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 Airlines Fleet (November 2021)
Type 	In Service	Orders	Configuration	Notes
Airbus A319 	65 	 	 	9 Hawaii-configuration with lie-flat premium seats
Airbus A320 	118 	 	 	
Airbus A320neo 	26 	 	 	
Airbus A321 	88 	 	 	25 ex-Flagship Airlines aircraft to be replaced by A321neo
Airbus A321neo 	16 	134 	 	To replace aging A321 and 757-200
Airbus A321LR 	13 	2 	 	Used on Transatlantic operations from Baltimore, Replaces 757-200 and 767-300ER
Airbus A330-200 	11 	 	 	5 Inherited from North American Airlines and 4 acquired from Thomas Cook Airlines. All 11 aircraft feature lower lavatories
Airbus A330-300 	6 	 	 	3 aquired from Liberty Air Lines
Boeing 717-200 	25 	 	 	
Boeing 737-700 	26 	 	 	Future of this fleet is questionable, has not been scheduled for operations since 2019
Boeing 737-800 	87 	 	 	
Boeing 737 MAX 8 	8 	 	 	
Boeing 737-900ER 	54 	 	 	
Boeing 737 MAX 9 	7 	 	 	
Boeing 737 MAX 10	 	100 	 	Orders deferred until 2023
Boeing 777-200ER 	35 	8 	 	17 feature '777D' domestic configuration
8 aircraft to be acquired from Delta Air Lines
Boeing 777-200LR 	 	10 	 	10 aircraft to be acquired from Delta Air Lines in anticipation of MEM-SYD
Boeing 777-300ER 	11 	 	 	4 Aircraft feature 'Liberty Suite' First Class Product, to be reconfigured in 2022
Boeing 787-8 	28 	 	 	
Boeing 787-9 	25 	 	 	
Boeing 787-10 	11 	9 	 	
Total 	660 	240 	 	
National Connection Fleet
Type 	In Service	Orders	Configuration	Notes
Bombardier CRJ-200 	27 	 	50Y 	Operated by Air Wisconsin and SkyWest Airlines
Bombardier CRJ-350 	42 	 	3F/47Y 	Operated by Air Wisconsin
Bombardier CRJ-700 	75 	2 	8F/57Y 	Operated by SkyWest Airlines and Unified Air
2 Aircraft to be acquired from Laguna Airways
Bombardier CRJ-1000	50 	 	12F/78Y 	Operated by Mesa Airlines and Unified Air
Embraer ERJ-135 	40 	 	40Y 	Operated by Unified Air
Embraer 175 	79 	21 	12F/64Y 	Operated by Republic Airways, Unified Air, and Key Lime Air
Total 	313 	21 	 	
== Fleet History ==
Type 	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Airbus A300B4-600R 	1977 	2002 	
Airbus A310 	1984 	2003 	
Airbus A318 	2002 	2021 	Launch Customer
Temporarily leased in to Unified Air to operate JFK-LAX/SFO
Airbus A320-100 	1989 	2009 	Retired due to poor performance; Often made fuel stops on long flights
Airbus A340-500 	2002 	2020 	Launch Customer
Operates for National Charters
Airbus A350-900 	2017 	2021 	Sold to Delta Air Lines in exchange for four Boeing 777-200LR
Boeing 707-120B 	1957 	1980 	
Boeing 707-320B 	1962 	1985 	
Boeing 720 	1967 	1968 	Acquired from United Airlines
Boeing 727-100 	1964 	2007 	Four hijacked, one repeatedly; all ended up in Cuba
Boeing 727-200 	1967 	2005 	One hijacked and taken to Cuba
Boeing 737-200 	1974 	2000 	
Boeing 737-500 	1995 	2010 	
Boeing 747-100 	1970 	2003 	
Boeing 747-200 	1982 	2005 	
Boeing 747-300 	1984 	2010 	
Boeing 747-400 	2017 	2020 	Acquired from Liberty Air Lines
Boeing 757-200 	1982 	2020 	
Boeing 757-300 	2001 	2020 	
Boeing 767-200 	1984 	2019 	
Boeing 767-300ER 	1986 	2020 	
Boeing 767-400ER 	2017 	2020 	Acquired from Liberty Air Lines
Now operates for Saipan Air
Convair 340 	1955 	1967 	
Douglas DC-3 	1936 	1956 	
Douglas DC-4 	1944 	1956 	
Douglas DC-6 	1947 	1958 	National was unhappy with the performance of the DC-6
Douglas DC-8 	1959 	1992 	
Douglas DC-8 "Super 70"	1982 	1995 	
Douglas DC-9 	1967 	2013 	Operated every variant ever produced
World's largest customer from 1969-2013
Lockheed Constellation 	1946 	1959 	
Lockheed L1011 	1971 	2010 	
McDonnell Douglas DC-10	1971 	2006 	
McDonnell Douglas MD-11	1991 	2004 	
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	1982 	2019 	
McDonnell Douglas MD-90	2011 	2019 	Acquired from Pioneer Airways
== 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.
Type 	In Service	Orders	Notes
Airbus A340-500 	3 	 	Temporarily leased to Air Belgium
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	1 	 	
McDonnell Douglas MD-90	1 	 	Purchased from Delta 
Removed from Scheduled Service