Throwbacks

The islands of French Polynesia are a tropical getaway for many people each year, but traveling between islands can be a pain, with most of the main traffic filtering through Tahiti’s Faa’a International Airport. A solution for the island of Moorea was the creation of Air Moorea in 1968. The carrier started service between Faa’a […]

Originally founded as Boston-Maine Airways in 1931, Northeast Airlines was known for their distinctive bright yellow aircraft and service along the eastern seaboard. The airline was originally created as a contract carrier for Pan Am, by the Boston and Maine Railroad and the Maine Central Railroad. The airline’s first route connected Boston with Bangor, Maine, […]

Founded in 1945, Bonanza Airlines launched scheduled passenger service using a single aircraft out of their hub in Las Vegas, Nevada. Initially known as Bonanza Air Services in Las Vegas, the company would operate regular service over the skies over the southwestern US for slightly longer than two decades. The airline was developed as a result of the […]

With the Chinese economy booming to start the 21st century, Chinese carriers were looking for a way to enter the cargo business. 2006 was the year for that to happen as both China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines starting cargo carriers. China Eastern had experience by starting China Cargo Airlines alongside China Ocean Shipping in […]

The city of St. Petersburg, Florida is often overlooked in the history of aviation, even as it hosted the first airline in the world in 1914. More recently, the city was the founding home of National Airlines in 1934. The brainchild of George T. Baker, the airline began operations from the city’s waterfront Albert Whitted […]

Founded in 1945 by aerial photographer C.S. Robinson, Mohawk Airlines started out at Ithaca Municipal Airport in New York under the name Robinson Aviation. On April 6, 1945, the company took to the skies with their inaugural passenger flight, launching their three-passenger Fairchild F-24s into service. In the early years, Robinson sustained airline operations by […]

In the summer of 1995, a new carrier entered the trans-Tasman market offering low-fares and no frills, service. This airline was Kiwi Travel International Airlines. In response to the new competition in its home market, Air New Zealand, via its subsidiary Mount Cook Airline, launched Freedom Air. Freedom Air began operations in December of 1995, […]

With airlines looking towards the start of the 21st century many carriers were planning on how to celebrate the new year. For startup carrier Air21, it was all about revolutionizing the flying experience. The airline, which was named after the 21st century, marketed itself as the “carrier of the future” and started plans in 1994 […]

The Brazilian airline known initially as Sadia was founded in 1955 as the sister company to S/A Indústria e Comércio Concórdia. On March 16, 1956, their first aircraft, a DC-3, took to the skies under the name Sadia S/A – Transportes Aereos. It was founded by local entrepreneur Omar Fontana, who remained the owner for a significant portion […]

Some states have been successful in creating airlines named after themselves. Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines are the two notable examples that operate and continue to grow and expand on a daily basis. Many other states in the past also operated their own air carriers that were either sold and merged into larger airlines or […]