Douglas took the new requirements and produced an entirely new, smaller design, the DC-4A, with a simpler, still unpressurized fuselage, Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasp engines, and a single fin and rudder.

To meet military requirements, the first production aircraft had four additional auxiliary fuel tanks in the main cabin, which reduced the passenger seats to 26.

A later variant, with more powerful Merlin engines allowing it to fly over 40% faster, was built in Canada as the Canadair North Star.

Sales of new aircraft had to compete against 500 wartime ex-military C-54s and R5Ds which came onto the civilian market, many of which were converted to DC-4 standard by Douglas.

Douglas produced 79 new-build DC-4s between January 1946 and August 9, 1947, the last example being delivered to South African Airways.

[3] Several airlines used new-build DC-4s to start scheduled transatlantic flights between Latin America and Europe.

Among the earliest were Aerolíneas Argentinas (1946), Iberia Airlines of Spain (1946), and Cubana de Aviación (1948).