Northern Air Cargo is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 cargo airline

Cargo airline

Cargo airlines are airlines dedicated to the transport of cargo. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines.-Logistics:...

 based in Anchorage

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It operates services within Alaska and to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and mainland USA. Its main base is Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Top destinations:-Scheduled cargo airlines:-Inter-terminal:...

, with a hub at Fairbanks International Airport

Fairbanks International Airport

Fairbanks International Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska....

.

History

The airline was established in 1956 as a charter freight service by Bobby Sholton and Morrie Carlson. It was Alaska's first scheduled all-cargo airline. Ownership later passed to the Sholton family. Its wholly owned subsidiary, NAC Link (Now Alta Air Logistics), is a freight forwarding company. In February 2006 the airline and its subsidiaries were wholly acquired by Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

-based Saltchuk Resources. It has 289 employees (at March 2007)..

Destinations

As of January 2005 Northern Air Cargo operates scheduled freight services to the following domestic destinations :

• Anchorage
  Anchorage, Alaska
  Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
  
  
• Aniak
  Aniak, Alaska
  Aniak is a city in the Bethel Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 572.-Geography: ....
  
  
• Barrow
  Barrow, Alaska
  Barrow is the largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is one of the northernmost cities in the world and is the northernmost city in the United States of America, with nearby Point Barrow being the nation's northernmost point. Barrow's population was 4,212 at the...
  
  
• Bethel
  Bethel, Alaska
  Bethel is a city located near the west coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, west of Anchorage. Accessible only by air and river, Bethel is the main port on the Kuskokwim River and is an administrative and transportation hub for the 56 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.Bethel is the largest...
  
  
• Dillingham
  Dillingham, Alaska
  - Natural resources :Dillingham was once known as the Pacific salmon capital of the world and commercial fishing remains an important part of the local economy...
  
  
• Emmonak, Charter Only
  Emmonak, Alaska
  Emmonak is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 767.-Geography:Emmonak is located at ....
  
  
• Fairbanks
  Fairbanks, Alaska
  Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
  
  
• Iliamna
  Iliamna, Alaska
  Iliamna is a census-designated place in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 102 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Iliamna is located at ....
  
  
• King Salmon
  King Salmon, Alaska
  King Salmon is a census-designated place in Bristol Bay Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census the population was 442...
  
  
• Kodiak
  Kodiak, Alaska
  Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
  
  
• Kotzebue
  Kotzebue, Alaska
  As of the census of 2000, there were 3,082 people, 889 households, and 656 families residing in the city. The population density was 114.1 people per square mile . There were 1,007 housing units at an average density of 37.3 per square mile...
  
  
• McGrath
  McGrath, Alaska
  As of the census of 2000, there were 401 people, 145 households, and 99 families residing in the city. The population density was 8.2 people per square mile . There were 213 housing units at an average density of 4.4 per square mile...
  
  
• Nome
  Nome, Alaska
  Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
  
  
• Noorvik, Charter only
  Noorvik, Alaska
  Noorvik is a primarily Inupiat city in the Northwest Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 634. Located in the NANA Region Corp, Noorvik has close ties with the largest city in the region, Kotzebue. Residents speak a dialect of Inupiaq...
  
  
• Prudhoe Bay
  Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
  Prudhoe Bay or Sagavanirktok is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people; however, at any given time several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay oil field...
  
  /Deadhorse
  Deadhorse, Alaska
  Deadhorse is an unincorporated community in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States, along the North Slope near the Arctic Ocean. The town consists mainly of facilities for the workers and companies that operate at the nearby Prudhoe Bay oil fields. Deadhorse is accessible via the Dalton Highway...
  
  
• Red Dog
  Red Dog Mine, Alaska
  Red Dog Mine is a census-designated place in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The population was 32 at the 2000 census.-Economy:...
  
  
• St. Mary's
  St. Mary's, Alaska
  St. Mary's is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 500.-Geography:St...
  
