Janet (airline)


Janet, sometimes called Janet Airlines, is the unofficial name given to a highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft operated for the United States Department of the Air Force as an employee shuttle to transport military and contractor employees. The purpose is to pick up the employees at their home airport, and take them to their place of work. Then, in the afternoon, they take the employees back to their home airports. The airline mainly serves the Nevada National Security Site, from a private terminal at Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport.
The airline's aircraft are generally unmarked, but do have a red paint strip along the windows of the aircraft, which gives some sort of hint at Janet being the operator.

History

The fleet's "Janet" call sign is said to stand for either "Just Another Non-Existent Terminal", or "Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation".
After the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting massacre, news surfaced that the shooter, in addition to firing at concertgoers, had also targeted aviation fuel tanks at nearby McCarran International Airport. Further reporting by the New York Post suggested a possible connection between the vulnerable fuel tanks and a classified Janet operation.
, Las Vegas, Nevada with the MGM Grand Las Vegas in the background

Operations

Due to the airline's secretive nature, little is known about its organization. It is operated for the USAF by infrastructure and defense contractor AECOM through AECOM's acquisition in 2014 of URS Corporation, which acquired EG&G Technical Services in 2002, as derived from URS's history of providing this service to the Air Force and job openings published by URS. 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 Top Secret security clearance. More recently, AECOM has posted similar openings.
Due to its secrecy, Janet airlines boards at a special part of McCarran International Airport. They board planes at the west side of the airport, next to the Janet Airlines passenger parking lot. There is even a small terminal building for passengers.
Janet flights operate with a three-digit flight number and a WWW-prefix. In the official publication of ICAO airline codes, this specific three-letter designator is listed as being blocked. The official airline callsign is simply Janet. However, the airline also uses different callsigns, called Groom Callsigns once transferred over to Groom Lake from Nellis control. The callsign name would change, and the callsign number will be the last 2 digits of the flight number +15. For example, if the callsign was Janet 412, and was transferred to Groom Lake control, the callsign would be something like “Bunny 27”.

Destination codes

Due to the secrecy of the airline, Janet Airlines uses special codes for their destinations. They use this to mask the destination. KTKM is not an ICAO code for an airport, it is actually the code for Area 51. Not all codes are known. However, the following are listed:
AirportCode
Air Force Plant 42Station 1
Palmdale Regional AirportStation 1
Groom LakeStation 3
UnknownStation 6
Tonopah Test Range AirportStation 7
McCarran International AirportStation 9

Destinations

Janet destinations, mostly military, include:
Along with these destinations, there have been reports of Janet Airlines filing flight plans to many other airports.

Fleet

The first flights from Las Vegas to Area 51 were performed in 1972 by a Douglas DC-6 operated by EG&G. A second Douglas DC-6 was added in 1976 and this type remained in use until 1981.
As of mid-2015, the Janet fleet consists of six Boeing 737-600s painted white with a prominent red cheatline. The fleet is registered to the Department of the Air Force, while some earlier aircraft were registered to several civil aircraft leasing corporations. 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, and operated by Keyway Air Transport, apparently a front company for a US government operation. It was retired on 6 March 2009. Together with the other 737-200s, it was sent to AMARG at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona for storage.
All Janet 737-600 aircraft are ex-Air China and with the exception of N273RH and N365SR which 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.
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.
The aircraft livery is similar to that of the defunct Western Airlines.
TypeSerial numberTail numberC/NOwnerNotesRefs
Boeing 737-66N28649N319BD887United States Department of the Air Force
Boeing 737-66N28650N869HH932United States Department of the Air Force
Boeing 737-66N28652N859WP938United States Department of the Air Force
Boeing 737-66N29890N273RH1276United States Department of the Air Force
Boeing 737-66N29891N365SR1294United States Department of the Air Force
Boeing 737-66N29892N288DP1305United States Department of the Air Force
Beechcraft 1900UB-42N20RA—United States Department of the Air Force
Beechcraft 1900CUC-163N623RA—United States Department of the Air Force
Beechcraft B200CBL-54N654BA—United States Department of the Air Force
Beechcraft B200CBL-61N661BA—United States Department of the Air Force
Beechcraft B200CBL-62N662BA—United States Department of the Air Force

TypeSerial numberTail numberC/NOwnerFateRetiredRefs
Beechcraft 1900CUB-37N27RA—United States Department of the Air ForceCrash16 March 2004
Boeing 737-27520785N4529W335United States Department of the Air ForceRetired7 November 2008
Boeing 737-25320694N5294M343United States Department of the Air ForceRetired26 January 2009
Boeing 737-25320693N5177C340United States Department of the Air ForceRetired6 March 2009
Boeing 737-25320691N5294E337United States Department of the Air ForceRetired17 April 2009
Boeing 737-25320692N5176Y339United States Department of the Air ForceRetired17 July 2009
Boeing 737-25320689N5175U334United States Department of the Air ForceRetired10 August 2009
McDonnell Douglas DC-6BS60A-3079N6583C—EG&GRetiredOctober 1981

Accidents