Originally Posted by
tonytales
It a source of confusion for me to see Orion Airlines being a British Company as I worked for Orion Air in 1986 but it was the American one. At one time it operated about 85 cargo aircraft, B747-100, DC8-73, B727-100 and DC9-30 series. None of them had Orion Air on them for we operated for UPS, Emery and other companies. We did a brief stab at operating charter passenger B747-100 and even a b727-200. The B747 was fitted with 504 seats but was an ex-Pan Am'er and had come off lease from TWA. It was very knackered out and trying to find a substitute aircraft for it when it went AOG usually meant hiring two aircraft. Operating pax charters turned out to be a final blow. The Mother Company of Orion meanwhile put me on building and certifying a repair station in Greensboro which I did. It was TIMCO until HAECO bought it out and has done quite well since.
Tony,
ORION was a UK company, wholly owned by the holiday travel group HORIZON ( hence the name ). Later I believe a large UK Brewing Company bought some shares in it. All aircraft owned and operated by Orion.