The story of 5J Airlines includes locations in Aeronautica that currently are planned but are not yet in game, this includes:

• Nation of Maredith

• State of Argenta in Maredith

• Cities of San Ezequiel, San Berto, Saltaire, Gwinnett in Maredith

As we wait for their addition into the game, some details of the lore could be changed at a later date due to them being unreleased. These details include names of cities and regions, and the planes registered in the unreleased nations.
With that in mind, enjoy the full story of 5J Airlines!

The story of 5J Airlines begins with James Lancer, a 16 year-old Oconian man from Lynwood. He lived on New Fiskar Island, and had been surrounded by cars all of his life due to his father being in the car industry. This gave him the idea of one day being like his dad, buying and selling cars, and maybe even making them. This had been his idea until 1946, when his school took a trip to Lynwood’s airport on Westwood island. James was quite bored at the start of the trip, as he was mostly not paying attention to the actual trip and instead talking to his friend Preston Friedman, who he was close with since 6th grade. This would change though, once James saw and started talking to a Sunrise Airlines pilot. He asked him about flying planes, how it worked, and what it was like. The pilot went into immense detail and had James shook, since he had no idea how intricate and amazing aircraft truly were. After the field trip that day, something changed in James. He no longer wanted to try and be a car-selling hotshot but wanted to aim for the skies. He wouldn’t just fly planes though; he wanted to start his own airline. Preston, in best friend fashion, called him nuts, since it would be at least 20 years until he would ever do that. James, a notoriously dedicated and stubborn man, wouldn’t let anything step in his way of something he set his mind on, and by-golly, he wouldn’t let anything step ahead of him in this newfound dream.

Without telling his parents, he would enroll in flight school just a week after the eureka moment and began learning how to fly. He learnt a lot from flight school, along with techniques and tricks from pilots he found at Lynwood and Kitesboro airports alike. Soon enough at 18, he got his pilot's license and was ready to fly. As laws on pilot ages were quite lenient, James was able to become a Lynwood Transcontinental pilot with smooth talking and respectable flight skills. He would be set copiloting a DC-4, which flew the newly added route to Meihua via Norman and Udyanapura, and he would learn a lot from the pilots he flew with. While it had been a great learning experience and an overall journey with LTC, James would leave the company in mid-1949 to prepare for his airline and he would gather his set airline investors. The first of which was Preston Friedman, who had been working as a door-to-door salesman which earned him the most amount of cash to pitch in. James would then grab Mark Cohen, a guy that grew up in Kitesboro who knew a lot about aircraft due to his father’s job at the airport in maintenance, Paul Reagan, an ex-Oconian Armed Forces soldier who was known for being serious, no-nonsense, and an avid smoker, and finally Francis Bernardone, an incredibly skilled artist who originally lived in Alpinora but then moved to Lynwood. With his group of friends, they would all pitch in money and elbow grease to finally start the airline, and after several months of preparation, history would be made early the next year.

After help from the five founding investors, 5J International Airlines was then finally founded in January of 1950 in Lynwood by the young pilot, aviation enthusiast, and now businessman James Lancer, along with his four investor friends. During the first few months, each of the investors tried to get the company started in their respective departments, with James Lancer helping them all and watching over the entire process. The chosen Fleet Manager Mark Cohen went on a trip trying to get aircraft for 5JA to actually start flying and would score a few used DC-4s for highly reduced prices. Preston Friedman, the Route Manager, would follow Cohen in his trip but would instead try and secure routes for the planes Cohen was buying, which ended with routes to Kitesboro, Clarence, and Oconee being set up. Francis Bernardone, with his artistic skills, led the advertising campaign and went to different newspapers for advertisement slots. He would also be in charge of making the airline’s first livery, which he named “A Flying Start”. Paul Reagan, with his time in the military as a strict major, was chosen to be the Staff Manager and began the hiring process for pilots and technicians to work the airline. Meanwhile, James would oversee all of this by accompanying Mark and Preston’s aircraft and route buying, helping Paul hire the new employees, and going through the advertisement ideas from Francis.  In May of 1950, 5JIA would finally start revenue flights with its “new” DC-4 airliners, and started flying to the established routes to Kitesboro, Clarence, and Oconee. Business progressed well for the first few months, and the workhorse DC-4s would be given a lighter load when multiple DC-6s were put on busier routes and DC-4s moved to newer less high demand routes in 1951. Later that year, the newly added routes going to Norman, Harden, and Lynwood Municipal were being served by DC-6s and DC-4s.

