Nations Air Express

Nations Air Express was a regional airline in the United States that began operating in ????^{[citation needed]} and ended in 1998.

Nations Air Express began as a scheduled airline with 3 Boeing 737's. The schedule operated between Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston. It experienced rough going in the beginning as they were going head to head with US Airways, with just a few flights a day between these cities it wasn't hard for US Airways to match the low fares and try to pressure the smaller carrier out of business.

The demise of scheduled service for Nations Air occurred after the Valu-jet crash in the Florida Everglades created a huge backlash against small start-up carriers and the perception that they were unsafe from a standpoint of maintenance and training which grounded Valu-jet and forced them to redesign themselves through a merger and name change with AirTran, an Orlando based startup. Nations Air's CEO Mark McDonald quickly switched gears and discontinued scheduled service and found a charter operator to put his 737's to use in Atlantic City and Gulfport/Biloxi hotel and casino markets. This worked well for 12 months or so before it became apparent there was other opportunities in scheduled charter but for larger more capable aircraft. This is when McDonald and his operations staff, led by Director of Operations Gil Ramsden, put the airline through proving runs with the FAA and put the 727 on the certificate. This began the era of charters for Pan Am II, Air Jamaica and Aero Costa Rica to destinations throughout the Caribbean.

Things were good till late 1997 when cash became tight leading to bounced paychecks and un-paid bills to creditors before Nations Air Express closed for good in 1998.