North American Airlines
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Founded | 1989 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | January 20, 1990 | ||||||
Ceased operations | June 9, 2014 | ||||||
Parent company | Global Aviation Holdings | ||||||
Headquarters | Peachtree City, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||
Key people | James Casbarro (COO) |
North American Airlines, Inc., was an American airline with its headquarters at the HLH Building in
History
North American Airlines was a subsidiary of Global Aviation Holdings, Inc., formerly Global Aero Logistics, Inc. Unlike the other airlines that are or were a part of Global Aviation, ATA Airlines (now defunct) and World Airways (now defunct), North American was founded after airline deregulation in the United States.
North American was established in 1989 and began operations on January 20, 1990. It was founded by Dan McKinnon, former head of the then-Civil Aeronautics Board. The airline was acquired by World Air Holdings in April 2005.[3]
It began by flying charter flights on Boeing 757 aircraft. The company grew during the 1990s, adding flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, various spots in Mexico and other destinations. North American also started a scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport to JFK to complement El Al's existing Tel Aviv-JFK-LAX run and provide the Israeli airline with more passengers. North American also opened operations in Newark, New Jersey, and Oakland, California, at that time. In addition to their original 757s, North American also operated Boeing 767s for long-range, high-density charter flights. [citation needed]
On April 5, 2007,
Destinations
North American Airlines discontinued all scheduled operations in May 2008. At the time of this shut down, the airline operated scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations:[5]
- Bolivia
- Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Viru Viru International Airport (on behalf of AeroSurto Miami) - Service ended mid-2010
- Ghana
- Accra - Kotoka International Airport- Service ended May 20, 2008
- Guyana
- Georgetown - Cheddi Jagan International Airport - Service ended May 18, 2008
- Nigeria
- Murtala Mohammed International Airport- Service ended May 18, 2008
- Trinidad
- Port of Spain, Trinidad - Piarco International Airport- Service ended May 18, 2008
- United States
- Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport- Focus City - Service ended May 20, 2008
- AeroSur)
- New York City - John F. Kennedy International Airport- Hub - Service ended May 20, 2008
- Tampa - Tampa International Airport
- Dominican Republic
Announced on February 19, 2008, North American Airlines planned on discontinuing all scheduled service in May 2008 in favor of concentrating on charter operations.[6] According to a news release on northamericanair.com, "What makes NAA's scheduled service operations untenable is the rising cost of fuel, with jet fuel costs increasing 60 percent since 2005. This was a difficult decision, especially in light of the continuing support we have received from the governments and the traveling public in these markets. NAA's modern Boeing 757/767 fleet is in high demand and NAA will redeploy these aircraft profitably in the charter market".
North American Airlines discontinued service to Hawaii as of September 1, 2005. Prior to Delta Air Lines establishing service between New York City and Accra, Ghana, on December 11, 2006, NAA's New York-Accra and Baltimore-Banjul services were the only scheduled non-stop service between the U.S. and West Africa operated by a U.S. airline for several years. [citation needed].
Earlier scheduled service included
Charters
North American's charter operations made up the bulk of its business: resorts such as Club Med and tour operators in Hawaii and the Caribbean chartered North American's aircraft on a regular basis. Since discontinuing all scheduled service in May 2008, North American Airlines continued to operate until 2014 as solely a charter airline.
Fleet
As of March 2014, the North American Airlines fleet included 6 aircraft:[7]
Aircraft | In Service | Storage | Passengers | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Y | |||||
Boeing 757-200ER
|
1 | 0 | 30 0 |
176 247 |
206 247 |
|
Boeing 767-300ER | 5 | 0 | 30 0 |
176 247 |
206 247 |
|
Total | 6 | 0 |
As of May 2013, the average fleet age of North American Airlines was 18.1 years.[8]
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Remark |
---|---|---|---|---|
Boeing 737-800 |
2 | 1998 | 2003 | N800NA, N802NA[9] |
Boeing 757-200 |
10 | 1990 | 2013 | [9] |
Boeing 767-300 |
7 | 2001 | 2015 | [9] |
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 | 1 | 1992 | 1998 | N183NA [10] |
Services
As a certified United States Department of Defense air carrier, NAA provided military personnel and their dependents air transportation to destinations not served by commercial airlines. North American was the first airline to provide the capability of the Boeing 767 aircraft to the United States Military in 2002. NAA operated military transport flights out of Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport and other locations.[citation needed]
The carrier maintained a long-standing wet lease relationship with Air Jamaica, providing wet-leased 767 aircraft and crew for the airline's Kingston-New York service. In the summer of 2007, Air Jamaica increased its dependence on North American Airlines' services as the Jamaican company struggled to cope with higher-than-expected demand.[11]
North American Airlines also operated charter cargo service to Gibraltar in co-operation with the Odyssey Marine Exploration.[12]
North American Airlines also served as then Senator Barack Obama' campaign carrier, flying him, his staff and the press through Election Day. When he was named the Democratic nominee, the aircraft, a Boeing 757, underwent a major overhaul. The interior was fitted with 4 captains chairs, a table with seating for 4, as well as 16 business class seats for staff. In addition, the exterior was repainted with the campaign logo and slogan "Change We Can Believe In".
See also
References
- ^ "Contact Us Archived 2010-03-28 at the Wayback Machine." North American Airlines. Retrieved on December 16, 2013. "Contact Us CORPORATE OFFICE North American Airlines 101 World Drive, Peachtree City, GA 30269 "
- ^ "Global Aviation Holds Picks Tampa for Growth". Maddux Report. December 13, 2010. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010.
- ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-10. p. 56.
- ^ "North American Airlines". Airline Pilot Central. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015.
- ^ "North America Airlines Route Map," [sic] North American Airlines
- ^ "North American Airlines Q/A". North American Airlines. Archived from the original on February 29, 2008.
- ^ "North American Airlines Fleet Info". Archived from the original on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
- ^ "Fleet age North American Airlines | Airfleets aviation". www.airfleets.net.
- ^ a b c "North American Airlines Fleet". Planespotters. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ^ "McDonnell Douglas MD-80". Airfleets.net. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
- ^ Gordon, Susan (2007-08-10). "Air Jamaica spends millions on 'wet leasing' - Airline struggles to cope with summer traffic". The Gleaner. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
- ^ "US Flight arrives in Gibraltar". Gibfocus.gi. 2007-05-16. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-20.