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The airline was established under the name Omni Air Express and started operations in March 1993 with a Boeing 727 freighter aircraft. In 1993, Omni started its Part 121 air carrier operations with Boeing 727F equipment in the narrow-body cargo market. Customers include integrated shipping companies such as BAX Global, DHL, Emery Worldwide, and UPS.[5]
In 1997, the company changed its name to Omni Air International and launched passenger operations with DC-10s (including N270AX, the last DC-10 ever built).
In 1998, the company sold its Boeing 727F fleet to focus exclusively on its growing passenger business. From 1998 to 2000, the company acquired three second-hand long-range McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s and began providing international charter service to wholesale companies and cruise lines as well as wet lease Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) for other airlines and the US Department of Defense.
In April 2003, the Boeing 757-200 passenger aircraft was added to its fleet. The 757-200 fleet was approved for extended range over water operations (ETOPS). Boeing 757s were flown on vacation routes between Las Vegas (LAS) and Honolulu (HNL) year-round. They also flew between Minneapolis/St.Paul (MSP) and Cancun (CUN), Cozumel (CZM), Mazatlan (MZT) and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo (ZIH), Mexico and to Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) year round and between Boston (BOS) and Aruba (AUA), Netherlands Antilles seasonally.
Boeing 767-300ER aircraft were added starting in August 2009, and Boeing 777-200ER aircraft began operating in April 2011. That same year, the Boeing 767-200ER was added to the fleet. The B-767s and DC-10s were operated on Department of Defense flights between the US and Kuwait (KWI) and between the US and overseas bases in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and Central Asia. Omni also occasionally operates sub-service/wet-lease flights for foreign airlines from Canada, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and Bolivia.
On October 2, 2018, Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) announced it would acquire Omni subject to regulatory approval.[6] On November 9, ATSG completed its acquisition of Omni for $845 million.[7]
In September 2019, Omni aided in the repatriation of British citizens after the collapse of the UK's Thomas Cook Airlines. The airline was contracted by the Civil Aviation Authority under the instruction of the British government to operate rescue flights returning stranded Thomas Cook passengers to the UK.[8]
In 2020, Omni Air obtained $67 million in coronavirus relief aid, as well as a $77.65 million contract with the Trump administration's Department of Defense for "international charter airlift services."[9]
A 2019 report by Quartz stated that the airline was the sole provider willing to conduct certain deportation missions deemed "high-risk," and raised concerns about elevated costs for such services.[11] According to University of Washington professor Angelina Godoy, who tracked human rights violations on ICE deportation flights, the reports of abuse on Omni Air were "significantly worse" than reports on other ICE Air charters.[12]
Omni Air planes were used to deport Cameroonian refugees fleeing persecution relating to the Anglophone Crisis.[13] Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have concluded that the refugees were likely to be in danger if they returned to Cameroon, and that the deportation constituted refoulement, a violation of international law.[13] Several of the deportees were, upon their return to Cameroon, held in squalid conditions, tortured and raped.[14]
Use of "WRAP" devices to hogtie deportee onboard Omni Air flights was confirmed by ICE.[15] In 2017, a plane deporting people to Somalia encountered a mechanical break that saw the plane diverted to Dakar, Senegal. Deportees were reportedly left shackled for 48 hours with little food, and when the plane's lavatories overflowed with human waste, the deportees had to urinate in a bottle or on themselves. The flight subsequently returned to the US with the deportees still on board.[15]
Omni became the target of activists pushing Amazon to divest their 20% stake in the airline's parent company ATSG, which supplies charters for Prime Air.[12]
On 28 August 2020, an Omni Air International Boeing 767 (registered N423AX) operated a flight between Kabul, Afghanistan and Washington, United States with a scheduled refueling stop at Bucharest, Romania. During landing at the Romanian capital, the aircraft's left main landing gear collapsed. The aircraft skidded along the runway and evacuation slides were used by the 80 passengers to escape without injury.[20]
Romania's SIAA found that the cause of the accident was a fracture in the outer cylinder of the left-hand main landing gear. During maintenance in 2015, the inner diameter cylinder was subjected to repeated cycles of chrome plating then grinding and polishing. The grinding machine was operating outside of input parameters, which caused excessive heat generation through friction, leading to heat damage to the base metal of the cylinder. [21]
↑ "ContactArchived 2011-05-09 at the Wayback Machine as of October 15, 2018, Omni Air International, LLC., 3303 N Sheridan Rd, Hangar 19 Tulsa, OK 74115."
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