World Airways

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

World Airways, Inc. began in 1948 and grew from a small supplemental carrier into one of America’s most recognizable long-haul charter airlines. It hauled military personnel, tour groups, cargo and leased capacity around the globe—an airline built for the jobs scheduled carriers did not always want.

Oakland, California became World’s defining corporate home in 1956. At Oakland International Airport, the company built the World Air Center, a huge maintenance-and-headquarters complex that opened in 1973 and could shelter four Boeing 747s. World later moved its headquarters near Washington Dulles in 1987, then to Peachtree City, Georgia in 2001.

Its fleet evolved from piston transports to Boeing 707s, 747s, DC-10s and MD-11s. World briefly operated scheduled passenger routes after deregulation, but returned to its charter roots in 1986—the less glamorous, more durable business of moving people and freight when and where somebody needed them moved.

In 2007, parent World Air Holdings was acquired by Global Aero Logistics, later Global Aviation Holdings. After the parent filed for Chapter 11 in November 2013, World Airways could not secure financing for a restructuring and ceased operations on March 27, 2014. Curtain down; widebodies parked.

Our World Airways collection celebrates the globe-spanning charter carrier, its Oakland-era aviation muscle, and the no-nonsense machinery of moving the world’s people and cargo.