Mohawk Airlines has always been one of my favourite airlines. It achieved a lot with little and its Indian head motif, although nowadays politically incorrect, was evocative and stylish. The airline's history can't be untwined from the brilliant, but ultimately tragic, leadership of Robert "Bob" English Peach - clearly one of the most impressive figures in aviation in the 1950s and 60s. It was towards the end of Mohawk's existence that the airline rebranded, introducing a radically more modern image.
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One Air America is well known as the CIA's own private airline and was of course immortalised in a rather inaccurate Mel Gibson movie of the early 90s, but less well known is that around that time the end had come for another Air America. This one wasn't running guns for the CIA but did undertake quite a few MATS charters for the US military. This second Air America was one of many ultimately unsuccessful deregulation startups of the 1980s.
Thankfully there are few nations with the genocidal recent history of Cambodia, a nation that, since independence in 1953, has seen a cycle of war and destruction on a horrific scale. That was finally brought to an end in late 1991 with the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements. Nowadays Cambodia is still a de-facto dictatorship and incredibly corrupt, but at least the violence that saw millions murdered has not returned. Against this backdrop aviation is unimportant, however a pair of Tu-134s were operated in Cambodia and assisted in the ongoing peace process.
 The Ilyushin IL-86 'Camber' encapsulates a big chunk of what was wrong with the Soviet Union, but also some of the things they did well. By the 1980s when it entered service, it was obsolete. Its development was protracted, its service entry late, its performance anaemic and its production far too prolonged and slow. However despite this it had many unique features, which adapted it to Russian operations well, was solid, strong, reliable and very safe.
​The first five years of Republic Airlines existence had not been kind. This was largely due to the disastrous Hughes Airwest takeover, but Republic had also been assaulted in its East-coast markets by deregulation startups and failed to innovate. That cost the existing CEO his job and would see the employment of Stephen Wolf who would take drastic measures to keep the airline afloat.
 There have been few more torrid times in aviation in the USA than the 1980s. Deregulation had brought competition and this would inevitably lead to winners and losers. It was a time of eat or be eaten, and as merger mania reigned gaining critical mass and market share became important weapons. This strategy was evident at the new Republic Airlines, which for a time served more destinations in the USA than any other airline but almost killed itself with the consequences of that.
 The Tupolev Tu-104 was an impressive achievement that made the West stand up and take notice of Soviet engineering capability, even if it wasn't quite the dream jet the Soviets made it out to be. Indeed, the type was a serious challenge and that is perhaps partly why outside of the Soviet Union it served only with the reliable CSA, although one aircraft did half-sneak into Alitalia colours briefly too!
 The UK charter airline scene at the dawn of the 1990s was dominated by the BAC One-Eleven, Boeing 737-200 and 757-200. The 737-300 has seen a decent take-up by airlines, such as Dan Air, Monarch and Orion, but was quickly usurped by larger 757s or the new kid on the block the Airbus A320. When an airline needed lower capacity than the 757 it was the A320 they usually fell back on and Air 2000, one of the most successful UK charter carriers of the time, was no expection.
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AuthorI'm Richard Stretton: a fan of classic airliners and airlines who enjoys exploring their history through my collection of die-cast airliners. If you enjoy the site please donate whatever you can to help keep it running: Archives
February 2023
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