Written by Scott Rosenberg and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film centers on a prison break aboard a JPATS aircraft, nicknamed as "Con Air".

It features an ensemble supporting cast of Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Colm Meaney, Mykelti Williamson and Rachel Ticotin, with Monica Potter, Dave Chappelle, M.C.

Honorably discharged Army Ranger Cameron Poe returns home from Desert Storm to his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, and reunites with his pregnant wife Tricia.

Most of the inmates boarding the flight are high-risk convicts being transferred to a supermax prison, including mass murderer William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford, serial rapist John "Johnny 23" Baca, Black Guerrilla former general Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones, and professional criminal Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom.

The authorities discover the hijacking upon finding evidence in Grissom's old cell and a tape recorder planted by Poe on one of the disguised guards but cannot prevent the plane from taking off.

Baby-O takes the blame and is shot by Grissom, when Larkin and Sims' partner, Duncan Malloy, arrive in attack helicopters, damaging the Jailbird's fuel tank.

Grissom, Diamond Dog and Swamp Thing escape on a fire truck, pursued by Poe and Larkin on police motorcycles; the chase results in the deaths of all three escapees.

Additional actors include Ty Granderson Jones as "Blade", Emilio Rivera as Carlos, Doug Hutchison as Guard Donald, Jeris Lee Poindexter as Watts, David Ramsey as Londell, Conrad Goode as white supremacist inmate "Viking", John Diehl as Poe's defense attorney, and Don S. Davis as the motorist whose car Pinball's corpse falls on.

[7][8] With second unit work beginning on June 24, 1996, principal photography began shortly after in Salt Lake City, on July 1, 1996 and continued until October 29, 1996, at a number of locations.

[9] While most of the interiors of the Fairchild C-123 Provider transport aircraft were filmed in Hollywood Center Studios soundstage #7, Wendover Airport in Utah, as the stand in for the fictional Lerner Airfield, was used for the C-123 flying and taxi scenes.

[10] Director Simon West chose the barren and remote Wendover area "because it looked like the surface of the moon ... My idea was that it was perfect for the convicts who had been locked up for 10, 20, 30 years in little cells.

[12] On August 29, 1996, Phillip Swartz, a welder employed by Special Effects Unlimited, a Los Angeles-based firm, was crushed to death at Wendover when a static model of the C-123 used in the film fell on him.

[14] Producer Jerry Bruckheimer found the right spot for the climactic finale, originally planned for a crash at the White House, but Las Vegas was more in keeping with the theme and visual pun of convicts "cashing in".

The third Jailbird movie model used for the taxi scenes was later donated by the filmmakers to the Historic Wendover Airfield Foundation, where it remains on display at the ramp as an attraction for visitors.

[22][Note 2] The Con Air soundtrack album omits two songs featured in the film: "How Do I Live", written by Diane Warren and performed by Trisha Yearwood and "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Con Air won't win any awards for believability – and all involved seem cheerfully aware of it, making some of this blockbuster action outing's biggest flaws fairly easy to forgive.

[30] Roger Ebert, reviewing the film for the Chicago Sun-Times, awarded it three out of four stars, saying it "moves smoothly and with visual style and verbal wit.

[33] Andrew Johnston, reviewer for Time Out New York, stated: "Leaving The Rock last summer, I thought it seemed physically impossible for a more over-the-top action movie to be made.