-lage, with a green tail (and white logo) and engines.

M6 | AJT

P9 | MGE

© Eric Salard

123 Airlines USA


: 1992 : Harrison, NY: Ted Stevens International Anchor-age, AK; Chicago O’Hare, IL; Cincin-nati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Everett Paine Field, WA; Huntsville, AL; Los Angeles International, CA; Miami In-ternational, FL; New York JFK, NY: 8x Boeing 737-800(BCF) 3x Boeing 747-400 31x Boeing 747F/BDSF 4x Boeing 747-400LCF Dreamlifter 10x Boeing 747-800F 7x Boeing 767-300ER 21x Boeing 767-300ER(F)/(BDSF) 11x Boeing 777F

Founded in 1992, At-las Air has grown to become one of the world’s largest car-go charter airlines. It was originally founded to provide long-term leas-es and contracting of aircraft to cargo carriers.

Atlas chose the Boeing 747 due to its large capacity and availability on the second-hand market. Its own-ers, Atlas Air World-wide Holdings, had also purchased Po-lar Air Cargo in 2001 (maintaining a sep-arate brand identity. See separate entry for Polar Air Cargo).

The Atlas Air livery features large ti-tles in blue and gold along the white fu-

Atlas Air5Y | GTI © Erik Ritterbach

selage. The tail is dark blue with a gold motif of Atlas holding up the world.

The airline has also been contracted to operate the unusual Large Cargo Freighter ‘Dreamlifter’ aircraft for Boeing, which are used to deliver parts be-tween the manufacturer’s suppliers and production lines. These wear a dif-ferent livery, with the Boeing Dreamlifter titles and blue tail.

In addition to its extensive cargo operations, Atlas Air also holds contracts to fly passenger-configured Boeing 747-400s and 767-300s for different clients.

Southern Air also merged into Atlas Air in November 2021. Some aircraft will continue to wear the livery of this carrier until scheduled repaint occurs.

124Airlines USA

Corporate Air

Empire Airlines



: 1981: Billings, MT: Billings Logan, MT; Casper Natrona County, WY; Fargo Hec-tory International, ND; Great Falls, MT; Honolulu, HI; Salt Lake City, UT: 33x Cessna C208B(F) Grand Caravan

: 1977 : Hayden, ID: Coeur d’Alene, ID; Seattle/Tacoma, WA; Spokane, WA: 13x ATR 42-300F/500 7x ATR 72-200F 35x Cessna C208B Super Cargomaster

Corporate Air is a car-go feeder operator fly-ing mostly on behalf of FedEx Express out of Billings, MT. Its fleet of Cessna Grand Cara-vans is painted in Fe-dEx livery.

An airline with a varied op-eration. Operating mostly cargo flights using com-muter turboprops, Empire also recently ran the ‘Ohana by Hawaiian commuter ser-vice in Hawaii. This recently closed down however.

Much of Empire’s fleet is flown on behalf of FedEx Ex-press, and painted in their livery.

CPT

EM | CFS

© Daniel Betts

125 Airlines USA


: 1978 : Fairbanks, AK: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Fairbanks International, AK: 3x Curtiss-Wright C-46 5x Cessna C208B Grand Caravan 9x Douglas DC-6 3x Douglas DC-9-33F 2x Embraer 120 Brasilia 6x McDonnell Douglas MD-82/83F

Founded by Rob-ert W. Everts in 1978, originally as Ta-tonduk Outfitters Limited, Everts Air grew out of his ini-tial single-aircraft operation trans-porting passengers on a charter basis throughout Alaska. Flights were partic-ularly targeted at miners prospecting and visiting remote mines.

Since 1995 the air-line has been di-vided into Everts Air Alaska and Everts Air Cargo – two dis-tinct companies operating classic Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando and Douglas DC-6B pis-ton aircraft. It op-erates scheduled passenger and car-go flights through-

Everts Air5V | VTS

out Alaska, with hubs in Anchorage for passenger operations, and Fairbanks for cargo flights. It specialises in reaching remote communities and keeping vital supplies and the individual needs of its customers moving by air. The airline also operates Douglas DC-9 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series freighters, and Embraer 120 Brasilia aircraft.

