Summary

• USGlobal Airways, the oldest American startup airline, has never flown a single flight in its over 30-year history.
• The airline, originally called Baltia Airlines, faced numerous setbacks and delays in obtaining certification and securing funding.
• Despite changing its name to USGlobal Airways and planning to fly from New York Stewart International Airport, its operations never took off.

The story of USGlobal Airways began in 1989 when the carrier seemed like any other startup airline. Today, however, this bizarre carrier seemingly remains unfinished, and relatively few know the full context behind a 33-year-old airline that has not flown a single flight.

Surprisingly, USGlobal Airways was not entirely a joke. They had actual plans to start flights between New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and various destinations within the former Soviet Union, which did not seem like a ludicrous business model in the years following the collapse of the USSR.

The carrier initially went by the name Baltia Airlines and acquired a Boeing 747-200. However, founder Igor Dmitrowsky would make a few rather unusual decisions that would delay the carrier's certification.

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Today, the airline is no closer to taking off than it was back then. In this article, we will look deeper at this bizarre carrier that has never once flown a commercial flight but has somehow yet to officially fold despite regulator scrutiny.

Baltia wanted to fly between New York and St. Petersburg

In 1998, Baltia received permission to fly from JFK to Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg. Thinking it was about to launch revenue-making flights, Baltia deposited money to acquire an ex-Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-200. Despite securing the aircraft, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) deemed the airline insufficiently funded and revoked its license to operate in the United States.

Baltia convinced more investors of its plan to fly between the US and Russia and filed to begin flying between the two countries again. Still needing an aircraft in 2009, Baltia bought a former Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 747-200 and later a Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-200, as reported by Aviation for Aviators.

Eventually, the Pakistani jumbo jet was scrapped at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) in Malaysia. The Northwest plane suffered the same fate in November 2020 when it was also sold for scrap at Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport (OSC) in Michigan.

Baltia rebranded as USGlobal Airways

After receiving the backing of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to continue seeking certification, Baltia announced in 2017 that the airline would be rebranding itself as USGlobal Airways. Having given up on flying 747s between New York and Eastern Europe, USGlobal Airways said it was moving its operations to New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) 60 miles up the Hudson from Manhattan, as reported by Key Aero.

The carrier decided that long-haul flying certainly was not its ticket to commencing operations and switched strategies. From its hub at SWF, USGlobal said it would become a regional airline offering passengers flights from Stewart to the following airports:

• Albany International Airport (ALB) in upstate New York
• Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) in Maryland
• Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) on New York's Long Island
• Trenton–Mercer Airport (TTN) in New Jersey

Once more changing plans in the last five years, Baltia, or USGlobal Airways, as it was now called, decided to fly from New York Stewart International Airport (SWF) to underserved European cities. This strategy seemed the most realistic to date, as airlines like Norwegian Air Shuttle, WOW, PLAY, and Norse Atlantic have attempted to create route networks on the model.

While USGlobal Airways never got its plan off the ground, it did sign a letter of intent in 2017 with Michigan's Kalitta Air to lease a Boeing 767-300ER. However, as one would expect from this story so far, the aircraft has yet to take to the skies for the airline.

Was it all a scam?

Having never flown a single flight in more than 30 years has many people wondering whether the whole thing was a scam. As recently as 2014, the airline had a relatively large market capitalization of $70 million, which certainly was enough to buy some used jets. In 2016, US regulators filed charges against one of the airline's executives for misleading investors, according to One Mile At A Time.

After not having filed financial reports for three years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the company's stock, leaving USGlobal Airways with nothing but a name. With such shady business dealings, there have been an array of conspiracy theories behind the carrier's true purpose.