Airline Name
Republic Airlines (Republic Airlines Incorporated)
Here’s their first logo, used from 1979 - 1984 according to Wikipedia:
IATA: RC / ICAO: REP / CALLSIGN: REPUBLIC
Founded and commenced operations in 1979 (formed from North Central Airlines and Southern Airways), ceased operations in 1986 (Oct. 1st)
(Merged into Northwest Airlines)Subsidiary Info:
Republic ExpressIATA: RC [shared] / ICAO: [not listed] / CALLSIGN: [not listed]
Founded and commenced operations in 1985 (May 31st), ceased operations in 1986 (Oct. 1st)
(Merged into Northwest Airlines with its parent company)
Country of Origin
United States of America, North America ()
Main Hub(s): Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Memphis International Airport (MEM), Minneapolis - Saint Paul International Airport (MSP)[Subsidiary shared the same country of origin and hubs/bases.]
Aircraft Types Used (from those available in WoA)
Republic Airlines’ fleet:
(For this airline, there are a limited number of aircraft types available, yet it can still be added.)Aircraft operated (already in-game):
Boeing 757 (-200, B752) - 6 former.
(Pictured below: N601RC - later broken up, known as N901AW at end of its life)Here’s a reference of the other side:
(Pictured below: N603RC - now known as N926FD, stored)Do note the little “757” text at both the nose and towards the tail of the aircraft, as it’s a pretty small detail that I can see being easy to miss.
Anyways, before we go onto the next few aircraft, there’s one last livery I wanted to show. According to a photographer’s comment of some of the media I saw regarding Republic, the last 3 of their 757s (N604RC - N606RC) were painted in hybrid colors between Republic and Northwest, and I can see why - Planespotters claims they were delivered in May 1986, well after the news of Northwest’s intentions to buy the airline, which was in January of that year.
(If you’re curious, the other 3 757s came a little bit before that, in December 1985.)Now, with that context aside, here’s that hybrid livery:
(Pictured below: N604RC - later broken up, known as N904AW at end of its life)This next shot is definitely rather unique, yet an odd one at the same time:
(Pictured below: N605RC - later broken up, known as N905AW at end of its life)As the photographer commented, this shot would make more sense if the operator’s titles were swapped around. Still though, figured I’d include this shot - it’s quite a unique and notable one, odd as it is.
Anyways though, with that aside:Aircraft operated (not in-game):
Boeing 727 (-200 Adv, B722) - 22 former.
(Pictured below: N275WC - later broken up, known as VH-TXH at end of its life)(Pictured below: N276WC - later scrapped, known as C-GACC at end of its life)
Now, here’s an example of one of their older livery schemes:
(Pictured below: N742RW - status unknown)(Pictured below: N727RW - later scrapped)
And finally, here’s an ex-Hughes Airwest color scheme:
(Pictured below: N723RW - later broken up, known as N294SC at end of its life)(Hughes was also merged into Republic, though it was a little later on in 1980)
And I believe that should be it for the 727s, so next aircraft:Convair 580 (no specific variant, CVLT) - 22 former.
(Pictured below: N968N - later scrapped)(Pictured below: N7517U - later scrapped, known as YV-971C at end of its life)
Now, for the old livery:
(Pictured below: N4805C - later scrapped, known as YV-966C at end of its life)(Pictured below: N2729R - later scrapped, known as YV-969C at end of its life)
Here’s a variant of that older livery:
(Pictured below: N8444H - now known as ZK-CIB, preserved)(Pictured below: N3423 - later scrapped, known as YV-973C at end of its life)
And I believe that’s about all for the Convairs, so now, as for the next aircraft:
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (-14, -15, -15RC, -31, -32, -32CF, -51, DC91/DC91C/DC93/DC93C/DC95) - 133 former.
(23/8/9/55/9/1/28 for each variant, respectively.)
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N8911E - later scrapped)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N930RC - preserved)
And once more, the older livery:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N3308L - later broken up)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N948L - later scrapped)
Now, here’s an ex-Southern Airways livery for the -14:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N3308L - again)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N3314L - later scrapped)
And finally, here’s a somewhat different variant of that Southern Airways hybrid scheme, with Republic logos replacing the Southern ones:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 N3313L - later written off in fatal accident)And that should cover the -14s, so onto the next variant:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N91S - later scrapped)Older livery once again:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N9348 - later scrapped)Here’s the ex-Southern Airways scheme, too:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N91S - again)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N94S - later scrapped)
And now, here’s the -15RC variant:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15RC N9357 - now known as XA-NTP)I would’ve liked to get another shot of the left side, but media of this final scheme on the RCs unfortunately seems pretty scarce… anyways though, here’s the older livery:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15RC N9352 - now known as N195US, stored)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15RC N9356 - now known as XA-VFC)
Last but not least, here’s an example of an ex-Hughes Airwest scheme on this type:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 N9359 - later scrapped, known as N193US at end of its life)Now, as for the next variant, the -31:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N1798U - later scrapped)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N994Z - later scrapped)
Next, the older livery examples:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N913RW - later scrapped)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N9331 - later broken up)
And here’s that variant of the older livery:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N953N - later broken up)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N945N - later scrapped)
Here’s some more ex-Hughes Airwest hybrid livery material:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N9341 - later scrapped)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N9340 - later scrapped)
But before we move on with the next variant, here was this really interesting livery variant I found, showing both Republic and Hughes operating titles at once:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N9333 - later scrapped)Media of this livery is understandably pretty scarce, given how, according to photographer comment, the photo was taken within the first day or two of Hughes merging into Republic - the aircraft was more than likely painted into something like N9340 or N9341 above soon after.