In addition, the Everts Air Fuel subsidiary operates C-46s and DC-6s as fuel tankers.

The airline’s livery sees blue and gold cheatlines under the windows, with Everts Air Fuel or Everts Air Cargo titles above the windows. The tail is blue with gold stars and ‘Alaska’ title.

© Jeroen Stroes

126Airlines USA

FedEx Express

© Tomás Del Coro

FX | FDX


: 1971 : Memphis, TN: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Cologne/Bonn, Germany; Dubai International, UAE; Fort Worth Alliance, TX; Greensboro, NC; Guangzhou, China; Indianapolis, IN; Liege, Belgium; Memphis, TN; Miami International, FL; Milan Mal-pensa, Italy; Newark Liberty International, NJ; Oakland, CA; Osaka Kansai, Japan; Paris Charles de Gaulle, France; Seoul Incheon, South Korea; Shanghai Pudong, China; Singapore Changi; Toronto Pearson, Canada: 19x ATR 42-300F (opb Empire Airlines, IFL Group, Mountain Air Cargo, Swiftair)6x ATR 72-200F14x ATR 72-200F (opb ASL Airlines Ireland, Empire Airlines, IFL Group, Morningstar Air Express, Mountain Air Cargo)4x ATR 72-600F (+26 on order)65x Airbus A300-600RF8x Boeing 737-400(F) (opb ASL Airlines Belgium)6x Boeing 737-800(F) (opb ASL Airlines France, ASL Airlines Belgium, West Air Sweden)119x Boeing 757-200(F)112x Boeing 767-300FER (+40 on order)51x Boeing 777-F (+8 on order)12x McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30F59x McDonnell Douglas MD-11(F)/MD-11F

127 Airlines USA

Set up in 1972 by Fred Smith, Federal Express – as it was then known – was a small package delivery company utilising the central location of its Memphis, Tennessee home base in a bid to grow into a large operator.

The first flight was in April 1973, and by the end of the year 25 aircraft were flying to 50 destinations from the company’s former US Air Force hangars at Memphis Airport.

Growing demand led Fred Smith to repeatedly challenge the gov-ernment’s refusal to allow exemption from the rule against operating larger aircraft as he felt he could fill them on daily services to most US cities. In November 1977, the air cargo industry was deregulated, al-lowing Federal Express to take delivery of seven former United Airlines Boeing 727-100QCs the following year, with options held on six more.

The larger aircraft allowed the airline to refocus on flying into larger airports such as Los Angeles, rather than smaller ones in the metropol-itan area, such as Burbank.

As the airline continued to grow its operation, introducing McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10s in 1980, it also outgrew its facilities at Memphis Air-port. Investing around $80 million, a new ‘Super Hub’ which was ca-pable of turning round aircraft quickly, and seamlessly handling the containers which were the mainstay of the freight operation.

Looking to emulate the feeder operations of many passenger airlines in America, Federal Express started looking for an aircraft which it could send out from major cities on its network to deliver freight to smaller communities and return, ready to transfer onto the mainline aircraft destined for Memphis. It chose the new Cessna 208 Caravan in 1983, with an initial order for 30 of the 208A Cargomaster models. An order for 70 of the stretched Cessna 208B Super Cargomaster was made in 1985, with the first examples arriving in October 1986.

The first intercontinental services began in June 1985, with DC-10 links to both Brussels and London. The former would go on to be developed as the carrier’s hub for European operations.

With a strong ambition to become the world’s largest cargo carrier, Federal Express continued to expand its fleet of Boeing 727s, Cessna 208s, and even added new McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s straight

128Airlines USA

from the manufacturer. In 1989, it concluded the purchase of Flying Tiger Line, taking on its Boeing 747 and Douglas DC-8 freighters which allowed it to ex-pand into Asia.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11F was ordered in 1987, entering the fleet in 1991 (many converted passenger examples were also taken on later). It also be-came the launch customer for the Airbus A300-600F, with deliveries starting in 1994, allowing the progressive retirement of the Boeing 727s to begin.

