Overseas National Airways (1950)
| Overseas National Airways | |
|---|---|
|
|
| IATA code : | (without) |
| ICAO code : | OV |
| Call sign : | ONAIR |
| Founding: | 1946 as Air Travel |
| Operation stopped: | 1978 |
| Seat: |
New York , United States
|
| Home airport : | John F. Kennedy International Airport |
| Management: | Steedman Hinckley |
| Number of employees: | 320 (April 1978) |
| Fleet size: | 2 |
| Aims: | international |
| Overseas National Airways ceased operations in 1978. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
Overseas National Airways , also known as ONA , was an American airline based at John F. Kennedy International Airport that ceased operations in September 1978. The company operated both civil and military charter flights and also used its machines worldwide on wet leases for other airlines.
history
Origins
The company was originally in 1946 in Oakland under the name Air Travel as a charter airline ( " Supplemental airline founded") and in the same year in Calasia Air Transport renamed. Operations began with leased Douglas C-54 aircraft . On August 31, 1947, Calasia Air Transport stopped its own flight operations for economic reasons and rented the leased aircraft to Transocean Air Lines, also based in Oakland .
1950s
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The company was bought by George Tompkins in 1950 and renamed Overseas National Airways ( ONA ) in June 1950 . Tompkins decided to resume charter flights to carry out transports for the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ). Corresponding military contract flights were regularly put out to tender by the United States Department of Defense and were particularly popular with the US supplemental airlines, which were subject to a large number of state regulations at the time and were otherwise only allowed to operate ad hoc civilian charter flights . ONA initially used two Douglas C-54s that they had received back from Transocean Air Lines . The end of 1951 was considering George Tompkins, two British jet aircraft of type De Havilland DH.106 Comet to order, but not realized this.
As a result of the Korean War , the number of military charter orders rose sharply, so that Overseas National Airways was able to expand rapidly and was one of the most successful "supplemental airlines" from the mid-1950s. In 1955, the US Aviation Administration allowed the largest charter airlines, including ONA , to operate civil cargo flights to Europe . Shortly afterwards, the same companies received a permit to operate nationwide charter traffic for tour groups on an unlimited scale and also to set up individual international connections on which passengers could be carried up to ten times a month. While their competitors subsequently became more active in the civilian sector, ONA continued to concentrate primarily on military contract services. As a replacement for the decommissioned Douglas DC-4 , the company took over twelve Douglas DC-7s from American Airlines at the end of 1959 . These machines were mainly used on MATS contract flights to Asia. At the same time, ONA operated five Douglas DC-6s for the US armed forces in transatlantic traffic .
1960s
The US Department of Defense cut the total volume for military contract flights in September 1961 by two thirds. To make matters worse, the transport orders were now given preference to those charter airlines that already operated jet aircraft. Overseas National Airways , which owned only piston-engine aircraft, ran into increasing economic difficulties in the early 1960s and had to cease operations in 1964 due to its financial situation. In parallel, she applied for bankruptcy protection after Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy law .
In early 1965, Steedman Hinckley took over the management and restructured the company. The headquarters were moved to New York in the same year . With a reduced number of Douglas DC-7s, operations began again in October 1965. The first Douglas DC-8 Jet Trader jet aircraft supplemented the fleet in the following year and were used, among other things, on military troop transports to South Vietnam and on civilian group flights to Europe. At the same time, ONA carried out scheduled freight traffic for the US armed forces ( Logair ) on domestic routes. For this purpose, it put seven brand new Douglas DC-9-30CF into service from the beginning of 1967 , which were also used on passenger flights. Used Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop freighters were acquired a year later. The 1968 financial year ended ONA with a profit of 3.3 million US dollars, with about half of the revenue generated in the civilian sector.
At the end of the 1960s, Overseas National Airways was one of the leading charter airlines in transatlantic traffic alongside Trans International Airlines . The increasing competition in the charter market led to losses of 677,000 US dollars in the 1969 financial year, even though revenues had doubled compared to the previous year. Steedman Hinckley decided to focus the company more on tourism and to market complete travel offers. The company participated among others in the construction of a hotel on the Bahamas and acquired in 1969 the shipping company Greene Line Steamers Company and their steamer Delta Queen to travel by boat on the Mississippi River to offer. In the same year, Overseas National Airways commissioned the construction of two passenger ships in the Netherlands in order to carry out cruises in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean from 1971 in cooperation with the British shipping company Cunard Line . Steedman Hinckley assumed that ONA would be able to fly US vacationers to port cities with their own planes. A corresponding international feeder traffic was prohibited by the US aviation authority. ONA gave up the cruise project in the summer of 1970 and sold both ships to Cunard Line before their completion .
