Nations Air Express

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Nations Air Express began as a scheduled airline with 3 Boeing 737's.The schedule operated between Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston. Rough going in the beginning as they were going head to head with US Airways, with just a few flights a day between these cities it wasn't hard for US Airways to match the low fares and try to pressure the smaller carrier out of business. Interestingly enough the demise of scheduled service for Nations Air was after the Valu-jet crash in the Florida everglades created a huge backlash against small start-up carriers and the perception that they were unsafe from a standpoint of maintenance and training which of course grounded Valu-jet and forced them to redesign themselves through a merger and name change with AirTran, the Orlando based startup. Nations Air's CEO Mark McDonald quickly switched gears and dis-continued scheduled service and found a charter operator to put his 737's to use in Atlantic City and Gulfport/Biloxi hotel and casino markets. This worked well for 12 months or so before it became apparent there was other oportunities in scheduled charter but for larger more capable aircraft. This is when McDonald and his operations staff, lead by Director of Operations Gil Ramsden put the airline through proving runs with the FAA and put the 727 on the certificate, This began the era of charters for Pan Am II, Air Jamaica and Aero Costa Rica to destinations throughout the Caribbean. Things were good till late 1997 when cash became tight leading to bounced paychecks and un-paid bills to creditors before Nations Air Express closed for good in 1998.