Also in 1994, Federal Express launched its new ‘FedEx’ brand, with one of the first cargo websites and a new livery painted across its fleet, replacing the mostly-purple identity used since it was founded with a modern, most-ly-white scheme still worn today. It would change its name to FedEx Express in 2000.

Today the FedEx fleet is focusing more on modern Boeing 767 and 777 types, with older A300s, 757s and MD-11s still operating. Aircraft are also contracted from many other airlines, including commuter turboprop types, plus Boeing 737s in Europe.

Florida Air Cargo


: 1997: Miami, FL: Miami Opa Locka, FL: 2x Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 3x Douglas DC-3

A small charter car-go operation based at Opa Locka near Miami, flying some classic Douglas DC-3 aircraft on regular freight runs to the Bahamas and other islands. It has no standard livery, with each aircraft in a different scheme.

FAS

129 Airlines USA

IFL Group

Freight Runners Express


: 1985: Milwaukee, WI: Manchester-Boston, NH; Milwaukee, WI: 3x Beechcraft 1900C 10x Beechcraft Model 99F 8x Embraer 120 Brasilia

Freight Runners Express operates scheduled and on-demand car-go flights using a fleet of commuter turboprop types based in New Hampshire and Wiscon-sin. The livery includes a bold blue cheatline on a white fuselage.

IF | IFL

FRG

Founded: 1983

Headquarters: Waterford, MI

Hubs: Brownsville/South Padre Is-land, TX; Miami Internation-al, FL; Waterford Oakland County, MI

Fleet:1x ATR 42-300F2x ATR 72-600F2x Boeing 727-200F1x Boeing 737-4004x Bombardier CRJ2004x Convair 580/58005x Dassault Falcon 20

An unusual and interesting cargo operator based in Michigan, and with hubs in Texas and Florida. IFL has a fleet of classic types, like the Boeing 727 and Convair 580, as well as some more recent types. It also flies on contract for FedEx Express.

The standard livery features triple cheat-lines of blue and red along the lower fuse-lage and across the upper tail. The ATR air-craft wear FedEx livery.

© Andrew W Sieber

130Airlines USA

Kalitta AirK4 | CKS


: 1967 : Ypsilanti, MI: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Cincinnati/North-ern Kentucky, KY; Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok; Leipzig/Halle, Germany; Los Angeles International, CA; New York JFK, NY: 24x Boeing 747-400F/BCF 9x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF) 2x Boeing 777-300ER/SF 5x Boeing 777-F

A major US cargo airline operating charter and scheduled flights around the world, with hubs across the United States and in Asia. It operates a fleet of widebody Boeing 747, 767 and 777 aircraft. It will also become the launch customer for the forthcoming 777-300ER/SF freighter conversion variant in 2023.

It was known as American International Airways from 1984 to 2000 when the Kalitta Air name was established. It had previously merged with Kitty Hawk International.

131 Airlines USA

The airline has a home base at Detroit’s Willow Run airport (along with its charter offshoot Kalitta Charters – see separate entry), and a maintenance base at Oscoda – Wurtsmith Airport in Wisconsin. But its fleet can be seen around the world.

The standard livery sees red and gold cheat-lines running from the nose along the white fuselage and diagonally up the tail, with black Kalitta Air titles.

A recently revised livery removes the cheat-lines on the fuselage, however. This will be rolled out across the fleet.

All of Kalitta’s Boeing 767s and 777s, plus two 747s, operate on behalf of DHL Aviation in a hybrid livery incorporating a yellow tail and rear fuselage, with red DHL logos, and white forward fuselage with Kalitta Air titles.

One Boeing 747 flies for Pacific Air Cargo, and wears a white livery with both Pacific Air Car-go and Kalitta Air titles on the fuselage, and blue logo on the tail.

