This portion of my page is dedicated to the specific fleets of selected U.S. airlines. Dont expect to find most of your favorite commuters here - this page is specifically dedicated to those U.S. airlines that have operated, at a minimum, at least one jet transport at least the size of a Fokker F-28. Once that criteria was established I decided to (try) and include all aircraft operated by that airline, regardless of engine type (jet, turboprop, piston.)
As this project progressed, I took some good advice and decided to include some older airlines that operated sizeable fleets of postwar piston-engined aircraft. Some of these airlines went on to operate jet aircraft while others vanished into the annals of aviation history. Additionally, some "commuter" airlines have progressed to jet aircraft, and became candidates for inclusion.
Having said that I realized how daunting a task this would be. I've been working on computerizing these fleets in one way or another since 1989. The data is extracted from and contributed by numerous sources (airline history books fleet books, production lists, monthly fleet news magazines, personal spottings, friends spottings, etc.) No work of this type can be 100% complete or (unfortunately) 100% accurate. The info provided is for information purposes only and should be viewed as such. With so much information spread throughout so many different types of publications, disparities often times exist and it is often difficult to put a finger on which bit of info is historically correct.
While I've strived for historical and technical accuracy, no doubt errors will have crept in. Any typographical errors are solely my fault, as I did every bit of the interpretation, transcribing and keyboard work contained herein.
Keeping a project like this up-to-date is another story. I have a full-time job and airlines are just my hobby. I have yet to even "complete" the fleets I've chosen to include - there are many gaps that need to be filled, and much of the needed information has seemingly disappeared into oblivion like so many U.S. airlines. So, please bear with me as I try to complete and maintain these fleets. Free time is a precious commodity that many of us do not have an abundance of. If you can offer any additional information, suggestions, corrections, updates and/or point out typos and wrong information please feel free to e-mail me and tell me what you've found or can offer.
These works are not intended to compete with, challenge, or replace any of the published reference materials from which the data was extracted. In fact, it is a tribute to those before me who spent countless hours compiling data and presenting it in its finished forms. These works are intended to provide a reference to the airline fleet composition of the United States
since the advent of the jet age, at no cost to those interested in viewing it.
One final note: I've had considerable difficulty trying to keep track of the fleets of many of the dedicated freight airlines during the 90s. Many aircraft have been listed on the rosters of a specific airline only to be operated for and in the colors of another airline. If you can help to shed some light on these rather complicated operating arrangements any assistance you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
To view an airline fleet - simply click on the first letter of the airlines name in the menu below. A new page will appear listing all airlines that begin with that letter. Scroll through the airline names until you find one you want to check out.
Each fleet is headed by the airline name; code (where known); start date; stop date (if applicable); any name change (N/C) info; known merger infromation and final status of the airline. If the airline simply went out of business or it is not completely clear what happened to it, the generic term "Ceased Ops." is used. After this heading information begins the fleets. The convention I've attempted to establish follows this logic:
Piston / Turboprop / Jet powerplant
Within each powerplant category the aircraft are listed in ascending weight order - that is the lightest to the heaviest, based on maximum take-off weight. Within each aircraft category, sub-types are listed in ascending maximum take-off weight order. For example: DC-9-10, DC-9-30, DC-9-50. No attempt is made to discern within sub-types when ranking by weight e.g. DC-9-11s, -14s & -15s are all DC-9-10s. Likewise, all the variants of the standard DC-8 fuselage are treated as such. When it comes down to it within each type, the longer the fuselage the heavier the plane. As such, the ranking of most sub-types follow suit. There are few exceptions to this rule, but one that comes to mind are the DC-8-60s. The -62, even with it's higher max take-off weight, is much shorter than the -61. Extra fuel load accounts for the difference, as the -61 has a higher 'equipped empty weight.' The slightly-stretched -62s are listed after the standard DC-8s but before the co-mingled, much longer -61/63s.
In the fleet listings, the data is presented in a standard format recognizeable by those of you familiar with established
industry publications. If you're not familiar with the format, the columns from left to right are:
Registration (in alpha / numeric sequence within sub-types)
Sub-Type
Manufacturers Serial Number / Line Number (where applicable)
Fleet Number (where applicable) (note: fleet numbers are still in the process of being added)
Previous Registration
Month and Year of Acquisition
Month and Year of Disposition; (an asterisk '*' indicates still current); (if written off, then in the format MM-DD-YY)
Remarks
If the airline is "related" to any other airlines (mergers, etc) then links to those airlines are provided at the bottom of the
fleet list.
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