Merlin Airways is an American

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

based in

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It operates freight services under contract to

FedEx Express FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corporation, is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2020, it is one of the world's largest airlines in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the na ...

and

UPS Airlines UPS Airlines is a major American cargo airline based in Louisville, Kentucky. The second-largest cargo airline worldwide ( in terms of freight volume flown), UPS Airlines flies to 815 destinations worldwide. A wholly owned subsidiary of UPS (Unit ...

. The airline previously conducted

FAR Part 121 The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety ...

passenger operations in Alaska and Texas as well as providing charter service for gambling junkets. As of 1999 the company has ceased passenger operations to focus on the main aspect of its business, which is providing freight services to FedEx and UPS. Its headquarters is

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

, with hubs at

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most c ...

and at

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muñoz ...

, San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

History

The airline was established as SAT-Air in 1983 in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

and was found fit, by the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...

, to conduct commuter operations under FAR Part 121, as a UPS feeder, until June 1995. The following year the airline was renamed to Merlin Express and continued the passenger operations until 1999.

Corporate Air Corporate Air is an airline based in Billings, Montana, United States. It was established in 1981 and operates primarily domestic scheduled cargo services, Feeder service on behalf of FedEx Express, as well as the United States Postal Service. I ...

acquired the airline in 2000 changing the name to Merlin Airways.

Fleet

As of March 2009 the Merlin Airways fleet includes: *1 × Fairchild Metro 23 *5 ×

Fairchild Metro III The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in Sa ...

Picture of the N781ML, a Fairchild SA-227BC Metro III of Merlin Airways
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References

Cargo airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1983 Airlines based in Montana 1983 establishments in Montana {{US-airline-stub