UNION FLIGHTS: 6273 Freeport Blvd., Executive Airport, Sacramento, California 95822, United States; Phone (916) 421-8531; Fax (916) 421-8546; Code UNF; Year Founded 1955. C. Jayne Paynter sets up Union Flights at Sacramento, California, in November 1955 to undertake charter flights in the Sacramento area. Cessna lightplane revenue flights commence in July 1956.
Over the next 40 years, services to such regional destinations as Oakland and Ontario, California, and Phoenix are begun and scheduled frequencies launched. In 1985, Union becomes a feeder for Federal Express (FedEx).
At the beginning of the 1990s, the fleet includes 3 each Piper PA-31350 Navajo Chieftains and Cessna 208 Caravan Is, plus 2 Piper Cherokee Sixes. The workforce totals 55 in 1998-2000 and President Paynter operates 8 Caravans and 7 Chieftains.
UNION OF BURMAAIRWAYS, LTD.: Burma (1948-1972). Following the creation of the Socialist Republic of Burma on January 4, 1948, its new government decides that it should have its own air service. To that end, an Air Transport Board, capitalized at 5 million kyats, is established to fulfill that desire and is outfitted with 6 de Havilland DH 104 Dove 1s. These inaugurate scheduled services in October, linking the company’s Rangoon base with Mandalay, Akyab, and Moulmein.
The Air Transport Board, though still an Air Ministry division, is renamed Union of Burma Airways in early 1949 and during the remainder of the year the Doves extend the route network to 14 additional communities.
Employing Douglas DC-3s, the carrier opens international routes in 1950 to Chittagong, Calcutta, and Bangkok. Operations continue apace in 1951. The government department becomes an autonomous concern when it is reconstituted on October 1, 1952. It receives an independent board of directors and a full-time chairman/managing director.
While on final approach to the airport at Mergui on January 10, 1953, a DC-3, with three crew and 15 passengers, strikes trees 820 ft. short of the runway and crashes; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
Three Handley Page (formerly Miles) Marathons enter service during the summer; they are employed to open scheduled flights to Singapore via Mergui and Penang.
Unsuccessful, the Marathons are withdrawn the following June and the company returns to DC-3s. In May 1955, three Vickers Viscount 761s are ordered.
While climbing away from Meikitila on September 2, a DC-3 with three crew and six passengers stalls and then crashes; there are no survivors.
En route from Rangoon via Mingaladon to Mandalay on August 8, 1956, a DC-3 with 3 crew and 17 passengers is lost at Thazi, SE of Mandalay (12 dead).
In circumstances unknown (possibly a bad landing), a DC-3 with 4 crew and 19 passengers is lost at Loikaw, Burma, on March 19, 1957; there are no fatalities.
The first Viscount 761s enter service in early 1958 on the carrier’s Rangoon-Calcutta-Singapore routes. Those services are extended to Hong Kong and Jakarta soon thereafter. As a result of travel restrictions on Burmese citizens and foreign visitors, the three turboprops are seldom filled. Consequently, flights to Bangkok and Hong Kong end in 1959, though the former market is reopened in 1960.
Service continues without further interruption until the military coup of March 2, 1962 brings a new government into office. Later in the year, the carrier is allowed to order seven Fokker F.27-100s. One of the Douglas transports, with 5 crew and 15 passengers, crashes into Mount Kaolokung in Yunnan Province, China, on June 10, 1963; there are no survivors.
The first Fokker Friendship arrives in October and enters service on November 1.
The domestic network grows during 1964-1968 to include 31 stops, while Viscount service to Siem Reap, near the archaeological site of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, is added as a foreign destination. The fleet is upgraded to include not only 6 DC-3s, but also 7 Fokker F.27-100s and 3 Viscount 761Ds.
One of the Fokkers is destroyed at Moulmein on June 25, 1966, as the result of a bad landing; there are no fatalities.
A chartered C-47 with four crew and two passengers suddenly loses control at an altitude of 300 ft. while on final approach to Lashio on May 23, 1969; the plane crashes into the ground and there are no survivors.
On July 26, the government of Burma charters a Northwest Airlines Boeing 727-51 on behalf of the carrier for a year, complete with three U. S. crews, to operate tourist flights in and to its country. It is also employed to resume frequencies to Hong Kong via Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The chartered Northwest trijet is returned in 1970 and replaced with a purchased unit from Hughes Airwest.
A DC-3 with 4 crew and 27 passengers crashes into the ocean just after takeoff from Sandoway on August 16, 1972 (28 dead).
On August 24, a Vickers Viscount 761D, with 5 crew and 38 passengers slides off the side of the runway after landing at Akyab and skids 1,250 ft. before coming to a stop with a broken undercarriage; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
In December, the carrier is reformed and renamed Burma Airways Corporation, Ltd.
UNITAIR, S. A.: Cameroon (1993-1994). Unitair is established at Douala in 1993 to provide both scheduled and charter passenger flights to domestic destinations. Revenue operations begin with a single de Havilland Canada DHC-6-200 Twin Otter, but only continue for a year.
World History
