UNITED ARAB AIRLINES: Egypt/Syria (1958-1971). Following the February 1, 1958 establishment of political union between Egypt and Syria, the Egyptian carrier Misrair, S. A.E. (1) is renamed UAA.
On a March 7 flight from Athens to Cairo, a Vickers 628 Viking 1B with 4 crew and 22 passengers is lost in Egypt’s Lake Menzalah, near Port Said (8 dead).
Tupolev Tu-104s are purchased from the Soviet Union on April 3 and a select group of pilots is sent to Moscow for training. On September 3, a UAA delegation arrives in Moscow for consultations with Aeroflot Soviet Airlines officials. On December 23, Syrian Airways is amalgamated into an expanded UAA.
During 1959, the enlarged carrier assumes responsibilities for the routes and services of the merger partners, employing their aircraft in new livery. The available Douglas DC-3s are all flown on domestic routes to Alexandria, Assuit, Aswan, Cairo, Luxor, Mersa Matruh, and Port Said.
The newest aircraft in the fleet are a Vickers Viscount 732 and four Viscount 739s. Orders are placed for three de Havilland DH 106 Comet 4Cs. These, together with several DC-6Bs, are employed on regional routes in the Mideast and Mediterranean.
Flights to Baghdad cease during the first quarter of 1960. The Viscount 732 with 3 crew and 17 passengers crashes near Elba on April 10; there are no survivors. The first Comet 4C is delivered on June 10 and is employed to inaugurate Cairo-London service on July 1. The second Comet 4C now arrives and inaugurates twice-weekly return flights from Cairo to Khartoum and Jeddah.
A DC-4 with five crew and nine passengers engaged in hauling freight is lost in the Congo River, Congo, on September 1; all aboard make it to shore.
On September 29, a Viscount 739B with 4 crew and 17 passengers en route from Geneva to Cairo disappears over the Mediterranean; its wreckage is found 17 miles off Elba on October 5 and there are no survivors.
The third Comet 4C is delivered on December 23; on Christmas Day it joins the other two in altering the European schedule. Flights from Cairo to London are now flown five times a week, with daily stops at Rome, twice-weekly visits to Frankfurt and Zurich, and weekly stops at Geneva.
Three more DC-6Bs are acquired from SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) in April 1961.
A DC-3 with five crew and two passengers crash-lands near Kameshli, Egypt, on May 6; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
Services are now opened to Lagos and on June 12 it is extended to Accra. Meanwhile, service to Moscow begins on June 1 and 20 days later the service to London becomes daily. The fourth and fifth Comet 4Cs are requested and an order is placed with Boeing on September 1 for five B-707-366C Stratoliners.
A bloodless revolution on September 28 splits the United Arab Republic. Syrian Airways withdraws from the amalgamation in September, taking the three ex-SAS DC-6Bs, two DC-4s, and three DC-3s. The remaining Egyptian portion soldiers on as UAA and on November 1 launches flights to Karachi, continuing on to Bombay. The sixth and seventh Comet 4Cs are requested in December.
A Vickers Viscount 739 with 6 crew and 10 passengers is destroyed in a forced landing 3 mi. W of Wadi Halfa, Egypt, on March 16. 1962; although there are no fatalities, the plane must be written off.
Two Comets are delivered in April, but the company now enters a period of several years plagued with accidents.
A DC-3 freighter with three crew crashes at Heliopolis near Cairo Airport on May 15; there are no survivors.
Three days later, weekly Comet 4C service to Tokyo begins via Kuwait, Bombay, and Bangkok, while flights to Hong Kong, the final point before Japan, are made twice weekly.
While descending toward Hong Kong during a July 19 flight from Bangkok, Flight 869, a DH 106 Comet 4C with 8 crew and 18 passengers, disappears. Wreckage is found in a teakwood forest 50 mi. N of Bangkok the next day and there are no survivors. Another Comet 4C is delivered in August.
The Baghdad route is restarted with Comet 4Cs, five times a week, on February 15, 1963. While on a May 12 domestic flight, a DC-3 with 4 crew and 27 passengers crashes at the Nile Delta village of Nawa just after takeoff from Cairo; there are no survivors.