1970s
In order to increase the utilization of the aircraft, individual machines were temporarily operated in wet leases for other airlines from the early 1970s , including Air Siam , ALM Antillean Airlines and Tunis Air . The fleet in May 1972 consisted of five Douglas DC-8-63CF , five Douglas DC-9-30CF and eleven Lockheed L-188 Electra . At the same time, the company employed around 1,300 people. On April 17, 1973, the first of three McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CFs ordered in 1969 was delivered. The wide- bodied aircraft were primarily used in transatlantic charter traffic and also for Saudi Arabian Airlines on Hajj flights.
Until the mid-1970s, the number of national military flights decreased continuously, so that ONA gradually sold its Douglas DC-9 and Lockheed L-188 to other companies. At the same time, used Douglas DC-8-21 and DC-8-30 were acquired from the summer of 1973 in order to be able to accept more civil charter orders. Two of these machines were given a special paint job in the summer of 1975 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the USA. As a replacement for their two crashed McDonnell Douglas DC-10s (see Incidents), Overseas National Airways ordered two more wide-body aircraft of this type in the spring of 1976. Until their delivery, two Douglas DC-8-63CF were temporarily leased from Seaboard World Airlines . The Alaska International Industries holding company sought to take over Overseas National Airways in the summer of 1976 in order to merge them with the cargo airline Alaska International Air . The sales negotiations failed at the end of the year.
In 1977 US air traffic was deregulated. Steedman Hinckley assumed that the competition between the airlines would intensify in the future and turn into ruinous competition . Together with the shareholders of ONA , it was decided to end flight operations for economic reasons before the Airline Deregulation Act came into force and to sell the aircraft to the highest bidder. As early as 1977, all Douglas DC-8s were sold, so that in the spring of 1978 the fleet consisted of only two McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. Both machines continued to be used in charter traffic from Los Angeles and New York to Europe. The last of the two DC-10s ordered in 1976 was only delivered to the company on September 8, 1978 and no longer operated itself. At that time, the oldest DC-10 had already been sold to Korean Air Lines .
Overseas National Airways ceased its own operations on September 14, 1978, but remained as a shell company . ONA rented the two remaining DC-10s to Spantax and to the leasing company United Air Carriers , which had been founded by Steedman Hinckley a year earlier. In December 1978 the planes were sold to Spantax and Seaboard World Airlines . Before the ONA was dissolved , Steedman Hinckley acquired its Air Operator Certificate and the right to use its branding in February 1979 . He renamed his company United Air Carriers on May 30, 1979, resulting in the second Overseas National Airways .
fleet
Fleet at the end of operations
At the time of the cessation of operations, the fleet of Overseas National Airways consisted of two McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF.
Previously deployed aircraft
The company previously operated the following types of aircraft:
- Beechcraft Model 18 (leased from Texas Air Lines in 1951 )
- Douglas C-54 and DC-4 (operated from 1946 to 1947 by Calasia Air Transport and from 1950 to 1959 by ONA )
- Douglas DC-6A and DC-6B (operated from 1956 to 1961)
- Douglas DC-7 and DC-7C (operated from 1959 to 1966)
- Douglas DC-8-21, DC-8-32, DC-8-33, DC-8-54F, DC-8-55F, DC-8-61CF, DC-8-63CF (operated from 1966 to 1977)
- Douglas DC-9-31, DC-9-32F, DC-9-32CF and DC-9-33CF (operated from 1967 to 1976)
- Lockheed L-188A and L-188C (operated from 1968 to 1974)
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF (operated from 1973 to 1978)
Incidents
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- On November 17, 1951, a Douglas C-54 D ( registration number : N79992) collided on a training flight with a Douglas C-54B (N4002B) of California Eastern Airways . The ONA's machine lost parts of its tail unit and crashed onto a highway near Oakland . All three crew members were killed and eleven people were injured on the ground. The second aircraft made an emergency landing at San Francisco International Airport .
- On June 20, 1961, a Douglas DC-7 (N312A) to be towed to a hangar at Oakland Airport rammed a parked Lockheed L-749A Constellation (N5595A) operated by International Aircraft Services . The rear of the L-749A was completely torn off. Due to the amount of damage, both aircraft had to be written off as total losses.
- On September 26, 1961, a Douglas DC-7 (N317A) crashed while landing at Chambers Field military airfield in Norfolk . All five crew members survived. The aircraft was recorded as a total loss.
- On May 2, 1970, the pilots had a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (N935F) about 48 kilometers north-northeast of the Caribbean island of Saint Croix lack of fuel ditch . The machine was supposed to operate a scheduled flight for ALM Antillean Airlines from New York to St. Martin . After three missed approaches to the local Princess Juliana International Airport , the crew decided too late to evade to Saint Thomas . When ditching, 23 of the 63 occupants were killed (see also ALM flight 980 ) .