  
• St Paul Island
  Saint Paul Island, Alaska
  Saint Paul Island is the largest of the Pribilof Islands, a group of five Alaskan volcanic islands located in the Bering Sea between the United States and Russia. The city of St. Paul is the only residential area on the island. The two nearest islands to Saint Paul Island are Otter Island to the...
  
  
• Unalakleet
  Unalakleet, Alaska
  Unalakleet is a city in Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States, in the western part of the state. At the 2000 census the population was 747. Unalakleet is known in the region and around Alaska for its salmon and king crab harvests; the residents rely heavily on caribou, ptarmigan, oogruk , and...
  
  

Fleet

As of November 2010 the Northern Air Cargo fleet includes :

• 3 Boeing 737-200
  Boeing 737
  The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
  
  
• 2 Boeing 737-300
  Boeing 737
  The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
  
  

Service

Northern Air Cargo currently is contracted to handle inbound/outbound cargo for the following.

• Continental Airlines
  Continental Airlines
  Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
  
  
• Jet Blue
• American Airlines
  American Airlines
  American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
  
  

Northern Air Cargo currently is contracted to handle passenger services for the following:

• American Airlines
  American Airlines
  American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
  
  
• Air Canada
  Air Canada
  Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
  
  
• ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
  
   (through its Northern Air Maintenance Services division)
• Jet Blue

Previously operated

As of August 2006 the airline also operated :

• 1 ATR 42-300
  ATR 42
  -Civil operators:The largest operators of the ATR-42 are FedEx Express, Airlinair, TRIP Linhas Aéreas,and Mexico City-based Aeromar respectively. Number of aircraft as of 2010:Some 70 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type....
  
  
• 3 Boeing 727-100F
  Boeing 727
  The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
  
  
• 1 Boeing 727-100C
  Boeing 727
  The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
  
  
• 13 Douglas DC-6
  Douglas DC-6
  The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
  
  

Community awareness

Northern Air Cargo, along with Bering Air

Bering Air

Bering Air is an American regional airline headquartered in Nome, Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter services, as well as air ambulance and helicopter services...

, Frontier Flying Service

Frontier Flying Service

Frontier Flying Service is an American airline headquartered in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. It operates an extensive network of year-round scheduled commuter services and postal services to Alaska bush communities, primarily north of Fairbanks, as well as charter services to the lower 48 and...

, Grant Aviation

Grant Aviation

Grant Aviation is a regional airline that serves the state of Alaska. The airline was formed in 1971 as Delta Air Services based out of Emmonak...

, PenAir

PenAir

Peninsula Airways, doing business as PenAir, is an American airline headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. It is Alaska's second largest commuter airline operating an extensive scheduled passenger and cargo service, as well as charter and medevac services...

, and Ryan Air, participates in the Flying Can service, which allows rural Alaskan communities to recycle aluminum cans and now number 1 PET

Polyethylene terephthalate

Polyethylene terephthalate , commonly abbreviated PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P, is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food and other liquid containers; thermoforming applications; and engineering resins often in combination...

 bottles in cooperation with Alaskans for Litter Prevention and Recycling.

Incidents and accidents

• July 20, 1996: Northern Air Cargo Flight 33, a Douglas DC-6
  Douglas DC-6
  The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
  
   was flying a cargo route (Emmonak
  Emmonak, Alaska
  Emmonak is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 767.-Geography:Emmonak is located at ....
  
  -Aniak
  Aniak, Alaska
  Aniak is a city in the Bethel Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2000 census the population was 572.-Geography: ....
  
  ) when it crashed as it attempted an emergency landing at Russian Mission
  Russian Mission, Alaska
  Russian Mission is a city in Wade Hampton Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 296.-Geography:Russian Mission is located at ....
  
  . The emergency landing was due to the #3 engine catching fire. As the plane made its approach and when it was turning to final, its right wing was seen fold up. The plane rolled to the right, nose down and slammed into the ground. All 4 on board were killed, including Robert West, a great bush pilot employed by Grant Aviation. The cause of the crash was determined to be the fatigue on the engine and the improper procedures regarding an emergency by the pilots on board.

External links

• Northern Air Cargo