En route from Bangkok to Bombay on July 27, Flight 869, a DH 106 Comet C with 8 crew and 55 passengers crashes 9 nm. W. of Madh Island, India; there are no survivors. The aircraft had been acquired as a replacement for the one lost in 1962.
Yet another Comet 4C is damaged in a landing accident at Benghazi on September 12. UAA no longer has sufficient jetliners to serve both Europe and Japan and, consequently, the Tokyo route is now suspended. Arrangements are made to obtain additional aircraft.
Two Comet 4Cs are delivered in February 1964, along with three DC-6Bs from Pan American World Airways (1). These propeller-planes supplement the earlier Viscounts and DC-6Bs on domestic and regional services.
A Vickers Viscount 732 with 4 crew and 45 passengers must be written off after a bad landing at Beirut on February 23; there are no fatalities.
In April, four more DC-6Bs are purchased from Northwest Airlines. The first arrives on October 15.
During the fall, company officials decide to create a domestic subsidiary, Misrair, S. A.E. (2), leaving UAA to handle long-haul services. The company stages a fly-off evaluation of turboprop equipment and eventually chooses to place a $2.3-million order for seven Antonov An-24Vs. As Egypt falls under Soviet influence, its airline fleet is altered as the Russians grant easier payment terms and Western builders turn away. The previous arrangement with Boeing for the acquisition of Stratoliners collapses in November when financing terms cannot be finalized.
The remaining three Northwest Airlines DC-6Bs arrive in January, March, and June 1965. The Soviet Antonovs now also begin to arrive.
A DC-3 is lost while landing at Cairo on June 6; there are no fatalities.
All of the new Antonovs are placed on domestic and regional routes when Misrair, S. A.E. (2) begins operations on August 1. UAA is now reorganized; it, like Misrair, is owned by General Arab Air Transport Organization, which also oversees the hotel unit, General Aviation Services, and the Karnak Travel and Tourist Corporation.
Coming into Cairo in bad weather from Nicosia on March 18, 1966, Flight 749, an An-24V with 5 crew and 25 passengers, crashes 5 mi. from the runway; there are no survivors.
A new agreement is reached with Boeing on June 15 and a $30-million contract is signed with the American builder for three B-707-366Cs.
An An-24V with 6 crew and 37 passengers is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Cairo on September 30; there are no fatalities.
Service to Prague, a stop on the Cairo to Moscow route, is dropped on November 1.
Flights commence from Cairo to Copenhagen via Frankfurt on January 4, 1967. A DC-6B is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Hodeidah, Aden, on January 24, when it ground loops off the runway causing its landing gear to collapse; no fatalities are reported.
When the summer schedule begins in April, a number of Comet 4C charters are authorized for New York. A Comet 4C is destroyed on June 22 as the result of a bad landing at Kuwait City; there are no fatalities.
Having cost more to operate than its services had generated, the General Arab Air Transport Organization announces on January 1, 1968 that it will fold Misrair, S. A.E. (2) back into UAA on June 1.
Just after takeoff from Cairo on January 15, the four-man crew of a DC-3 freighter elects to return due to icing conditions; the aircraft crashes before they can put it back down to the runway and there are no survivors.
En route from Cairo to Damascus on August 18, an An-24V with 7 crew and 33 passengers crashes into the sea off Nicosia; there are no survivors.
During August, two Ilyushin Il-18s are acquired from the Soviet Union and in the fall, the first Boeing Stratoliners arrive and enter service on the London route.
While attempting its third approach to Aswan Airport in a sandstorm on March 20, 1969, a chartered Il-18D with 7 crew and 93 passengers crashes and burns (100 dead).
An Il-18 route to East Berlin is started at the end of the month. A DC-3 freighter with three crew strikes high ground near Cairo on April 10 and is destroyed; there are no survivors.
Weekly flights to Tokyo via Kuwait, Bombay, Bangkok, and Hong Kong, are resumed on June 15.
On August 18, an An-24V with 30 passengers en route from Cairo to Aswan is taken over by two Egyptian brothers, one of whom is accompanied by his wife and children, and diverted to El Wagah, Saudi Arabia. The pirates are arrested and on order of King Faisal are returned to Egypt.
