
Seaboard World Airlines was an international all-cargo
airline
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
based in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. Its headquarters were on the grounds of
John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
.
History
Seaboard World Airlines was founded on September 16, 1946, as Seaboard & Western Airlines. It initially operated
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...
aircraft, followed by
Lockheed Super Constellation airliners. It adopted the name Seaboard World Airlines in April 1961. Jet cargo service started in 1964 with the introduction of the
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company.
After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Jul ...
.

The airline played a prominent role in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
during the late 1960s, using
Douglas DC-8-63 jets to connect
McChord Air Force Base,
Washington with
Cam Ranh Bay,
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...
. In 1968, one of these flights operating as
Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A
Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A was a military charter flight carrying 214 American troops bound for South Vietnam. On July 1, 1968, the plane was intercepted by Soviet jets after it unintentionally violated Soviet airspace. It was forced to ...
was forced to land in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
with 214 American troops on board. On 30 April 1969, a Seaboard World Airlines DC-8 with 219 passengers and 13 crewmembers landed by mistake at
Marble Mountain Air Facility, when it had actually been cleared to land at the nearby
Da Nang Air Base
Da Nang Air Base ( vi, Căn cứ không quân Đà Nẵng) (1930s–1975) (also known as Da Nang Airfield, Tourane Airfield or Tourane Air Base) was a French Air Force and later Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) facility located in the city ...
. After fuel and passengers were offloaded, the plane was towed to the north overrun and departed five hours after the landing incident.
Seaboard was the first airline to fly a 747 Freighter service from the UK to the USA.
The airline merged with
Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel (the latter with leased aircraft). The airline ...
on October 1, 1980, resulting in the loss of its corporate identity.
Seaboard History
/ref>
It is now part of FedEx Airlines.
Fleet
See also
* List of defunct airlines of the United States
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby uni ...
References
External links
Seaboard Historical Website
Seaboard World Airlines aircraft
Incident/Accident
DC-8 at Marble Mountain
Seaboard World Airlines Collection
{{Portal bar, New York City, Companies, Aviation
Defunct airlines of the United States
Defunct cargo airlines
Airlines established in 1946
Airlines disestablished in 1980
1946 establishments in New York City
Central Intelligence Agency front organizations