132Airlines USA

Mountain Air Cargo

Lynden Air Cargo


: 1995 : Anchorage, AK: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK: 8x Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules

A cargo airline based in Anchorage, operat-ing charter and sched-uled services through-out Alaska. It is notable as being one of the few civilian operators of the Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft.

C2 | MTN

L2 | LYC

Founded: 1974

Headquarters: Denver, NC

Hubs: Aguadilla Rafael Hernández International, Puerto Rico; In-dianapolis, IN; Fort Worth Alli-ance, TX; Memphis, TN; Newark Liberty International, NJ; Pied-mont Triad International, NC; Raleigh/Durham, NC

Fleet:8x ATR 42-300(F)6x ATR 72-200(F)34x Cessna C208B Super Car-gomaster

A large cargo operator which flies its tur-boprop aircraft on contract to FedEx Ex-press to feed its hubs from smaller air-ports. Aircraft appear in FedEx livery.

© Yan David

© Paul Nelhams

These are painted with white upper fuselage, grey lower fuselage, and green cheatline (some aircraft have a wholly white fuselage). The tail has a green band with the company logo.

133 Airlines USA

National Airlines

National Airlines

N8 | NCR

NC | NAC

Founded: 1985

Headquarters: Orlando, FL

Hubs: Orlando Sanford, FL

Fleet:1x Airbus A330-2006x Boeing 747-400(BCF)1x Boeing 757-200

Founded: 1956

Headquarters: Anchorage, AK

Hubs: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Miami In-ternational, FL

Fleet:2x Boeing 737-300(F)3x Boeing 737-400(SF)3x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF)

There have been at least two previous carriers known as National Airlines. This ex-ample is actually registered as National Air Cargo, but doing business as Nation-al Airlines. It was established in 1985 and operates mostly on-demand cargo and passenger charter work using a fleet of large airliners.

The smart livery features a silver fuselage with wavy blue cheatlines and large NA-TIONAL titles and logo. The silver sweeps along the blue tail.

An Alaska-based cargo airline with a fleet of Boeing 737 and 767 freighters. It operates local-ly around Alaska, as well as long-haul to desti-nations throughout the Caribbean and South America.

The current logo has a white fuselage with red NAC logo. A red underside leads up to fill the tail, which has ‘NAC’ in white. Aircraft engines are also in red.

© Aero Icarus

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Polar Air CargoPO | PAC


: 1993 : Purchase, NY: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Chicago O’Hare, IL; Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, KY; Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok; Los Angeles International, CA; Miami International, FL; Nagoya Centrair, Japan; New York JFK, NY; Seoul Incheon, South Korea; Tokyo Narita, Japan: 4x Boeing 747-400F 6x Boeing 747-800F 4x Boeing 767-300F/300ER(BDSF)

Although headquartered in New York State, by far the biggest base of oper-ations of Polar Air Cargo is Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska.

Polar Air was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between Southern Air Trans-port and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) to operate charter and sched-uled cargo services worldwide. It has only operated most Boeing 747 vari-ants, starting with a fleet of used -100 models sourced and converted from passenger airlines retiring the type at the time, and soon following up with -200 and -300 models, and today’s -400s and -800s.

Today Polar can be found operating worldwide, with focus hubs in Cincinnati, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, and Seoul. Its current fleet includes Boeing 747-400 and the most recent -800 models. It is currently own jointly by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, and DHL.

Its aircraft wear a hybrid DHL livery with Polar titles.

135 Airlines USA

Sky Lease Cargo


: 1969 : Miami, FL: Miami International, FL: 2x Boeing 747-400ERF

Beginning life as Tradewind Airlines, Sky Lease Cargo gained its current name and codes in 2011. It is a cargo operator, based at Miami International and serving points in South America and Europe using Boeing 747s painted brightly in white, red and yellow.

GG | KYE

© Frank Kovalchek

Strat Air

Founded: 2018

Headquarters: Miami, FL

Hubs: Miami International, FL

Fleet:1x Boeing 767-300ER(BDSF)

A relative newcomer to the freight market. Strat Air was founded in 2018 and currently operates a single Boeing 767 freighter out of Miami International on scheduled and char-ter services. It has a striking red, while and blue livery.