Late in this period, a deal is struck whereby the Soviets will outfit the carrier with a fleet of Tupolev Tu-154 jetliners to replace Western types including the Comet 4Cs.
There will be a string of aircraft accidents in 1970. Having arrived on a service from Cairo via Khartoum, Flight 755, a DH 106 Comet 4C with nine crew and five passengers crashes while landing at Addis Ababa on January 14; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
While landing at Luxor on January 30, the landing gear of an An-24V collapses; there are no fatalities.
As a result of heavy buffeting and ice on the wings, a DH 106 Comet 4C with 9 crew and 14 passengers rejects takeoff from Munich on February 9 at a height of 30 ft. The aircraft settles back down, but overruns the runway, hits a fence, loses its undercarriage, and is exposed to a quickly extinguished fire. Although there are no fatalities, the aircraft must be written off.
Just after takeoff from Alexandria on March 14, an explosion caused by a imbedded foreign body, rocks the No. 1 engine of an An-24V with seven crew and eight passengers. Diverted to Cairo, the turboprop makes a safe wheels-up landing near Runway 05. Although the plane must be written off, there are no fatalities.
The fourth B-707-366C is delivered on April 1.
While practicing touch-and-go landings from Cairo on July 19, an An-24V with three crew goes out of control and crashes; there are no survivors.
In mid-September, the carrier is subjected to three unsuccessful hijacking attempts.
On September 10, three gunmen unsuccessfully attempt to take over an Il-18 en route from Cairo to Beirut, but are foiled by security guards. Two days later, a lone skyjacker, S. Nasr, is subdued before he can capture an An-24V en route from Cairo to Tripoli and divert it to Saudi Arabia.
The third effort proves no more successful than the first two. En route from Luxor to Cairo on September 16, another lone assailant tries to take over an An-24V with 46 passengers, but he, too, is thwarted by security policemen.
The unduplicated route mileage in 1971 totals approximately 40,000, a number equivalent to 10% of the number of passenger boardings per year.
On January 2, Flight 844, a Comet 4C with eight crew and eight passengers en route from Cairo, begins final approach to Tripoli, but flying below minimum altitude, crashes into a 395-ft. high sand dune near the Libyan city and crashes (16 dead). Two days later, the Egyptian government tightens controls on the airline.
The fleet now includes 4 Comet 4Cs, 3 Boeing 707-366Cs, 7 Antonov An-24s, and 2 Il-18s.
Orders are placed with the Soviet government on May 23 for two Il-62s that are delivered a month later and assigned to the European routes.
Il-62 service to Tokyo begins on July 9. On August 22, a security guard subdues a lone pirate as he attempts to divert to Israel an Il-18 flying en route from Cairo to Amman.
New livery and the name Egyptair, S. A.E. are adopted on October 10.
UNITED ARABIAN AIRLINES, LTD.: Sudan (1996-1998). Trans Arabian Air Transport, Ltd. is renamed during 1996 and receives a new corporate identity. Capt. Mustafa H. Y. Kordofani is managing director and he continues to oversee a workforce of 230.
In addition to 3 Antonov An-26s, the fleet includes 1 each owned Boeing 707-349C and B-707-351C, plus a leased B-707-321C.
Destinations visited during the year and in 1997-1999 include Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Athens, Cairo, Doha, Harare, Jeddah, London (LGW and STN), Malta, Nairobi, Port Sudan, and Sharjah.
The new brand does not last and by 1998 United Arab is once again known as Trans Arabian Air Transport, Ltd.
UNITED AVIATION. See UNITED STATES AIRWAYS
UNITED CHINAAIRLINES. See CHINA UNITED AIRLINES
UNITED EXPORT COMPANY: United States (1948-1952). One of
Many small U. S. irregular carriers established in the years immediately after World War II, UE is set up at Miami in 1947 to operate all-cargo charters. Revenue operations commence with a single leased Curtiss C-46 Commando.
Flights continue without incident until August 31,1952, when the transport suffers engine trouble just after takeoff from Prescott, Arizona, and crashes. Although no injuries are reported, the Curtiss is so badly damaged that the company elects to liquidate rather than undertake its repair.