With the airline flying only in the UIO during the first year, James and Preston were tasked with getting routes into the closest neighboring country that wasn’t Fiskar, Maredith, to start getting 5JIA into the international market. While it had only declared independence from the United Isles less than 5 years ago, it was welcome to Oconian travel via airlines. James and Preston made their way across the nation and the busy airports, hoping to secure some routes to get into the Maredithian market. After the slight tour, routes into San Ezequiel, San Berto, and Saltaire were established to be flown on DC-6s with a tri-weekly schedule. While the schedule worked, the fleet size of 5JIA was too small to keep up with the higher demand of flights into Maredith. This led another expedition, led by Mark Cohen, to get higher capacity airliners to do the job of keeping up with not only Maredithian routes, but all of the airline’s busiest. After researching and searching for different airliners, the crew decided on the L-1049 Super Constellation, for its relative affordability to the Boeing 377, along with the high capacity of up to 100 passengers. 5JIA would buy 5 brand-new Constellations in early 1952, three of which being put on busy routes inside of Oconia going to airports like Clarence and Kitesboro, while the other two were put on flights to San Berto and San Ezequiel. While they were affordable by comparison, the new L-1049s were extremely expensive still, which made the airline funding take a hit for several months. The brand new Super Constellations would do wonders for 5JIA, with higher capacity and luxury being their best strength, which helped the airline massively gain back their funds. With the new funds, amenities on board like drinks and cigars were put on all Super Constellations and some DC-6s, along with a fleet expansion of 3 more L-1049s by mid-1952 to help with travel into Maredith and high-demand Oconian cities.

Rolling into 1953, the fleet and company at large stayed stable, as the older used DC-4s from the 1950 purchase were used on regional routes within Oconia. The fleet would stay at 8 L-1049s, 5 DC-6s, and 5 DC-4s, with an unofficial sort of side-hub being placed in San Ezequiel to keep some of the L-1049s there for longer periods of time which made for easier access into Maredith in the future. The founding crew’s hard work in the beginning had already paid off in just the three years the company had existed, and the five of them would get some breathing room for the next couple years as business steadily progressed. By 1955, 5JIA had solidified routes from Lynwood to Kitesboro, Clarence, Harden, Norman, San Ezequiel, San Berto, and Saltaire. The company had succeeded in becoming well-known in the UIO and Maredith, but the next major goal was leaping over the pond to mainland Avalon. While Obroria was the first trans-continental choice for 5JIA, it was fairly close to Oconia. Compare that to Avalon, which was much farther in comparison. The choice had always been there with the DC-4s and DC-6s having fairly long range, but with the airline operating L-1049s, James Lancer thought there wasn’t a better time than then to get into the Avalonian markets than when they had Super Constellations. After a long flight to Corbaun, James, Preston, and Francis had made it to the Kingdom of Smaragaidia, right in mainland Avalon. Their plan was going throughout the northern nations then making their way down south from west to east, starting in Smaragaidia then going into Anhedral, Capriano, Saalhofen, Portona, then whipping over to Arleau before returning to Lynwood via Corbaun. The plan was well thought out and began with a success of getting the route to Corbaun. In Anhedral, the routes to Unserdan or Anhedral City weren’t set in stone, but they were told to come back with a different offer another time in the future. The three would have a much better time in Francis’s home region of southwestern Avalon, where routes into Capriano and Sandris were put into place with the route into Amaras being saved for seasonal service. To wrap up the trip, the crew successfully got their final Avalonian route into Valois, which would be a compound route from Lynwood to Corbaun, then Corbaun to Valois. With the major successes that 5JIA had in Avalon, it was time for restructuring time to keep up with the brand-new routes set in place, ready to begin service in the following year of 1956.

