National Airlines

This article is about the airline based in the United States

National Airlines Inc. ("National"; NYSE: NAT) (commonly referred to simply as "National") is an American Major Airline  headquartered in Memphis, TN. The airline along with its subsidiaries operate over 1,000 flights daily and serve an extensive domestic and international network that includes 139 destinations in the United States and 64 countries on six continents, as of November 2020.[5] National maintains an extensive relationship with Brussels Airlines and TAP Air Portugal. Regional service is operated under the brand name National Connection by a number of companies those of which include National's wholly-owned subsidiary, Unified Air.

Key People
- Alfonzo Cuervos-Pace- Current CEO [2021-Present] - Bruce Yackanoni- Current CFO [2019- Present] - Gustave-Ustus St. Wellington II Jr- Founder [1940-1995] - Dr. Mark St. Wellington IV Sr.-CEO [1995-2006] - Cin Xu- CEO [2006-2009] - Wayne Gibbons- CEO [2009-2020] (would eat lunch alone on grounded 737max in CLE during COVID-19 Pandemic until his untimely passing due to complications form COVID-19 in January 2020) - Jake T Spanaway - Acting CEO [2020-2021] (Former Liberty CEO, now working for Breeze) - Dorris Jones- VP of Inflight [2019-Present] - Louise Lankershim- Head of Marketing [2021- Present) - Chastity Taint- CEO of regional airline “Unified” [2020- Present] Ina Kuzmenko- Chairwoman of the Board [2019- Present]

History
National Airlines was created as an air carrier to assist transporting wounded solders out of battle zones during WWII. Founded by Gustave St. Wellington II Jr, National Airlines used Cleveland Airport to get the planes full of supplies and New York as a gateway to drop off people on the way back. Originally living in Liverpool, in 1946, after the war had ended, Gustave moved to Cleveland and after much praise for his creation he expanded the airline and commenced passenger service on August 6th that year. The company started launching flights from Cleveland to New York, Los Angeles via Chicago and Denver and to Miami.

National grew through the addition of routes and the acquisition of other airlines over the years. They replaced propeller planes with jets in the 1960s and began to compete internationally to Europe in the 1970s and across the Pacific in the 1980s. The current logo of National Airlines, originally unveiled in 1949, is a Diamond used to represent the strength of the men and women fighting in the war. It is often said that It is also reminiscent of flying boxes across the skies as they first started out. The current National Airlines is the result of many airline mergers over a period of more than 40 years. The most recent merger was with Baltimore based, North American Airlines. Prior to that the Airline had merged with Liberty Airlines and Pioneer Airways before that. Predecessor carriers forming the current National include:

• North American Airlines (Merged into National in 2020)

• Liberty Air Lines (Merged into National in 2017)

• California Airlines (Formed in 1956, Merged into Liberty in 2002)

• South-Central Airways (Formed in 1928, merged into National in 1963).[15]

•Trans-Continental Airlines ([TCA], Formed in 1931, merged into National in August 1990)[15][20]

•Pioneer Airways (Formed in 1936, merged into National in 2011)

•TransAmerican (Formed in 1979, merged into Pioneer in 2006)

•Midwestern Airlines (Formed in 1960, merged into Pioneer in 2009)

• ZipJet (Formed in 1972, merged into Pioneer in 2005)

• Alpha Airlines (Formed in 1957, merged into Pioneer in 2000)

Headquarters and Offices
National’s corporate headquarters are located in Memphis TN.[23][24][25] The offices in Memphis has served as National's headquarters from 1974 until 2001 when National moved their headquarters back to Cleveland. When National merged with Pioneer, National pulled its Cleveland Hub and moved it to Pittsburgh. When the airline left Cleveland, they moved their headquarters back to Memphis and opened a branch division located in New York, NY to handle the merger and all of the Pioneer operations until the merger was completed. [26][27]National also has office space in Little Rock AR, New Haven CT, and Cleveland OH, which are home to National TechOps; National's Technical Operations Center, which is the airline's primary maintenance, repair and overhaul arm specializing in engines, components, airframe and line maintenance.[30] National operates the 'National Airlines Training Facility' on the premises of the Memphis International Airport. The facility trains Flight Attendants, Pilots, Cleaners, Ramp workers, and ticket agents. Classrooms and trainers are also located on the premises for subsidiaries such as Unified Air and Saipan Airways.