136Airlines USA

UPS Airlines5X | UPS


: 1988: Louisville, KY: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Columbia, SC; Chicago Rockford, IL; Cologne/Bonn, Germany; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX; East Midlands, UK; Hamilton, Canada; Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok; Kuala Lumpur International, Malaysia; Louis-ville, KY; Miami International, FL; Ontario, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Shanghai Pudong, China; Shenzhen, China: 52x Airbus A300-600RF 13x Boeing 747-400F/BCF 25x Boeing 747-800F (+2 on order) 75x Boeing 757-200F 78x Boeing 767-300F/300ERF 42x McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

The origins of United Parcel Service (UPS) date back to 1929, however the company did not start its own airline until after the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978; until then it had been sending its freight as belly cargo on other airlines. From 1980 UPS started acquiring second-hand Boeing 727s, 747s and Doug-las DC-8s and established its base at Louisville, Kentucky. In 1988, UPS Airlines was formed to service the many domestic and international destinations on its freight network. It had started taking delivery of a large fleet of new Boeing 757-200 aircraft from 1987, and grew with 767-300 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighters in the 1990s, and Airbus A300 and Boeing 747-400/-8 aircraft in the 2000s.

137 Airlines USA

Today, UPS has a vast global network and large fleet. It has major hubs in Asia, Europe, and various parts of the United States.

The airline’s livery features a white forward fuselage with ‘Worldwide Service’ titles. Towards the rear a gold line delineates the white from the black of the rear fuselage and tail. The tail shows the gold UPS logo.

USA Jet AirlinesUJ | JUS

Founded: 1994

Headquarters: Ypsilanti, MI

Hubs: Detroit Willow Run, MI; Laredo, TX

Fleet:2x Boeing 727-200F3x Dassault Falcon 203x Douglas DC-9-15F3x Douglas DC-32F/33F1x McDonnell Douglas MD-83(SF)15x McDonnell Douglas MD-88(SF)

An on-demand and charter freight op-erator based at Detroit Willow Run air-port. It uses a fleet of classic Boeing and Douglas jets which are rarely seen these days.

The airline’s livery traditionally features cheatlines of two shades of blue and red along the fuselage and tail, with titles mid-way along the fuselage. Recently, however, the airline introduced a new livery which features a white fuselage, dark blue tale and underbelly with curv-ing red lines, and smaller titles.

138Airlines USA

West AirPCM

Founded: 1988

Headquarters: Fresno, CA

Hubs: Las Vegas, NV; Oakland, CA; Ontario, CA; Sacramento Inter-national, CA; San Diego, CA

Fleet:33x Cessna C208B(F) Grand Caravan

A Californian regional cargo operator using Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft on feeder services for FedEx Express, in whose livery they are painted.

© Tomás Del Coro

Western Global AirlinesKD | WGN

139 Airlines USA

Founded: 2013

Headquarters: Estero, FL

Hubs: Ted Stevens International Anchorage, AK; Fort Myers, FL; Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok; Liege, Belgium; Miami International, FL

Fleet:4x Boeing 747-400F/BCF17x McDonnell Douglas MD-11F

A contract air cargo carri-er based in Florida with hubs in strategic locations around the world. It operates wide-body freighter airliners, wear-ing a white scheme featuring large blue titles and ‘WGA’ tail logo.

Wiggins AirwaysWG | WIG

Founded: 1929

Headquarters: Manchester, NH

Hubs: Manchester Boston, NH

Fleet:9x Beechcraft Model 9930x Cessna C208B(F) Grand Caravan7x Embraer 110 Bandeirante

One of America’s largest cargo airlines, but flying smaller com-muter types. Wiggins operates on behalf of FedEx Express, as well as its own services, feeding into its Manchester, NH, hub from across New England and the Northeast states.

Its Cessna C208 aircraft wear the FedEx livery, while other aircraft wear the airline’s own white, black and gold scheme.

140Airlines USA

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