Anyways though, with that aside, let’s see the next variant, the -32:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 N926RC - now known as YV2434, stored)Here’s some shots of the older livery on this variant:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 N9347 - later broken up)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 N943N - later scrapped)
And finally, here’s a few shots of the type in Hughes colors, once again:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 N9347 - again)Media of N9347 seems to be a little scarce, too. As a sidenote though, apparently the reason N9347’s missing part of the Hughes logo on its rudder was because it was a replacement rudder, and it likely never received a repainting to include the full logo, given how it, of course, went into Republic’s fleet with it incomplete.
Anyways, that should be it for the -32s, so let’s move on to the -32CF:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32CF N59T - status unknown)N59T, being the only -32CF Republic operated, also appears to be a little scarce on media, but there still is some notable pictures of it - such as this one below, in Southern colors:
(Pictured below: Ditto, in Southern Airways colors)And just for the record, here’s N59T with a different radome:
(Pictured below: Ditto, with a differently colored radome, and from a different angle)Apologies for that last shot being colorless, there were no other sources I saw depicting N59T (in that scheme) from that perspective. I decided to include it primarily to provide a reference.
Anyways, with that aside, let’s go to the final variant of the DC-9s operated, the -51s:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N775NC - later scrapped)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N768NC - later scrapped)
Now, as for the older livery variants, displayed in their usual order:
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N767NC - preserved)(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N786NC - later scrapped)
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N772NC - later scrapped)
(Pictured below: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 N775NC - later scrapped)
And finally, that should conclude the DC-9’s segment. Now then, let’s move onto the final type of the airline:
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 (MD-82, MD82) - 8 former.
(Pictured below: N314RC - later broken up, known as N382JT at end of its life)And then, of course, here’s an example of the older livery on this aircraft:
(Pictured below: N307RC - later broken up, known as N307JT at end of its life)(Man, quite a few of these good shots are at SAN…)
(Pictured below: N301RC - later broken up)
And with that, we’ve reached the end of Republic’s fleet, at least according to what I could find.
Now though, I hope you haven’t forgotten about Republic Express, because this final segment of the suggestion will be dedicated to them.
(And trust me, this segment won’t be nearly as long lol)Republic Express’s Fleet:
(For this airline, there are a limited number of aircraft types available, yet it can still be added.)Aircraft operated (already in-game):
Saab 340 (340A, SF34) - 8 former.
(Pictured below: N324PX - later broken up, known as N48XJ at end of its life)(Pictured below: N326PX - later broken up, known as ZS-PMO at end of its life)
Aircraft operated (not in-game):
British Aerospace BAe Jetstream (31, JS31) - 26 former.
(Pictured below: N316PX - later scrapped, known as N535PA at end of its life)(Pictured below: N331BJ - status unknown, last known as N608JX)
And finally, here’s a few photos showcasing a hybrid livery between Republic and Northwest, similar to the 757s covered beforehand:
(Pictured below: N302PX - later scrapped)I couldn’t find a high-quality close shot of the other view of this livery on a Jetstream, so instead, here’s a final little bonus:
(Pictured below: N300PX - status unknown, last known as N515PA)
Why should this airline be added?
I’d say this airline should be added primarily because of its unmistakable and notable history in American commercial aviation, at one point being considered the largest airline in the United States in terms of airports served. As I’m sure you could tell, it had quite an extensive fleet, and if an aircraft like the DC-9 or 727 were added, it would only further prove that, adding a lot to the airline.But even in terms of what it has right now (757-200s and Saab 340s), I think this airline could make for some nice event material or even special contract material - looking upon Wikipedia shows they served various airports across the United States, such as Boston, Dallas, Denver Stapleton, New Orleans, Sacramento (mention), San Diego, Washington Dulles/National, along with of course its hubs (Detroit/Memphis/Minneapolis).
It also served a few international routes, such as to Canada, where it served airports like Calgary, Montreal Trudeau, and Toronto Pearson.
Thus, I do strongly believe that this could be a great event/special contract airline capable of showing up at all North American airports, and even more-so if an airport such as, say, Minneapolis is ever added to the game (which is an airport I’d personally like to see).So, to conclude, I believe this airline should be added because of its notable history, even in spite of its somewhat short tenure, alongside adding some more livery content to the 757 and Saab 340 - in which I personally think the latter is quite a rarity in North America. Furthermore, given that this airline had an extensive network serving most North American airports in-game (with the sole exception being SXM), I do think that this airline would make for great event or even special contract material.
While this airline might not be as legendary or wasn’t as long-lasting such as the likes of TWA or Northwest, I still do think that it would be great to see represented in-game as a nice bit of acknowledgement to what was, at one point, one of the biggest airlines in the United States.(remember my kitty hawk suggestion? yeah, this was that ‘similar suggestion’ i mentioned there, given republic flew to sacramento… though of course that wasn’t my sole motivation for suggesting this lol)
SOURCES:
Republic Airlines’ Planespotters.net Page
Republic Express’s Planespotters.net Page
Republic Airlines’ Wikipedia Page