Before the new routes into Avalon were to start service, Mark Cohen had made another deal with Lockheed to purchase 5 more new L-1049s for the anticipated demand for the new Avalonian routes. These special Super Constellations were fitted with more luxurious amenities, including a small lounge and fancy Alpinoran and Arlaise dining options. Once 1956 rolled around, 5JIA went on a marketing frenzy, with Francis getting many new ads in flyers and newspapers about the brand-new Avalonian travel routes. Within just the first few months, the routes into Avalon proved to be successful, with 25% of the airline’s revenue coming from just the routes into Avalon alone. The success hadn’t just been limited to Avalon though, since a new Maredithian route into Gwinnett was introduced from Lynwood in late 1956. For the next two years, the airline stayed steadily growing and keeping up with demand, and not many major changes had been made. During 1957, the L-1049 fleet reached its peak of 13 total aircraft, with the retirement of all but three original DC-6s which stayed on lower demand routes into Lynwood Municipal, and Amaras and Pavlada during the summer season. In 1958, the airline had no major aircraft or route changes, with the only meaningful event during the year being James’s son Mark being born in Kitesboro. During 1959 however, things picked back up, with Anhedral finally becoming a route from San Ezequiel and Lynwood. While at a restaurant in Anhedral City after flying the Lynwood to Anhedral route, James, Mark, and Francis were approached by a Portonese salesman named Chris Moreira, who represented the De Havilland aircraft manufacturer. He approached their table and introduced himself, and began talking about the Comet 4, a brand-new jet-airliner which was a variant of the original Comet that flew in 1952. Moreira made a large effort to try and sell the aircraft, with him talking to James and Mark about offers, and telling Francis about the advertising opportunities. While the display’s effort was valiant, James refused, saying: “I heard about it, but I’m not really a big fan. Our entire fleet is made of Oconian and Maredithian aircraft, so we don’t want to disturb that balance yet with an an’edran jet. Besides the fact they aren’t even trusted yet”. Defeated, Moreira gave a crushed smile and left the three alone for their “An’edran” lunch. While they all disregarded the Comet, it brought up the idea of jets in the airline fleet in general.

After the conversation in Anhedral, jets were the main focus of the airline moving forward. A large effort was made by Mark Cohen to research different jets over the next couple of years, specifically the Boeing 707 that was flying for airlines by 1958, along with the DC-8 that had been flying since 1959. With his own research, Cohen had given James his own choice of the DC-8, specifically the -50 variant for the range capabilities. While James had been happy with this conclusion made in 1961, he soon would forget about the DC-8, when he set his eyes on the Convair 990 Coronado. He had first found out about the jet in a newspaper while in San Ezequiel, the city Convair was based in. The jet was made specifically for Aventura Air Lines because of their need for a trans-Maredithian trip at least 45 minutes faster than they were at the time with jets like the 707. After some trials and tribulation, Convair brought up the 990, later 990A, a speedy mid-range and mid-sized airliner. While it wasn’t very popular barring the orders from Aventura and Air Ezequiel in Maredith and R.A.P.I.D. in Saalhofen, James was immediately interested due to the immense speed and luxury factors. Mark, who picked the DC-8-50 because of its better range and slightly better capacity, couldn’t believe that James wanted the 990 with its worse range and capacity. Over two whole weeks, the two argued to the annoyance of everyone around them about which of the jets would be a better pick. One night, the arguing finally came to an end, once James offered a compromise in the form of a bet. 5JIA would purchase both the DC-8-50 and C990A, and whichever one was liked more by the public, they would buy more of and make the flagship of the airline. Mark took the bet, and by 1962, 5JIA would operate five each of the Convair 990A and the Douglas DC-8-50, both in the brand new “Red Lightning” livery that Francis was yet again asked to make.