- On November 12, 1975, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF (N1032F) burned out after an aborted take-off at JFK International Airport . While the machine was accelerating on the runway, the right engine was badly damaged by a bird strike shortly before take-off . Engine parts pierced the right wing , causing a fire. The crew tried to prevent the end of the runway from rolling over by steering the aircraft into a taxiway at high speed . The landing gear broke . The DC-10 was to be transferred to Saudi Arabia and operated there on behalf of Saudi Arabian Airlines . There were 139 people on board, all of them ONA employees . They were able to get to safety almost unharmed.
- On January 2, 1976, a second McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF (N1031F) had to be written off as a total loss after an accident at Istanbul-Yeşilköy Airport . The plane, which was used as a replacement for the previously crashed aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines , was supposed to bring Hajj pilgrims back to Ankara , but had to move to Istanbul due to the weather . There the pilots carried out the approach too low. The machine hit just before the runway threshold. There were 364 passengers and 13 crew members on board. All occupants survived, only one crew member was injured.
- On March 4, 1977, a Douglas DC-8-63CF (N8635) hit a cargo flight in the dark about 800 meters from the runway at Niamey Airport ( Niger ). The machine was operated by ONA in wet lease for the French UTA . Two of the four crew members were killed in the accident.
Trivia
- A total of five McDonnell Douglas DC-10s were delivered to Overseas National Airways , of which it only operated four itself. All four planes were lost in accidents. Two aircraft had an accident during their service time at ONA , the other two on September 13, 1982 on Spantax flight 995 and on December 23, 1983 at Korean Air Lines . The fifth DC-10, which ONA no longer used itself due to its cessation of operations, but immediately leased it to United Air Carriers , is now being used by FedEx .
- The flight attendant Sarah Uzzell-Rindlaub was on duty on board both of the ONA's McDonnell Douglas DC-10s . She is (presumably to this day) the only crew member in the world who has experienced two serious accidents within six weeks in which wide-bodied aircraft had to be written off as total losses. Sarah Uzzell-Rindlaub then worked as a safety officer in the training of flight attendants.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stanwing, Overseas National Airways First Officer Wing 4th Issue (3 ")
- ^ Aerotransport, Overseas National Airways
- ^ Regular Meeting of the Tea Board of Port Commissioners of the Port of Oakland, 1947, p. 492
- ^ Regular Meeting of the Tee Board of Port Commissioners of the Port of Oakland, 1947, p. 322
- ^ Flight International, December 28, 1951
- ^ Flight International, February 27, 1959
- ^ Flight International, May 13, 1960
- ^ Flight International, April 8, 1960
- ^ Flight International, September 20, 1962
- ^ Flight International, April 15, 1965
- ^ A b Flight International, April 14, 1966
- ^ Hamburger Abendblatt, August 15, 1968
- ^ A b c Flight International, May 7, 1970
- ↑ Der Spiegel, issue 48, November 25, 1968
- ^ Flight International, July 9, 1970
- ^ Die Zeit, TWA sets sail, June 19, 1970
- ^ Flight International, July 30, 1970
- ^ Flight International, May 13, 1971
- ^ Lease Charter and Interchange of Aircraft in International Operations, July 8, 1976
- ^ Flight International, May 18, 1972
- ^ Flight International, April 26, 1973
- ^ Flight International, February 21, 1974
- ↑ rzjets.com, Douglas DC-8 of Overseas National Airways
- ^ Flight International, May 1, 1976
- ^ Flight International, May 8, 1976
- ^ Flight International, September 25, 1976
- ^ Flight International, January 1, 1977
- ^ Flight International, April 22, 1978
- ↑ rzjets.net, Douglas DC-10 of Overseas National Airways
- ^ Flight International, April 28, 1979
- ↑ Flight International, various years
- ↑ JP airline-fleets international, various years
- ^ Overseas National Airlines' fleet list
- ^ Aviation Safety Network, November 17, 1951
- ^ Peter J. Marson: The Lockheed Constellation (2 volumes). Air-Britain (Historians), Tonbridge, 2007, ISBN 0-85130-366-8 , Vol. 2, p. 456.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network, September 26, 1961
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report DC-9-33 N935F in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on March 21, 2017.
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Aircraft accident of November 12, 1975 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 20, 2020.
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Aircraft accident from January 2, 1976 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 20, 2020.
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Aircraft accident of March 4, 1977 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 20, 2020.
- ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Aircraft accident of December 23, 1983 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 20, 2020.
- ↑ rzjets.net McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF, N1035F
- ↑ Lawrence Journal-World, United Airlines magazine article meets crash safety issue head on, July 17, 1980
- ^ People, Airline safety instructor Sarah Uzzell-Rindlaub is proof that passengers can survive a crash, September 22, 1980