Goodbye, Southern Air

On 17 November, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings announced it has completed the integration of Southern Air and merged the operations and fleet on the Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of Atlas Air. This step marks the end of the merger of Atlas Air and Southern Air, which started in 2016 when Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings acquired Southern Air.

Southern Air was a very common name in the world of civil aviation. The company was founded in 1999, taking over assests from bankrupt declared Southern Air Transport, which itself was founded in 1947. Southern Air Transport, which was based at Miami-International (FL), was best known for being a front for the CIA between 1960 and 1973 and for its role during the Iran-Contra scandal in the mid-80s.

After the mid-80s, the airline cleaned-up their act and became a cargo carrier with an expertise in carrying outsized goods or hazardous materials with its fleet of DC-8s, Boeing 707s, Boeing 747s and Lockheed Hercules. They were also very often used by the military as part of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. By 1998, however, the financial difficulties at Southern Air Transport became too large. The company tried to merge with other airlines but these attempts failed and the company was declared bankrupt on 1 October 1998. Over the years, Southern Air Transport operated 23 Hercules, thirteen B747s, twelve B707s, seven DC-8s, five DC-6s, three C-46s, two B727s, one DC-4, one DC-3 and an unspecified number of C-123s.

In November 1999, Southern Air was launched and took over various assests from Southern Air Transport and launched operations with a former Lufthansa Cargo B747-200F. Now, at the time of merging with Atlas Air, Southern Air operated a fleet of eight B737-800BCFs (flown for Amazon Prime Air) and nine B777Fs (six flown for DHL), which are all now transferred to Atlas Air. In total, Southern Air over the years also flew with 26 B747-200Fs, three B747-300s and six B747-400Fs.

Photo by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings.