National Airlines
National Airlines operated only two Boeing 747-100s between 1970 and 1976, the first jumbos to serve Miami, flying the Sun King-liveried jets on Miami–New York, Miami–Los Angeles and Miami–London routes.
Not every 747 operator was a global giant. National Airlines was a Florida carrier that bought the 747 to serve one overwhelmingly strong market, and bought exactly as many as that market needed.
Two aircraft, one purpose
National ordered two 747-135s — the largest aircraft the airline ever operated, and the first 747s to serve Miami. They entered service in October 1970 on the dense Miami–New York JFK and Miami–Los Angeles nonstops, in the airline’s famous “Sun King” livery. From the summer of 1972 they also flew Miami–London Heathrow, on which National was one of only four US carriers then permitted to serve Europe.
A short life
The airline sold both 747s to Northwest Orient in May 1976; they were more aircraft than National’s network could keep full outside the Florida trunk routes. National itself was absorbed by Pan Am in January 1980, and the 747s that had been its flagships continued on for another operator. Neither National hull was lost, and neither survives.
National is a useful footnote to 747 history: it shows how the type could be justified by a single high-density city pair, even by an airline that could never support a large fleet.
Related
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- National Airlines (1934–1980) — Wikipedia
- National Airlines: the sunshine airline from Florida — Simple Flying
- 1965–1980 — first 747 into Miami — Hangar 5 Foundation
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