Janet (airline)

The fleet's "Janet" call sign is said to stand for "Just Another Non-Existent Terminal",[3][4] "Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation",[5] or a combination of two acronyms JAN (Joint Army Navy) & ET (Extra Terrestrial).

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.[6]

A Janet Boeing 737-66N in front of the Mandalay Bay Hotel

A Janet Boeing 737-600

A Janet 737-200 departing from McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada with the MGM Grand Las Vegas in the background

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.[7][8] 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.[8] More recently, AECOM has posted similar openings.[9]

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.[10]

Janet flights operate with a three-digit flight number and a WWW-prefix.[11] In the official publication of ICAO airline codes, this specific three-letter designator is listed as being blocked.[12] 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”.

Destinations

Janet destinations, mostly military, include:[13]

Janet Airlines destinations

Country	State	City	Airport	Airport codes			Notes	Refs
				IATA code	ICAO code	FAA LID
United States	California	Palmdale	Air Force Plant 42	PMD	KPMD	PMD	Also known as Palmdale Regional Airport, as they share the same runway.	[13]
			Palmdale Regional Airport	PMD	KPMD	PMD	Services every Monday and Friday.	[13]
		China Lake	Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake	—	KNID	NID		[13]
		Edwards	Edwards Air Force Base	EDW	KEDW	EDW	Janet Airlines services the north base.	[13]
		Oxnard	Naval Air Station Point Mugu	NTD	KNTD	NTD	Currently a part of Naval Base Ventura County.	[13]
		Camarillo	Camarillo Airport	—	KCMA	CMA		[14]
		Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara Municipal Airport	SBA	KSBA	SBA		[15]
		San Nicolas Island	Naval Outlying Landing Field San Nicolas Island	—	KNSI	NSI		[13]
	Nevada	—	Homey Airport	—	KXTA	—	More commonly known as Area 51.	[13]
		Las Vegas	Henderson Executive Airport	HSH	KHND	HND		[13][16]
		Las Vegas	McCarran International Airport	LAS	KLAS	LAS	Hub	[13]
		Tonopah	Tonopah Test Range Airport	XSD	KTNX	TNX		[13]
		North Las Vegas	Nellis Air Force Base	LSV	KLSV	LSV		[13]
	New Mexico	Alamogordo	Alamogordo–White Sands Regional Airport	ALM	KLAM	ALM		[13]
	Ohio	Dayton	Wright-Patterson Air Force Base	FFO	KFFO	FFO		[13]
	Utah	Ogden	Hill Air Force Base	HIF	KHIF	HIF		[13]
		Salt Lake City	Salt Lake City International Airport	SLC	KSLC	SLC		[13]

Along with these destinations, there have been reports of Janet Airlines filing flight plans to many other airports.[17]

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.[7]

As of mid-2015, the Janet fleet[18] 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.[7] 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.[7] Together with the other 737-200s, it was sent to AMARG at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona for storage.[19]

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.[20]

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.[21][22]

The aircraft livery is similar to that of the defunct Western Airlines.[23]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Janet (airline).

• Popular Science article
• Lazy G Ranch article
• Dreamlandresort.com – Janet
• "U.S. government airline Janet hides in plain site", news.com.au
• Wendover Production Video