ONA was effectively two distinct carriers, separated by a two-year interval in 1963–1965 during which it fell into bankruptcy and became almost completely moribund, after which it was reconstituted by new ownership/management.

From 1969 through the mid-1970s, ONA was one of the largest charter carriers in the United States, engaged in diverse activities including building the Mississippi Queen paddlewheel riverboat.

However, in its last years the carrier faced increasing competition, uncertainty and poor financial results and in 1975–1977 suffered the loss of three aircraft in accidents within a 16-month period, including two DC-10s within two months.

[3] The carrier was issued its "Letter of Registration" on 12 August 1947[4] (in lieu of certificate, as was standard for irregular airlines at the time).

[5] Also in 1947, Calasia started operating its fleet of five leased C-54s under contract to Transocean Air Lines until January 1950.

[6] In July 1950, Overseas National Airways was incorporated in Delaware,[7] and ONA started operating in the Pacific under contract to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS)[6] (North Korean troops crossed into South Korea on June 25, 1950).

In 1954, ONA was an applicant in a CAB case in which Seaboard & Western Airlines was certificated as a scheduled transatlantic cargo carrier.

Part 45 airlines were not common carriers (did not offer services to the public), and thus escaped CAB regulation.

Any attempt by the CAB to impose minimum military charter bids on CAB-regulated carriers could be undercut by Part 45s.

In only three years did it have significant civil (commercial) business (see Table 1), including running 140 transatlantic charters in 1959.

[12] Once the Korean War was over in 1953, ONA was unable to sustain its financial performance which degraded substantially by the end of the decade.

[22] ONA's audacious bid motivated TWA, Pan Am and others to press their case with the military, Congress and the CAB.

[28] In October 1963, George Tompkins said that supplementals didn't work without military business and ONA was having trouble obtaining it.

In February 1964, when President Johnson signed off, the CAB had still not revised the selection to account for ONA's defunct state.

[40] Hinckley believed the superior economics, speed and comfort of jets would boost air travel and increase demand for commercial charters.

[42] The CAB had a strong preference for jets[43] and ONA had two DC-8s coming for summer 1966[44] whereas two supplementals that already had Atlantic rights, American Flyers Airline[45] and Saturn Airways,[46] had yet to obtain such equipment.

[69] Another subsidiary was Automated Terminal Services, providing ground handling for the Navy's Quicktrans domestic cargo program with about 400 employees in 1970.

Hinckley's brother Albert (an architect) ran the project, but by its first voyage in 1976, ONA had sold the riverboats to the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York.

[77][78] In the last decade of the regulated era (ending 1978), the critical civilian market for US supplemental airlines was Europe.

[83] The CEO of Universal Airlines (another large supplemental of the era) attributed its 1972 demise to inability to secure finance in the face of a CAB attempt to strip it of Atlantic rights.

[84] With the exception of tiny Johnson Flying Service, bought by Evergreen Helicopters in 1975, all of ONA's mid-1960s supplemental contemporaries without Atlantic rights ceased operations (Standard in 1969, Purdue in 1971, Modern in 1975, McCulloch in 1977).

It lobbied the CAB with a detailed white paper calling for US adoption of European-type inclusive tour rules,[85] noting that in 1972, European charter airlines flew 8.5 million such passengers, while restrictive CAB rules limited the US inclusive tour market to just 100,000.

As the country debated deregulation, Hinckley wanted a protected niche for supplementals,[106] he did not believe they could survive head-on competition with the scheduled airlines.

[108] US scheduled airlines had many empty seats: the CAB set a policy of aiming for 55% loadfactors, trying to increase them from a level closer to 50%.

In March 1977, American Airlines (then mainly a domestic carrier) in response to ABCs, launched supersaver fares, offering deep discounts in return for charter-like restrictions such as advance booking and a week-long stay requirement.

[113] But in late 1976 the British government backed Laker as the second carrier permitted under the UK air service treaty with the US.

In February the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York made an offer for ONA,[118] but ultimately contented itself with buying the riverboat operation, as mentioned above.

[130] Among other duties, the base performed the complete interior reconfigurations of several DC-8s purchased from Eastern Air Lines, moving galleys and lavatories to accommodate high density seating.

[89] The base also handled dispatch of the domestic cargo fleet, which operated for the US Air Force Logair system, and also delivered car parts.