[5] George T. Baker and D. K. Franklin created a partnership called National Airlines Taxi System to fly an airmail route from Daytona Beach to St. Petersburg, Florida, pursuant to a contract with the Post Office dated August 2, 1934.

[8] On October 15 of that year, revenue flights were launched, transporting passengers and mail from St. Petersburg to a few destinations within Florida using a fleet of two Ryan ST monoplanes.

[8] By the end of the decade, the National Airlines network spanned from Miami to New Orleans,[12] on what it called the Buccaneer Route.

[5] Revenue passenger miles for years ending June 30:[13] In 1940 the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar became the backbone of National's fleet.

[5] National ran the Piggy Bank Vacations campaign, promoting low-fare flights to Florida during the off-peak summer season.

[19] On December 10, 1958, National became the first airline to operate domestic jet flights, using a Boeing 707 leased from Pan American World Airways between Miami and New York.

[19] With the award of traffic rights on the southern transcontinental route on March 11, 1961, National Airlines gained access to California and began operating new Douglas DC-8s between Florida and Los Angeles and San Francisco with a number of flights stopping in Houston and/or New Orleans[8][21] (previously, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and National had together operated Douglas DC-6s and DC-7s through between Miami and California).

Also in 1970, National Airlines opened their own terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which was dubbed the Sundrome.

[26] Following an order for ten aircraft in 1969,[15] the wide body McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 was put in service on the Miami-New York route on December 15, 1971.

In May 1973, the front cover of the airline's system timetable proudly proclaimed, "National has daily nonstop 747s from Miami to London".

[30] With the advent of the intercontinental McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, National Airlines then expanded their European network by adding Paris (inaugurated on June 22, 1977), as well as Frankfurt, Amsterdam (both in 1978)[8] and Zürich (in 1979).

National was criticized in 1974 by the Civil Aeronautics Board for giving preferential treatment to Rudy Vallée, allowing him to travel between Los Angeles and Florida with more than 20 bags without charges for excess baggage.

[33] In 1978, Texas International Airlines (which was led by Frank Lorenzo at that time) acquired 24.6 percent of the shares,[2] but did not succeed in the subsequent tender offer takeover bid.

[2] At the same time, the shares held by Texas International were sold to Pan American World Airways, who emerged as a white knight and succeeded in accumulating a controlling majority.

[33] Much later, National's "Sun King" logo was sold and repackaged, much like Pan Am's, to start-up low-cost carrier Southeast Airlines, which used it on the tail of its aircraft.