Kalitta Air

Kalitta Air

IATA ICAO Callsign K4 CKS CONNIE
Founded	1967 (as Connie Kalitta Services) 2000 (as Kalitta Air)
AOC #	KCSA712A[1]
Hubs	Anchorage Leipzig/Halle Cincinnati Hong Kong New York–JFK Los Angeles
Conrad Kalitta
Website	kalittaair.com

Kalitta Air is an American

During the late 1980s, the Kalitta brand name continued to appear on many of the company's cargo aircraft. In 1990 and 1991, AIA flew 600 missions in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

In 1997, AIA merged with Kitty Hawk Inc., and Conrad Kalitta resigned to start Kalitta Leasing for buying, selling, and leasing large aircraft. In April 2000, Kitty Hawk International (the former AIA) ceased operations. Kalitta decided to rescue it and the new airline, Kalitta Air, began operations in November 2000, using the operating certificate and assets of the former airline.

On April 21, 2017, Kalitta Air retired its final Boeing 747-200F from service. This was one of the relatively few then remaining in service. Twenty-six other Boeing 747 aircraft are still active in Kalitta's fleet.

Kalitta Maintenance operates a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility at Oscoda–Wurtsmith Airport in Iosco County, Michigan.

In 2020, the

The airline provides domestic and international scheduled or on-demand cargo service and support for the requirements of the Department of Defense Air Mobility Command.^[10][11]

In January 2003, Kalitta Air announced the start of scheduled cargo flights from the United States to Europe. The freighters on this service operated from JFK (

As of February 2020, Kalitta Air serves the following destinations with cargo flights on a regular, scheduled basis:[12]^[13]

Fleet

As of April 2024, the Kalitta Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:[14]^[15]

Historical fleet

Previously, Kalitta Air additionally operated the following aircraft types:^{[citation needed]}

Incidents and accidents

• On August 18, 1993, American International Airways Flight 808, a Douglas DC-8-61 (N814CK) with three crew members on board struck level terrain 1,400 feet west of the approach end of the runway while landing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The aircraft approached from the south and was making a right turn for runway 10 with an increasing angle of bank in order to align with the runway. At 200–300 feet AGL the wings started to rock towards wings level and the nose pitched up. The right wing appeared to stall, the aircraft rolled to a 90-degree angle of bank and the nose pitched down. All three crew members survived with serious injuries, though the aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and post-crash fire. Probable cause of the accident was attributed primarily to the impaired judgment, decision-making, and flying abilities of the captain and flight crew due to the effects of fatigue resulting from extended flight/duty hours.^[20] This accident was also featured in the 19th season of Mayday/Air Crash Investigation in the episode titled "Borderline Tactics".
• On October 20, 2004, a Kalitta Air
  Detroit Metropolitan Airport. No one was injured. It was discovered after landing that the number 1 engine had separated from the airplane as it climbed through 16,000 feet over Lake Michigan.^[21]
  The engine was later recovered for inspection.
• During the
  United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority. Scotland's Crown Office considered, but eventually decided against, prosecuting Kalitta Air for two July 2006 flights carrying laser-guided bombs.^[22]

  

• On May 25, 2008, a Boeing 747-209F/SCD (N704CK),
  Federal Public Service Mobility and Transport had investigated the accident.^[30]
• On July 7, 2008, a Boeing 747-209B (N714CK), operating for
  Madrid, Colombia. The aircraft's empennage hit a ranch house, killing a 50-year-old man and his 13-year-old son who lived there. The flight deck separated from the remainder of the aircraft, and the crew of eight survived with light to serious injuries while the rest of the airframe was consumed by fire.^{[31][32][33][34]}
• On March 29, 2019, a Boeing 747 (N740CK) departing from Brussels Airport allegedly experienced a compression failure in one of the engines at two minutes into the flight. The aircraft was diverted over the North Sea to burn fuel and landed in Leipzig.[35]^[36]
• On September 30, 2021, a Boeing 747-400 (N741CK) operated as Flight K4330 from Leipzig (Germany) to East Midlands, EN (UK), landed on East Midlands' runway 27 when shortly after touchdown and after engaging spoilers and reverse thrust the #3 engine suffered a compressor stall and emitted a loud bang with flames.^[37]
• On December 15, 2022, a Kalitta Air Boeing 747-400(BCF) (N744CK), en-route from
  Saskatoon, Canada, due to false fire alarm in the forward cargo hold.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• On August 7, 2023, a Kalitta Air Boeing 747-481F (N401KZ), operating from Anchorage to
  Ningbo, China, suffered a runway excursion upon landing at Ningbo Lishe International Airport. There have been no injuries reported from the incident.^[38]

• For the 1997 film Air Force One, the producers rented one of Kalitta's Boeing 747-146 aircraft N703CK and repainted it to replicate the iconic Air Force One livery.^[39]
• The TV program MythBusters featured one of Kalitta's Boeing 747s (tail number N700CK) in Episode 90: "Supersized Myths”, that originally aired on November 14, 2007. In this myth the build team revisited the myth of "Jet Taxi", the story of a taxi that got stuck behind a jet taking off resulting in the taxi flipping over due to the jet blast. This myth was found to be confirmed, in that a jet could flip a taxi as well as a school bus and a light aircraft. MythBusters featured another Kalitta Air 747 (tail number N709CK) in the episode "Storm Chasing Myths" that originally aired on October 13, 2010.
• Global News in Canada carried a story about a Kalitta Air 747 that carried Canadians who were stranded in quarantine on the Grand Princess cruise ship off the coast of California. It landed at CFB Trenton in Ontario on March 10, 2020, where the passengers were quarantined for 14 days due to the COVID-19 outbreak.^[40]
• Kalitta's Boeing 747-400F (N716CK) can be seen in the documentary The Last Cruise evacuating U.S. citizens stranded aboard Diamond Princess cruise ship during COVID-19 outbreak.^{[citation needed]}
• N707CK, a former Kuwait Airways 747-269B was used for the filming of the movie “Executive Decision”. The aircraft was painted into the fictitious “Oceanic Airlines” paint scheme.^[41][42]

See also

• List of airlines of the United States
• Kalitta Charters

References