Corporate Affairs
OWNERSHIP National Airlines, Inc. is publicly traded through its parent company National Airlines Corp. Inc, under NASDAQ: NAT with a market capitalization of over US$17 billion as of March, 2019. National Connection is a regional decision of the airline used to get passengers from our larger hub cities to smaller surrounding cities for easy access. National Connection has contracts and codeshare agreements with SkyWest Airlines (SKW), Republic Airways (RPA), Key Lime Air (LYM) (National has confirmed that they have met with Key Lime Air and will be renewing their contract going forward for the opening of the airlines’ Los Angeles Base.

Livery
National's current livery was designed with both National and North American and their extensive history's in mind. With this merger comes the end of an era, as North American decided to keep the National name and branding. To keep their clientele pleased and loyal, they got together with the advertising firm that designed Nationals livery to design a new look that would last a lifetime. The final product was to take bits and pieces from both liveries and create something iconic. After months at the drawing board the new livery was announced in April of 2020. In October of 2016 a fan created a Facebook page titled "Resurrect the National Diamond" (This was the same "fan" who led the "Save the Midwestern Doily" initiative. Within weeks the page had over 45K followers and active members. National quickly became aware of the serious love and admiration of the classic symbol and decided that they would listen to their fans and bring it back. When the airline merged with Liberty, the then current CEO- Cin Xu thought it was a perfect time to debut the new "classic" look. Sticking with the same design, the new livery consisted of two of the National diamonds on the tail. One larger and more transparent than its counterpart, which was smaller but stood out against the dark blue tail. Along with a new livery and logo, the airline also changed their font, to present the a more modern look.

National's transitory livery came just prior to the merger with Pioneer and used four colors. It featured a "Swoosh" on each of the aircraft's vertical stabilizer to refer to an abstract version of Pioneers iconic mountain logo. The design wasn't favored my many.[33]

One of the airlines' most favored paint schemes was from the early 2000s. It featured a red, white, and blue stripe that continued into the tail. It was a design ahead of its time and was considered a classic by many.[33]

Current Hubs
National has a total of 5 domestic hubs and 1 international hubs.[5][34]

• Memphis International Airport– National’s oldest hub. Memphis is one of National's largest hubs and serves as National’s Southern Hub. It is also home to the National Airlines Aviation Museum.

• Saipan International Airport– National’s Asian gateway hub. Acquired through their merger with Liberty Air Lines. Saipan acts as a gateway to many western cities not served or reachable from mainland United States.

• Baltimore International Airport – The 2nd largest hub for National Airlines, acquired through the merger with North American Airlines. Former headquarters and hub of North American. BWI was also home to the North American Airlines Pilot and Flight Attendant Training School. This has since been moved to Memphis.

• Chicago O'Hare International Airport - The fourth largest hub for National and primary hub in the Midwestern United States. This hub primarily utilizes regional jets to small and mid-sized cities, while utilizing mainline aircraft for long-range routes. The hub serves as a pivotal east-west connector between the Northeast and West, Midwest United States.

• Raleigh-Durham International Airport - National’s third largest hub and gateway to the southeastern United States. Acquired from the merger between Liberty Air Lines and Velocity Airways, this hub connects the Northeast, West, and Midwest to the fast-growing American Southeast.

• LaGuardia International Airport – National declared LaGuardia a hub after the merger with Liberty which added more daily departures from the airport. Former hub of ZipJet and Liberty. Due to COVID-19, National has re-categorized it as a Focus City.

• Las Vegas International Airport – LAS is National's largest Western hub and helps connect passengers on the West Coast of the U.S. Acquired through the North American Merger.

Fleet
National's Current Fleet:



National Charters
National operates a Charter Division as well. This allows VIP customers to fly anywhere their travels needs may take them.

In a subscription based system- National Charters can be dispatched at any time of day. With our extensive modern fleet of aircraft, you're sure to travel in style.ly the finest in the sky.