UNITED EXPRESS. See AIR WISCONSIN; ASPEN AIRWAYS; ATLANTIC COAST AIRLINES; GREAT LAKES AVIATION; GULFSTREAM INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES; HORIZON AIR; MESA AIRLINES; SKYWEST AIRLINES; UFS (UNITED FEEDER SERVICE, INC.); WESTAIR COMMUTER AIRLINE
UNITED EXPRESS (MESA AIR GROUP): United States (1997-1998). During the first week of January 1997, Mesa Air Group
Is again reorganized. The operating divisions Desert Sun, Florida Gulf, Liberty Express, and Mountain West are replaced by four new units: America West Express, Independent, “United Express,” and “USAir-ways Express.” Also merged into the new divisions are the marketing and customer service departments of Air Midwest and WestAir Commuter Airlines. Robert Dynan, former president of Liberty Express, is placed in charge of this new unit.
When United Airlines early in the year elects to transfer codesharing on eight routes out of Los Angeles to SkyWest Airlines, Mesa files suit. Although Mesa will continue to seek certain “commercial resolution” of the move, UAL will provide “United Express” with seven new California routes as compensation.
A dispute between Mesa Air Group and its United Express (Mesa Air Group) division versus United Airlines and SkyWest Airlines concerning access to certain additional West Coast markets results in a July lawsuit. UAL files suit in the U. S. District Court in Chicago seeking a determination as to the rights of all parties to the routes before any of the companies suffer economically. Mesa does not countersue.
Recognizing the higher costs of operating at the new Denver airport, Congress, on July 1 under the leadership of U. S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kans.), restores—and increases—the EAS subsidy for Kansas and eastern Colorado that Mesa Air Group had lost the previous year. In the next fiscal year, MAG will receive $2,797,280.
Consequently, twice-daily Air Midwest “USAir Express” roundtrip Beech 1900D flights are resumed on October 1 from Hays to Kansas City via Great Bend and from Garden City to Kansas City via Dodge City. Additionally, “United Express” resumes twice-daily Beech 1900D roundtrips from Great Bend to Denver via Dodge City and twice-daily roundtrips from Hays to Denver, plus thrice-daily roundtrips from Liberal to Denver via Garden City.
Also on October 1, the company, together with SkyWest Airlines, increases “United Express” services from their Los Angeles hub by 73% to 175 daily flights; at the same time, 12 new California destinations are now initially visited, including San Jose.
CCAir board member Peter Murname, a principal in Barlow Partners and former Mesa executive Jonathan Ornstein, president of Virgin Express Airlines, S. A., make a $50-million offer in October for Mesa’s “United Express” operation at Denver, along with WestAir Commuter Airlines. The tender is rejected.
“United Express” service from Denver to Fort Collins, Loveland, and Longmont, Colorado, is terminated in November as the result of low prorates from United Airlines and high Denver airport costs. United begins an “Airport Express” bus service that operates 14-times-per-day roundtrips from Denver to Fort Collins and 12-times per day to and from Longmont and Loveland.
Having weathered the required three-month interim, the company drops “United Express” flights to Worland and Rock Springs, Wyoming, plus Pueblo and Alamosa, Colorado, at the end of the year.
In January 1998, word of separation comes from United Airlines, which announces an end to its “United Express” arrangements with Mesa Air Group subsidiary Westair Commuter Airlines. The San Francisco component is cancelled, effective on May 31, with Pacific Northwest flights to end in September.
The loss of this operation is a serious blow, as the “United Express” relationship had been worth 47% of the group’s revenue. Irate investors, claiming to have lost millions over the past year due to poor management, threaten lawsuits. The entire matter brings a major change in Mesa Air Group management and by midyear former executive Jonathan Ornstein will, in fact, be in charge.
At the beginning of May, Mesa Air Group retains the International Airline Support Group to assist Westair Commuter Airlines with the disposition of its leased fleet of Brasilias and Jetstream 31s.
Both that carrier and this division are now shut down.
UNITED IMPERIAL AIRLINES. See IMPERIAL AIRLINES; PACIFIC COAST AIRLINES (2)
UNITED IRANIAN AIRWAYS. See IRAN AIR
UNITED LIBYAN AIRLINES: Libya (1962-1964). ULA is established at Tripoli in 1962 to provide aerial support to the growing energy industry. Although owned by local concerns, management and aircraft are provided by Autair, Ltd. of the U. K. C. J. Bicknell is appointed CEO and several Autair Douglas DC-3s provide lift.
