Slick Airways
Operator Identification
January 1946 to July 1966
United States of America
TYPE: Cargo airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: San Antonio, TX
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Airlift International (assets purchased 1966)
Operator History
Slick Airways was founded in January 1946 by Earl Slick, a Texas aviator and co-owner of the Slick Corporation with his brother. Even though the latter was headquartered in San Antonio, TX, Slick Airways' aircraft were based in Burbank and San Francisco, CA. The airline focused on air cargo, using a fleet of Commandos. Scheduled domestic freighter services started in 1949, and by 1951 the company had become the largest all-cargo airline in the USA. On 16 April 1951, Slick became the launch customer of the freighter variant of the Douglas DC6. On 30 March 1953, Slick took a 40% interest in Dorval Air Transport, a Canadian stratup airline specialized in DEW Line support operations.
In 1954, Slick Airways went into merger talks with Flying Tigers because of the increasing competition by passenger airlines, but shareholders opposed the plan. In 1958, the company was forced to suspend all scheduled services, though it continued to operate charter flights on behalf of the USAF, domestically and to European destinations. A fleet of newly built Lockheed Super Constellations went into service with the airline during 1959, initially being used to fly military freight from Travis AFB, CA to Japan. This operation was supplemented by Canadair CL-44s from 1962.
In October 1962 scheduled flights were resumed when Slick Airways was granted permanent permission to operate its transcontinental Route 101. The trunk route went from either San Francisco or Burbank to Dallas, TX, St Louis, MO, Chicago, IL, Indianapolis, IN and New York, NY and was operated using the Super Constellation while the DC6 was used on side routes. Additionally, Slick Airways operated on so-called Quicktrans domestic routes on behalf of the US Navy. In 1965, the Super Constellations were withdrawn from Route 101 in favor of the CL-44.
On 27 August 1965, scheduled flights once again were discontinued because of Slick's poor financial situation. Military charter flights were terminated by the end of the year. On 1 July 1966, Slick Airways was shut down, and its assets were acquired by Airlift International.
Commando Operations
November 1945* to April 1952*
Slick operated Commandos in cargo configuration.
Last edited: 10/12/2023