North American Airlines

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North American Airlines

IATA NA	ICAO NAO	Callsign NORTH AMERICAN
Founded		1989
Hubs		John F. Kennedy International Airport
Focus cities		Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
Member lounge		President's Club
Fleet size		10
Destinations		5
Parent company		Global Aero Logistics, Inc.
Headquarters		New York City, New York
Key people
Website: http://www.flynaa.com

A North American Airlines Boeing 757 parked at the Rafael Hernández Airport in Puerto Rico, with Fed Ex and Tradewinds jets nearby.

North American Airlines is an airline based at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City, USA. It operates US domestic and international charter services, as well as wet lease operations for major carriers ^[1].

1 History
2 Services
3 Incidents and accidents
4 Fleet
5 External links
6 References

[edit] History

North American was established in 1989 and began operations on 20 January 1990. It was founded by Dan McKinnon, former head of the then Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), mainly to provide feeder services to El Al gateways in North America, and to provide services for Club Med with MD-80 aircraft and then B737-800 aircraft. El Al held a 24.9% stake in the airline until it sold it back to McKinnon in July 2003. Dan McKinnon has since sold the airline to World Airways Holdings in 2006.^[1]. It began by flying charter flights on Boeing 757 aircraft. The company grew during the 1990s, adding flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, various spots in Mexico and other destinations. North American also started a scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to JFK to complement El Al's existing Tel Aiv-JFK-LAX run and provide the Israeli airline with more passengers. North American also opened operations in Newark, New Jersey at that time.^{[citation needed]}

Although North American is small in comparison to many other U.S. airlines, the company has operated flights to destinations on every inhabited continent. In addition to their original 757s, North American also operates Boeing 767s for long-range, high-density charter flights.^{[citation needed]}

On April 5, 2007, New ATA Holdings, Inc. bought out North American Airlines parent company World Air Holdings, Inc. and promptly changed the name of the holding company to Global Aero Logistics, Inc. to reflect the worldwide desires of the latest owners. The same firm, Matlin Patterson recently divested themselves of Varig at the end of March 2006.

[edit] Services

The company's scheduled services are currently^{[citation needed]} limited to flights from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Georgetown, Guyana's Cheddi Jagan International Airport (GEO) and Accra, Ghana (ACC) and from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to Banjul, Gambia (BJL) and continuing to Accra, Ghana (ACC). North American's charter operations make up the bulk of its business: resorts such as Club Med and tour operators in Hawaii and the Caribbean charter North American's aircraft on a regular basis. North American also supplied the 757 used by George W. Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign.

North American Airlines discontinued service to Hawaii as of September 1, 2005. Prior to Delta Air Lines establishing service between New York City and Accra, Ghana on December 11, 2006, NAA's JFK-ACC and BWI-BJL services were the only scheduled non-stop service between the U.S. and West Africa operated by a U.S. airline for several years.^{[citation needed]}

North American Airlines inaugurated nonstop service New York JFK-Lagos on Jul 17, 2006. It operates 3 flights a week using a Boeing 767-300ER.^{[citation needed]}

As a certified United States Department of Defense air carrier, NAA provides military personnel and their dependents air transportation to destinations not served by commercial airlines. North American was the first airline to provide the capability of the B767 aircraft to the United States Military in 2002. NAA operates military transport flights out of Dallas/Ft.Worth Airport.^{[citation needed]}