In 1964, the company is merged with Libavia to form Kingdom of Libya Airlines.
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE. See UPS (UNITED PARCEL SERVICE)
UNITED SHUTTLE. See UNITED AIRLINES
UNITED STATES AIRWAYS: United States (1929-1934). Organized by N. A. Letson at St. Louis in the spring of 1929, United States Airways is equipped with Metal G-2W Flamingos that are employed to inaugurate scheduled, multistop passenger service to Denver via Kansas City on July 29. Operations continue apace in 1930, during the spring of which the carrier joins with Ohio Air Transport and Pittsburgh Airways in the creation of United Aviation, a confederation seeking a transcontinental mail route.
To split the aviation group and halt its desire to participate in his airway master planning, Postmaster General Walter Fogler Brown allows American Airways to extend its new AM-30 westward from Kansas City to Denver in June 1931. Part of the deal includes an understanding that it would (as occurs) be sublet to United States Airways should the partner see fit to secede—which it does. United Aviation folds on July 15.
A Flamingo is lost in a nonfatal crash landing at Goodland, Kansas, on May 22, 1933. En route to Denver from Kansas City on June 28, a
Flamingo catches fire in the air and makes a safe emergency landing at Goodland, Kansas.
On February 9, 1934, as a result of concerns raised during the so-called “Air Mail Scandal” controversy, the U. S. Post Office cancels all existing airmail contracts. The White House calls upon the U. S. Army Air Corps to fly the mail, a military option that does not prove successful. As a result, the Post Office rebids the routes. United States Airways, which has meanwhile ceased operating, goes out of business in June.
UNITED STATES AVIATION COMPANY: 3315 N. Memorial Drive, Hangar 31, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74115, United States; Phone (918) 836-5387; Fax (918) 836-7804; Year Founded 1995. This corporate carrier is established at Tulsa in 1995 to provide businessmen with on-demand charters to worldwide destinations. The company employs eight pilots and begins revenue flights with 1 each Grumman G-1159C Gulfstream IV, Dassault Falcon 20, Learjet 55C Longhorn, and Learjet 25B.
UNITED STATES OVERSEAS AIRLINES (USOA): United States (1946-1964). USOA is organized at Cape May, New Jersey, in June 1946 to offer irregular cargo service. Revenue flights begin on November 12 employing two war-surplus Douglas C-54s (military DC-4s). Transcontinental freight flights are made and the fleet grows to include DC-6As and DC-7Fs.
A decade later, on January 1, 1956, USOA receives a operational certificate as a “large irregular” from the CAB. By 1958, the fleet comprises 11 freighters: 9 Douglas DC-4s and 2 Lockheed L-1049Hs. Destinations now served include Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
On February 14, 1960, failure to maintain sufficient altitude to clear obstructions during an attempted VFR approach to Providence, Rhode Island, in IFR conditions results in the crash of a DC-4; both crewmen aboard are slightly injured. When Transocean Air Lines (TAL) folds on July 11, the company assumes that carrier’s routes, with emphasis on the service from Honolulu to Okinawa via Wake Island and Guam.
The nosegear of a DC-4 collapses as the freighter lands at Patrick AFB, Florida, on June 25, 1961. Flights are conducted without incident in 1962. However, a DC-6B with five aboard on a ferry flight crashes upon landing at Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 31,1963 after the flight engineer prematurely retracts the main gear. Overexpanded and under financed, USOA is declared as unfit to operate by the CAB on September 25, 1964. It goes out of business on November 30.
In 1980, company officials seek recertification from the CAB; the government grants worldwide charter authority in August. Efforts to raise sufficient capital to resume flying are unsuccessful.
UNITED WEST AIRLINES: P. O. Box 824870, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33082, United States; Phone (954) 438-9077;Fax (954) 4313573; Year Founded 1993. This nonscheduled carrier is established at Fort Lauderdale in 1993 to provide executive and small group charters to worldwide destinations. Four pilots are employed and revenue flights begin with a single Dassault Falcon 20.
World History
