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]

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]

airline	Janet
alt	Janet Boeing 737-66N registration N273RH landing in Las Vegas.
icao	WWW
callsign	JANET
commenced	March 1972 Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
hubs	Harry Reid International Airport
focus cities	Tonopah Test Range Homey Airport
fleet size	11
destinations	6
parent	Department of the Air Force (DAF)
headquarters	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.

History

Operations

Destination codes

Destinations

Fleet

Accidents

External links

References