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| Founded | 1985 | |||
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| Fleet size | 5 | |||
| Headquarters | Orchard Park, New York, United States | |||
| Website | nationalairlines.aero | |||
National Air Cargo, also operating as National Airlines, is an American airline based in Orchard Park, New York. It operates on-demand cargo and passenger charter services. Its main base is Orlando International Airport, Orlando.[1]
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History [edit]
The airline was established in 1985 and started operations in December 1986. It began with Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft, which it developed for cargo use. In April 2005, Murray Air and its sister company, Murray Aviation, merged operations under Murray Air’s newly acquired Part 121 certificate.[2] In December 2008, after the airline was acquired by National Air Cargo, Murray Air changed its name to National Airlines and operates under the National Air Cargo Group, Inc. umbrella.
National Airlines used to operate scheduled charter passenger flights from Oakland County International Airport to Kokomo Municipal Airport in Kokomo, Indiana, Chicago Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Illinois, Spirit of St. Louis Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, and Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (with some flights making intermediate stops at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan) for Chrysler Corporation employees and also sold seats on those flights to the general public. These flights were operated by Saab 340 and BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft in 30 and 19-seat configurations respectively. This service is no longer operational.
On the cargo side, National Airlines operated two Douglas DC-8-63CF's and one Douglas DC-8-71F on scheduled and charter operations worldwide.[1] In April 2009, the carrier began cargo flights from Ypsilanti, Michigan to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan; the flights were extended to Kandahar International Airport in August.[3] This service was discontinued in 2010, last working flight for the DC-8 with National was in May 2012. During the summer of 2010, the airline purchased three Boeing 747-400BCF aircraft, at first the 747s were operated for the airline by Air Atlanta Icelandic before being registered in the United States in 2011.
In May 2011 National leased a Boeing 757-200 in all passenger configuration and began operating the aircraft in an on-demand charter basis from Dubai. The airline plans to add a second Boeing 757 during the spring of 2013 that will also be based in Dubai for charters.
Originally based at Willow Run Airport the company moved in 2013 to Orlando, Florida.
Corporate affairs [edit]
National Air Cargo has its headquarters in Orchard Park, New York.[4][5] The National Airlines division has its offices in Orlando, Florida.[4]
At one time the airline had its headquarters at Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Michigan.[6][7] At the airport, the headquarters were in hangar space. When it was located at Ypsilanti, National Airlines had 79 employees, including administrative staff, purchasing staff, and crew schedulers, at the headquarters.[5]
On the week of January 29, 2013 the airline National Airlines completed its move from the Ypsilanti area to Orlando. The airline said that it planned to offer 105 jobs at Orlando, with 26 more than were available in Michigan. 44 of the 79 existing employees were having relocation plans. The airline wanted to move its staff into Class A office space as opposed to the previous hangar space. According to Garrett Matyas, the company's human resources director, the company originally considered Ann Arbor, Michigan and was in talks with the Michigan Economic Development Corp.[5] Instead, Matyas said that the airline moved to Florida due to an environment friendly towards business interests.[5] The state offered tax incentives for the Orlando location.[5] According to Declan Reiley, the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission vice president of business development, the airline also moved to Florida because two of the owners of the company were Florida residents.[5] The freighter and passenger divisions are involved with contract military airlift operations. The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) indefinitely postponed using National Airlines for its airlift requirements.[8]
Fleet [edit]
As of October 2010, the National Airlines fleet included:[1][9]
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Orders | Stored | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 747-400BCF | 2 | (1 hull lost) | ||
| Boeing 757-200 | 1 | 1 | Stored aircraft will go to FedEx Express | |
| Boeing 757-200SF | 3 | |||
| Total | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Accidents and incidents [edit]
On April 29, 2013, at approximately 3:30 p.m. Afghanistan time (11:00 UTC), National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400, registration N949CA, operating a charter cargo flight for Coalition forces, crashed soon after takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. All seven crew members on board are confirmed perished in the crash. Although Taliban spokesmen claimed responsibility for the destruction of the aircraft, initial reports based on communications from the crew after takeoff indicate that the crash probably resulted from a load shift, causing the aircraft to experience a high-aft center of gravity, become unstable and eventually lead to the loss of control by the pilots.[10][11]
References [edit]
- ^ a b c "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-10. p. 53.
- ^ Murray Air 1 April 2005
- ^ "National Air Cargo Extends Flights from Bagram Air Base to Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan". AllBusiness. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Contact Us." National Air Cargo. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "Locations National Air Cargo 350 Windward Drive Orchard Park, NY 14127" and "National Airlines 5955 T G Lee Blvd. Ste 200 Orlando, FL 32822"
- ^ a b c d e f Kelly, Ryan. "Cargo flier National Airlines takes off from Ypsi for Florida." Crain's Detroit Business. Originally published January 29, 2013. Modified January 30, 2013. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "The company, with its 79 Willow Run employees — crew schedulers and purchasing and administrative staff, among others"
- ^ Home page. Murray Air. December 17, 2009. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "Murray Air, Inc. 835 Willow Run Airport Ypsilanti, MI 48198"
- ^ "Home." National Airlines. July 6, 2011. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "835 Willow Run Airport Ypsilanti, MI 48198"
- ^ "Plane crash stalls Afghan withdrawal". 3 News NZ. May 2, 2013.
- ^ "National Airlines puts its first Boeing 747-400 freighter into service". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 18 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ Simon Hradecky (Monday, 29 April 2013). "Crash: National Air Cargo B744 at Bagram on Apr 29th 2013, lost height shortly after takeoff". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Video: Bagram Airfield Crash. LiveLeak. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: National Airlines |
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