iAero Airways, previously Swift Air, 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

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, United States. It operates charter flights for nationally known fractional aircraft operators, financial institutions, construction, transportation, many collegiate athletic departments, professional sports organizations, and major tour operators. It is also a major contractor for

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

, operating many of the agency's deportation flights as well as flights transporting detainees between immigration detention facilities within the United States. The airline also provides aircraft management services for private owners. Its main hub is

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 ...

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's olde ...

12–18 April 2005 Following the acquisition of assets from the second Eastern Air Lines in 2017, Swift Air began operating charter flights to Cuba for

Havana Air Havana Air is an internet booking engine travel website offering scheduled charter services from Miami, Florida and Tampa, Florida to Cuba. The company was founded in the United States in 2014, and specializes in tourism to Cuba from the United S ...

History

The airline was established in 1997 and was a customer for the Embraer ERJ-135. In November 2006, the airline received authorization for Part 121 operations and began flying three

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

s. These aircraft are each configured with all first class interiors, electrical outlets, and club work areas with tables. The primary use of these aircraft is air transportation for major professional sports team (NBA, NHL, MLB) and for VIP charters. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign utilized one of Swift Air's Boeing 737-400s, which was dubbed the ''Straight Talk Express'', the same name given to his bus used earlier in the campaign. In June 2011, Swift Air originally planned to operate public charter flights from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to some European destinations such as

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

; however, these destinations were only flown in June 2011. On June 17, 2011, Swift Air voluntarily suspended their Part 121 operations pending an inquiry by the FAA. Swift Air resumed normal part 121 operations on June 25, 2011 after making manual changes to satisfy the FAA. In 2017, Swift Air announced plans to acquire the Boeing 737-800 assets of the second iteration of Eastern Air Lines stating, "Eastern Air Lines’ name, assets, and associated trademarks will be retained within the transaction.". One aircraft remains painted in Eastern livery to protect the trademark, although the fleet of

Dynamic Airways Eastern Airlines, LLC is an American airline founded in 2010. Eastern operates Boeing 767s and Boeing 777s. It began as Dynamic Airways and later added "International" to its name to reflect its transition from a charter airline into scheduled i ...

(owned by a co-owner of Swift Air) would eventually take the Eastern name and trademark (as Eastern Airlines, without the space), retaining the Dynamic

AOC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

. In May 2019, Swift became a subsidiary of iAero Group, an aviation service firm minority owned by

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...

. As of December 2019, Swift Air began its transition to rebrand as iAero Airways.

Rebranding

Swift Air has announced that it intends to rebrand itself as iAero Airways, following its recent takeover by the iAero Group. A filing with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) on September 9, 2019, stated that at present time, it intends to retain its corporate name - Swift Air, LLC - and therefore does not seek the re-issuance of its operating licenses and certificates.

Fleet

Current

Swift Air Boeing 737-4Q8 N807TJ approaching JFK Airport

As of October 2022, the iAero Airways fleet includes:

Former

As Swift Air, it consisted of the following fleet:

References

External links

* {{Airlines of the United States 1997 establishments in Arizona Airlines based in Florida Airlines established in 1997 American companies established in 1997 Charter airlines of the United States Companies based in Miami