Jet America Airlines

This article is about the airline that operated in the 1980s. For the airline that was proposed in 2009, see JetAmerica.

Not to be confused with easyJet, ExpressJet, Jat Airways, Jet Airways, Jet Asia Airways, jetBlue, Jetstar, or WestJet.

Jet America Airlines

IATA ICAO Callsign SI — —
Founded	11 September 1980 [1]
Commenced operations	16 November 1981 (1981-11-16)
Ceased operations	1 October 1987 (1987-10-01) (merged into Alaska Airlines)
Hubs	Long Beach
Focus cities	Las Vegas
Frequent-flyer program	Yes; later merged into Gold Coast Travel
Fleet size	8
Destinations	11
Parent company	Alaska Air Group
Headquarters	Signal Hill, California
Key people	J. Thomas Talbot Alan H. Kenison Ted Shown George Chelius Don Rhoads Tim Collins

Jet America MD-82 at Long Beach Airport

Jet America Airlines was a United States domestic airline that operated from 1981 to 1987 when it merged with Alaska Airlines after briefly operating as a separate carrier within Alaska Air Group. It was headquartered in Signal Hill, California, near Long Beach. ^{[2] [3]}

History

Jet America acquired its name from the existing Jet America, Inc., a charter operator of six LearJets based in Washington, D.C.^{[ citation needed ]} Headed by executives from AirCal and Air Florida, the airline began operating on November 16, 1981, with a flight from its home base at Long Beach Airport (LGB) to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD). ^[4] By July 1984 the airline had expanded service to Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Oakland, and had launched its own frequent flyer program. Its fleet consisted of six McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft, with a further four on order; a Boeing 707 was also leased in June 1984 for charter operations, which rapidly incurred significant losses and resulted in the early termination of the lease in January 1985. ^[5]

Services to Detroit, Las Vegas, and Orange County, California were inaugurated in 1985. ^[6] During that year, Jet America joined with Disney to advertise a direct route from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Long Beach Airport for people to visit Disneyland in its 30th anniversary year. Many of these ads were played during Texas Rangers baseball games or were placed in the team's programs and calendar.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the summer of 1986, Jet America was operating a small hub at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) with nonstop jet service to Burbank (BUR), Chicago (ORD), Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW), Long Beach (LGB), Milwaukee (MKE), Ontario (ONT), Orange County (SNA) and St. Louis (STL) as well as direct one stop flights to Detroit (DTW) and Washington, D.C. (DCA). ^[7]

In the spring of 1987, the airline was operating direct flights between the west coast and the east coast of the U.S. including a round trip multi-stop flight with a routing of Orange County (SNA) - Portland (PDX) - Seattle (SEA) - Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) - Washington, D.C. (DCA) as well as a Long Beach (LGB) - Chicago (ORD) - Washington, D.C. (DCA) round trip flight. ^[8]

Late in 1986, the airline received buyout offers from Delta Air Lines and Alaska Air Group. ^[9] The airline accepted the Alaska bid and by the end of the year the acquisition had been completed. After initially attempting to operate the two airlines separately but finding it costly to do so, Jet America was merged into Alaska Airlines in October 1987. ^[10]

Destinations in 1987

Jet America served the following destinations as of June 1987.

Country	City	Airport	Notes	Refs
District of Columbia	Washington, D.C.	Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport		[11]
California	Burbank	Bob Hope Airport	Terminated	[7]
	Fresno	Fresno Yosemite International Airport	Terminated	[11]
	Long Beach	Long Beach Airport	Hub	[11]
	Oakland	Oakland International Airport	Terminated	[12]
	Ontario	Ontario International Airport	Terminated	[7]
	Orange County	John Wayne Airport		[11]
Illinois	Chicago	O'Hare International Airport		[11]
Michigan	Detroit	Detroit Metropolitan Airport		[11]
Minnesota	Minneapolis/Saint Paul	Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport		[11]
Missouri	St. Louis	St. Louis Lambert International Airport		[11]
Nevada	Las Vegas	McCarran International Airport		[11]
Oregon	Portland	Portland International Airport		[11]
Texas	Dallas/Fort Worth	Dallas Fort Worth International Airport		[11]
Washington	Seattle/Tacoma	Seattle-Tacoma International Airport		[11]
Wisconsin	Milwaukee	Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport	Terminated	[13]

Fleet

At the time of its acquisition by Alaska Airlines, the Jet America fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Jet America Airlines fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			F	Y	Total
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	8 [14]	2 [14]	12	135	147 [15]	Orders transferred to another Alaska Air Group subsidiary. [16]
Total	8	2

Fleet history

Jet America Airlines retired fleet

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Replacement	Notes
Boeing 707-320C	1	June 1984	January 1985	None	Leased for charter operations to Mexico and the Caribbean. [5]

See also

• List of defunct airlines of the United States

References

1. OpenCorporates incorporation record for Jet America, accessed April 20, 2024
2. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 88." Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
3. "SEC News Digest Issue 84-34." Securities and Exchange Commission . February 17, 1984. 2/4. Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
4. "Jet America Airlines 1982 Annual Report" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
5. "Jet America Airlines 1984 Annual Report" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
6. "Jet America Airlines 1985 Annual Report" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
7. "July 16, 1986 Jet America system timetable" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
8. "March 15, 1987 System Timetable" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
9. "Jet America Option Used". The New York Times . Associated Press. 1986-08-21. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
10. "Alaska Air Group 1988 Annual Report" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
11. "June 7, 1987 Jet America system timetable route map" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
12. "October 15, 1985 System Timetable" . Retrieved 21 January 2024.
13. "July 16, 1986 System Timetable" . Retrieved 21 January 2024.
14. "Alaska Air Group 1987 Annual Report" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
15. "Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P8" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.
16. "Alaska Air Group 1986 Annual Report P9" . Retrieved 20 January 2024.

• Norwood, Tom W. (1996). Deregulation Knockouts, Round One. Sandpoint, Idaho: Airways International. pp. 56–57. ISBN   0965399303. OCLC   37263082.