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Janet (airline)

Janet and Janet Airlines are the unofficial names of a highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft operated for the United States Department of the Air Force[1] as an employee shuttle to transport military, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, and contractor employees to Special Access Program Facilities (SAPF). The airline mainly serves the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) (most notably Area 51 and the Tonopah Test Range) from a private terminal at Las Vegas's Harry Reid International Airport.[2]

The airline's aircraft are generally unmarked aside from a red cheatline along the aircraft's windows.

History

The fleet's "Janet" call sign is said to stand for "Just Another Non-Existent Terminal"[3][4] or "Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation".[5]

The first flights from Las Vegas to Area 51 were performed in 1972 by a Douglas DC-6 operated by EG&G. A second DC-6 was added in 1976, and this type remained in use until 1981. Boeing 737-200s were gradually added to the Janet fleet in that same decade, and were later supplemented by Air Force T-43s de-modified to conventional transport configurations.[6][7]

As of November 2023, the U.S. Air Force is looking for a new civilian contractor to operate the Janet fleet. In a solicitation, they outline that a potential new operator would have to operate up to 190 flights per week.[8]

Operations

Due to the airline's secretive nature, little is known about its organization. It is presently operated for the USAF by infrastructure and defense contractor Amentum through the company's acquisition of AECOM's defense contracting ventures. Originally the service was operated by EG&G, and later URS Corporation; this is mainly known as a result of periodic job openings published by URS and AECOM.[9] For example, in 2010, URS announced it would be hiring Boeing 737 flight attendants to be based in Las Vegas, requiring applicants to undergo a Single Scope Background Investigation in order to be able to obtain a security clearance.[10][11]

Due to its secrecy, Janet airlines boards at a standalone terminal on the west side of Harry Reid International Airport.[12]

Janet flights operate with a three-digit flight number and a WWW-prefix.[13] In the official publication of ICAO airline codes, this specific three-letter designator is listed as being blocked.[14] The primary airline callsign is simply "Janet," though flights transition to alternate callsigns, called Groom Callsigns once transferred over to Groom Lake from Nellis control. The name typically changes, and the number will be the last 2 digits of the flight number +15. For example, if the callsign were Janet 412 and were transferred to Groom Lake control, the callsign would be something like "Bunny 27".

Destination codes

Due to its secrecy, Janet Airlines uses special codes for its destinations. Even the location identifier frequently used as a destination/departure field - TKM (or KTKM internationally) - is not an ICAO code for an airport, but is likely used for Area 51.[15] This location identifier is listed as a tie-in facility for "Tonopah Test Range Base Ops" in FAA documentation, at least as recently as 2020.[16] Not all destination codes are known, but the following are listed:

Destinations

Janet destinations, mostly military, include:[17]

Along with these destinations, there have been reports of Janet Airlines filing flight plans to many other airports.[18]

Fleet

As of August 2025, Janet operates the following aircraft:[19]

As of 2015, the Janet fleet[20] consists of six Boeing 737-600s painted white with a prominent red cheatline. The fleet is registered to the Department of the Air Force (DAF), while some earlier aircraft were registered to several civil aircraft leasing corporations.[9] Before the arrival of the 737-600s, Janet operated Boeing 737-200s, some of which were modified from military T-43A aircraft. One of the 737-200s with registration N5177C in the 1980s was briefly based in Germany at Frankfurt International Airport (which was at the time also home to a USAF base, Rhein-Main Air Base), and operated by Keyway Air Transport, apparently a front company for a US government operation. It was retired on 6 March 2009.[9] Together with the other 737-200s, it was sent to AMARG at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona for storage.[21]

All Janet 737-600 aircraft were acquired from Air China, and four were previously operated by the now-defunct China Southwest Airlines before being acquired for US Air Force operations starting in 2008. The aircraft were initially taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base before being transferred to Las Vegas.[22]

One aircraft, a Beechcraft 1900, was lost on 16 March 2004, when it crashed on approach for Tonopah Test Range Airport after the pilot suffered sudden cardiac arrest. Five people, including the pilot, were killed in the accident.[23][24]

  • 1 Beechcraft 1900C

Accidents

External links

References

  1. N5177C (1974 BOEING 737-200 owned by DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE) Aircraft Registration ✈ FlightAware FlightAware^
  2. Janet Airline / EG&G retrieved 21 September 2010^
  3. Audio Clips of Janet Radio Traffic retrieved 1 November 2010^
  4. Area 51 Revealed^
  5. Rachel Gillett. The secret airline run by the US government is hiring — and to get the job, you have to share your drinking habits, sexual behavior, and mental health Business Insider, 8 January 2018, retrieved 24 September 2019^
  6. Dana Hanson. Who Is the Mysterious Company "Janet Airlines?" Money Inc, 7 October 2021, retrieved 16 January 2023^
  7. Chris Brady. The T-43A The Boeing 737 Technical Site, 28 November 2020, retrieved 16 January 2023^
  8. Brian Everstine. U.S. Air Force Looking For New 'Janet' Operator Aviation Week, 2023-11-07, retrieved 2023-11-10^
  9. The Janet Fleet retrieved 21 September 2010^
  10. Contractflygirl.blogspot.com – archived copy of URS Corporation job opening.^
  11. Archive.org – Archived copy of AECOM Corporation job opening.^
  12. Map and Aerial Photo of the Las Vegas Janet Terminal dreamlandresort.com, Dreamland Resort, retrieved 26 February 2019^
  13. Flightaware.com – WWW224, page retrieved 21 February 2013^
  14. ICAO Document 8585, Section 3: Three-Letter Designators.^
  15. Unmarked Planes & Hidden Geographies : Trevor Paglen vectors.usc.edu, retrieved 2025-01-24^
  16. Karen L Chiodini. 7350.9V Location Identifiers FAA, 2020-09-09, retrieved 2025-01-24^
  17. Janet Schedule & Destinations www.dreamlandresort.com, Dreamland Resort, retrieved 3 October 2010^
  18. Janet Flight Schedules dreamlandresort.com, Dreamland Resort, retrieved 4 March 2019^
  19. Global Airline Guide 2025 - Janet Airliner World, September 2025^
  20. Collin Krum. America's Secret Airline Flies Non-Stop To Area 51 Jalopnik, 13 August 2015, retrieved 29 December 2017^
  21. Rainer Bexten – Airliners.net – Aerial photo taken at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base. Photo from 29 February 2012.^
  22. Flightaware.com – Delivery flight of N288DP. Page retrieved 21 February 2013.^
  23. Harro Ranter. ASN Aircraft accident Beechcraft 1900C N27RA Tonopah-Test Range Airport, NV (XSD) aviation-safety.net^
  24. Chris Leadbeater. The top-secret US airline that you're not supposed to know about The Telegraph, 4 January 2018, retrieved 20 April 2018^
  25. The Janet Fleet dreamlandresort.com, Dreamland Resort, retrieved 26 February 2019^
  26. Janet Tail Numbers dreamlandresort.com, Dreamland Resort, retrieved 26 February 2019^
  27. N661BA call sign JANET01 on ADS-B Exchange^
  28. N989RR call sign JANET09 on ADS-B Exchange^
  29. N910CB call sign JANET10 on ADS-B Exchange^
  30. ASN Beech 1900C N27RA crash aviation-safety.net, Aviation Safety Network, retrieved 26 February 2019^