National Airlines (N8)

National Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
N8 NCR NATIONAL CARGO
Founded 1985
Hubs Orlando-Sanford International Airport
Fleet size 6
Destinations 2
Headquarters Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Website nationalairlines.com

National Air Cargo, also operating as National Airlines, is an American airline based in Orlando, Florida.[1] It operates on-demand cargo and passenger charter services. It added scheduled passenger service on December 16, 2015, from its hub at Orlando-Sanford International Airport, Orlando.[2]

History

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.[3] 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 propjet aircraft in 30-seat and 19-seat configurations, respectively. This service is no longer operational.

On the cargo side, National Airlines operated two Douglas DC-8-63CF's (N921R/N865F) and one Douglas DC-8-71F (N872CA) on scheduled and charter operations worldwide, and later replaced one of the DC-8-63CF's with a DC-8-73F (N155CA).[2] 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 of that year.[4] This service was discontinued in 2010, with the last working flight for the DC-8 with National taking place in May 2012. During the summer of 2010, the airline purchased three Boeing 747-400BCF aircraft. These 747s were operated for the airline by Air Atlanta Icelandic initially, before being registered in the United States in 2011.

In May 2011, National leased a Boeing 757-200 in an all-passenger configuration and began operating the aircraft in an on-demand charter basis from Dubai. The airline added a second Boeing 757 during the spring of 2013 that was also used for charters in Dubai.

Originally based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the company moved in 2013 to Orlando Sanford International Airport.

In September, 2015, National announced scheduled passenger service from its hub at Orlando Sanford International Airport using their two active 757s. The announced destinations include St. John's International Airport in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Windsor International Airport in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Vancouver International Airport in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[5][6][7]

Corporate affairs

National Air Cargo has its headquarters in Orchard Park, New York.[8][9] The National Airlines division has its offices in Orlando, Florida.[8]

At one time the airline had its headquarters at Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Michigan.[10][11] 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.[9]

A Douglas DC-8 "Super 70" operated by National Airlines

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.[9] Instead, Matyas said that the airline moved to Florida due to an environment friendly towards business interests.[9] The state offered tax incentives for the Orlando location.[9] 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.[9] 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 after Flight 102 crashed.[12]

Destinations

National Airlines has scheduled flights to the following destinations:

Country Province/State/Territory City Airport Notes
United States Florida Orlando/Sanford Orlando Sanford International Airport [Hub]

Fleet

National Airlines Boeing 757-200 passenger plane

As of July 2016, the National Airlines fleet include:[2][13]

National Airlines fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
P Y Total
Boeing 757-200 2 — 22
26		 162
144		 184
170
National Airlines Cargo Fleet
Boeing 747-400BCF 2 — Cargo
Boeing 757-200C 1 — Pax/Cargo Stored
Total 5 —

Accidents and incidents

The National Airlines Boeing 747-400 (N949CA) that crashed at Bagram Airfield

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 died in the crash. Although Taliban spokesmen claimed responsibility for the destruction of the aircraft, initial reports based on communications from the crew after takeoff indicated that the crash probably resulted from a load shift, causing the aircraft to experience a high-aft center of gravity, becoming unstable and eventually leading to the loss of control by the pilots. On Sep 14th 2015 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the crash was:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was National Airlines’ inadequate procedures for restraining special cargo loads, which resulted in the loadmaster’s improper restraint of the cargo, which moved aft and damaged hydraulic systems Nos. 1 and 2 and horizontal stabilizer drive mechanism components, rendering the airplane uncontrollable. [14][15]

On October 29, 2016, the St. John's Airport Authority seized one of the aircraft of National Airlines passenger operations (N176CA, a 757), alleging non-payment for services at the airport during operations there. This was quickly followed by an announcement by the airline that they are cancelling operations into Newfoundland and Labrador as of January 6, 2017, and are also cancelling the substantial majority of flights scheduled for that route between October and the end of service. A hearing on the claim is scheduled.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "National Air Cargo chooses Orlando for new headquarters". Orlando Sentinel.
  2. 1 2 3 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-10. p. 53.
  3. ↑ Murray Air 1 April 2005
  4. ↑ "National Air Cargo Extends Flights from Bagram Air Base to Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan". AllBusiness. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  5. ↑ "AviationNews.net". aviationnews.net. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  6. ↑ "National Airlines to offer Windsor-Orlando flights as of Dec. 17". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  7. ↑ Pearson, Craig. "Windsor Airport to launch twice weekly flights to Florida". Windsor Star. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  8. 1 2 "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"
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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"
  10. ↑ Home page. Murray Air. December 17, 2009. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "Murray Air, Inc. 835 Willow Run Airport Ypsilanti, MI 48198"
  11. ↑ "Home." National Airlines. July 6, 2011. Retrieved on April 29, 2013. "835 Willow Run Airport Ypsilanti, MI 48198"
  12. ↑ "Plane crash stalls Afghan withdrawal". 3 News NZ. May 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ "National Airlines puts its first Boeing 747-400 freighter into service". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 18 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  14. ↑ Simon Hradecky (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.
  15. ↑ Video: Bagram Airfield Crash. LiveLeak. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  16. ↑ National Airlines plane grounded at St. John's airport, application to seize filed with court CBC News Retrieved October 30, 2016
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