Janet Airline

Janet and Janet Airlines are unofficial names of a highly classified fleet of passenger aircraft operated for the United States Department of the Air Force as an employee shuttle to transport military, DoD civilians, and contractor employees to Special Access Program Facilities (SAPF). The airline mainly serves the Nevada Test and Training Range (most notably Area 51 and the Tonopah Test Range) from a private terminal at Las Vegas's Harry Reid International Airport.

The airline's aircraft are generally unmarked aside from a red cheatline along the aircraft's windows. History

The fleet's "Janet" call sign is said to stand for "Just Another Non-Existent Terminal" or "Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation".

The first flights from Las Vegas to Area 51 were performed in 1972 by a Douglas DC-6 operated by EG&G. A second DC-6 was added in 1976 and this type remained in use until 1981. Boeing 737-200s were gradually added in that same decade, which were later supplemented by Air Force T-43s de-modified to conventional transport configurations.

After the October 2017 Las Vegas shooting massacre, news surfaced that the shooter, in addition to firing at concertgoers, had also targeted aviation fuel tanks at nearby Harry Reid International Airport (still McCarran International Airport). Further reporting by the New York Post suggested a possible connection between the vulnerable fuel tanks and a classified Janet operation.

As of November 2023, the U.S. Air Force is looking for a new civilian contractor to operate the Janet fleet. In a solicitation, they outline that a potential new operator would have to operate up to 190 flights per week.