Zantop International Airlines
| Commenced operations | May 1972 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 2001 |
Zantop International Airlines, Inc., (IATA: VK, ICAO: ZAN, Call sign: Zantop ) was a United States airline incorporated in May 1972 as a Michigan corporation, the stock of which was 100% owned by the Zantop family. The same owners had formerly operated Zantop Flying Service and Zantop Air Transport.
Zantop traces its origins to 1946 when the Zantop family set up Zantop Flying Service. In 1952 it was granted a license for commercial flying: The name was changed to Zantop Air Transport and the company operated as a freight airline for the auto industry.
In 1962 Zantop took over Coastal Airlines and, through the purchase, acquired a license to carry passengers as well as freight.
Aircraft like the piston-engined curtiss C-46 of World War II fame launched Zantop's fleet. Later, in the 1960s, the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy and DouglasDC-6 were added to the fleet, developing the original Zantop Airlines fleet under Duane Zantop.
In 1967 the Zantop family sold the airline and it became Universal Airlines. This venture went bankrupt in 1972 and the Zantop family restarted operations under "Zantop International Airlines", based at Willow Run Airport near Detroit, Michigan.
Some of the operations were based in Flint, Michigan.
From 1972 to 1978 Zantop used the DC-6, the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the Convair CV-640 and several Douglas DC-8 freighters. In 1978 the DC-8s were also used for passenger charter flights. Duane Zantop guided the company with strong vision and business acumen.
In 1978 Zantop also purchased the freight division of Hawaiian Airlines and with it came more Electras. By this time Zantop was one of the largest airlines in the freight business. In the late 1980s, Duane Zantop's son Jimmy took over after Duane experienced physical problems. Zantop continued to operate through the 1990s, and into the next millennium. In the 1990s, Jimmy continued the LogAir Contract until its expiration in late 1991. Jimmy Zantop led ZIA into contracts with Channel Express, callsign ChanEx, starting December 1989 and continuing into 1997 and possibly later. Channel Express operated initially from Bournemouth, England, and spread its bases to include Southend, England; Stansted, England; and Edinburgh, Scotland. Flowers were flown from the Channel Islands, and UPS contracts were serviced through Cologne, Germany. Jimmy developed and maintained US postal contracts at Christmas, hubbing from various bases. Jimmy added Roadway Global and its Terre Haute, Indiana, hub to Zantop's contracts. Jimmy Zantop added Fred Olsen's Shipping Line of Norway to his contracts, which gave Zantop a DHL hub of Copenhagen, Denmark. Jimmy also reached out to contract with Lynden Air Cargo of Alaska, and this put him back in US Postal Service subcontracts.
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