<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air America (airline)</span>

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Air America (airline)

<p><b>Air America</b> was an American passenger and cargo airline established in 1946 and covertly owned and operated by the <a href="/en/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency" class="wl">Central Intelligence Agency</a> (CIA) from 1950 to 1976. It supplied and supported covert operations in Southeast Asia during the <a href="/en/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War" class="wl">Vietnam War</a>, including providing support for drug smuggling in Laos.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Robbins_1985_94_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Robbins_1985_94-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Air_America_and_Drugs_in_Laos_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Air_America_and_Drugs_in_Laos-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Heroin_2003,_p._385_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-Heroin_2003,_p._385-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">CIA covert airline from 1950 to 1976</div>
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<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; background-color: lightgrey; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1;" class="notheme">
<tbody><tr>
<th scope="col" style="padding-top: 0.5em; border-right: 1px solid white; text-align: center;"><a href="/en/IATA_airline_designator" title="IATA airline designator" class="mw-redirect wl">IATA</a></th>
<th scope="col" style="padding-top: 0.5em; border-right: 1px solid white; text-align: center;"><a href="/en/ICAO_airline_designator" title="ICAO airline designator" class="mw-redirect wl">ICAO</a></th>
<th scope="col" style="padding-top: 0.5em; text-align: center;"><a href="/en/Airline_call_sign" title="Airline call sign" class="mw-redirect wl">Callsign</a></th></tr>
<tr>
<td class="nickname" style="padding-bottom: 0.5em; border-right: 1px solid white; text-align: center;">—</td>
<td class="nickname" style="padding-bottom: 0.5em; border-right: 1px solid white; text-align: center;">—</td>
<td class="nickname" style="padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: center;">AIR AMERICA</td></tr>
</tbody></table></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Founded</th><td class="infobox-data">1946</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Ceased operations</th><td class="infobox-data">1976</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Airline_hub" title="Airline hub" class="wl">Hubs</a></th><td class="infobox-data">
<ul><li><span class="flagicon"><span class="mw-image-border"><a href="/en/South_Vietnam" title="South Vietnam" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy"alt="South Vietnam" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg/23px-Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" data-file-type="drawing" height="15" width="23" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg/35px-Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg/45px-Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg.png 2x"></a></span></span> <a href="/en/Tan_Son_Nhut_Air_Base" title="Tan Son Nhut Air Base" class="wl">Saigon</a>, <a href="/en/South_Vietnam" title="South Vietnam" class="wl">South Vietnam</a></li>
<li><span class="flagicon"><span class="mw-image-border"><a href="/en/Laos" title="Laos" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy"alt="Laos" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" data-file-type="drawing" height="15" width="23" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg/35px-Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg/45px-Flag_of_Laos_%281952%E2%80%931975%29.svg.png 2x"></a></span></span> <a href="/en/Wattay_International_Airport" title="Wattay International Airport" class="wl">Vientiane</a>, <a href="/en/Kingdom_of_Laos" title="Kingdom of Laos" class="wl">Kingdom of Laos</a></li>
<li><span class="flagicon"><span class="mw-image-border"><a href="/en/Thailand" title="Thailand" class="image wl"><img loading="lazy"alt="Thailand" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_Thailand.svg/23px-Flag_of_Thailand.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="900" data-file-height="600" data-file-type="drawing" height="15" width="23" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_Thailand.svg/35px-Flag_of_Thailand.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Flag_of_Thailand.svg/45px-Flag_of_Thailand.svg.png 2x"></a></span></span> <a href="/en/Udorn_Royal_Thai_Air_Force_Base" title="Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base" class="wl">Udorn</a>, <a href="/en/Thailand" title="Thailand" class="wl">Thailand</a></li></ul>
</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Fleet size</th><td class="infobox-data">80+</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Destinations</th><td class="infobox-data">2 (?)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Parent_company" title="Parent company" class="mw-redirect wl">Parent company</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Pacific_Corporation" title="Pacific Corporation" class="wl">American Airdale Corporation</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Headquarters</th><td class="infobox-data label"><a href="/en/Washington,_DC" title="Washington, DC" class="mw-redirect wl">Washington, DC</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>



Air America was an American passenger and cargo airline established in 1946 and covertly owned and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency from 1950 to 1976. It supplied and supported covert operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, including providing support for drug smuggling in Laos. 