The 990A and DC-8 would both play different roles for the airline, with the 990 tackling the most popular routes into Oconian and Maredithian cities, and the DC-8-50 taking the less popular but still important Avalonian routes to places like Anhedral and Valois due to its incredible range. During the year of the bet, both James and Mark had their own mini-feud to sway people into liking their chosen jets more, and they made Francis and Paul both be in the middle of it with Francis making specific advertisements highlighting one or the other jet’s features, and Paul being required to ask new hirees which they liked more. While everyone thought it was funny for the first little while, it slowly became increasingly annoying until 1963, when a formal vote was cast to see which jet the public liked more. With a staggering 59% in favor, the 990 won the poll, and James was ecstatic. Mark was forced to see his defeat, and the Coronado would officially become the flagship airliner of 5JIA. With the feud over, the airline could finally progress normally to the relief of all the staff and would put in an order for 5 more Coronados to fully replace the L-1049s, along with ordering 5 Convair 580s for current regional routes around Oconia and 5 of the new upcoming 737-100 for higher demand regional routes. By 1964, when the CV580s were delivered, the airline reached a fleet of 24 total aircraft including the 5 yet to be delivered 737-100s. During the mid-to-late 60s, James grew somewhat impatient because there hadn’t been any major route expansions since Avalon in 1956, and he wanted the next hit of the route-expansion-high. With the help of Preston, 5JIA would consider new options for places to travel to, with the three options being Kyokkou, Aesir, and Alavega. With Udyanapura being so close, the one route into Kyokkou was guaranteed, with additional routes into the bigger tourist destinations of Al Tak in Yong Kong and Tomon being considered as well. As the plans for Kyokkou were on the smaller side, the team would have to choose between Alavega and Aesir for the big push for the 70s. While Alavega had cities like Viatico City and Cantaloa, big population centres, Aesir had the nation of Novacadia, a close ally to both the United Isles and Maredith. With that in mind, Routes into Alavega would take a hold, possibly for the coming decades, and Aesir would be the full-front effort for 5JA.

James, Preston, and Francis would take another expedition similar to the one into Avalon, by going to both Aska and Novacadia in search of airline routes. In Aska, a route into Oskufloi from Lynwood was accepted, which was the longest route the airline served by far. In Novacadia, 2 new routes into Tikaranto and Venfjord were both added, being major scores for the airline’s progress into the late 60s and beginning of the 70s. All the new routes would start being served by 1968, which gave the airline plenty of time to prepare. New advertisements by Francis were prepared for the new Aesirean markets, and Mark would soon negotiate another purchase for 5 more DC-8-50s, to keep up with the expected demand of the Aesirean trips. With the preparations being made, another big step was made for the airline, being the addition of Kitesboro as an official sidehub for operations. While San Ezequiel had been an unofficial sidehub in the past, it was thought to be a better option to have Kitesboro be the official sidehub for now, with San Ezequiel still being on the table for the option in case of any ideas. For now, popular routes inside of the UIO, into Maredith, and a route into Oskufloi were planned to serve Kitesboro by 1970, with a route into Anhedral possibly starting in 1972. With the new Kitesboro side-hub, a majority of the airline’s DC-8-50s were relocated to the airport to manage the new routes, and would be given Kitesboro registrations, which gave the fun effect of having Mark’s chosen jet be from his home state, and James’s jet from his state. Now moving steadily into the 1970s, the aviation world would be shocked by the brand new Boeing 747 “Jumbo Jet”, being a double-decker airliner, one of the biggest at the time. James, always intrigued by new developments in aviation, quickly began pestering Mark about the jet, and was crushed to learn it would be too big to have in Lynwood. Without the jumbo jet, the airline had to look at a possible new choice for the jets, and it turned to the tri-jet options of the DC-10 and L-1011.

Both were considered and researched, but ultimately the choice was to order 3 of the jets each to see which one would be preferred. The DC-10 would be delivered first in 1972, and the first one would have its maiden flight from Lynwood to Anhedral on November 17th, 1972, on Flight 208. The flight would end in tragedy as the fuel was contaminated by rainwater and soap because of the ground crew member’s mistake, and 112 souls on board would lose their lives in a crash into the sea off the coast of Rawaki. With the disaster of the DC-10, even though it wasn’t caused by the actual plane itself, it was decided to cancel the order entirely and would put all bets on the L-1011. The L–1011-1 would prove to be much more reliable in flight for the airline after entering service in 1973, and would be used on popular Maredithian routes from Lynwood and Kitesboro for the best chance at keeping up with demand. In 1973, another rebrand happened similar to the one 11 years prior with the introduction of jets, where 5J International Airlines officially became just “5J Airlines” with a brand new logo. With the rebrand, Francis and a new team of other livery designers made the “Crimson Collide” livery, which would be unveiled to start use with the L-1011-1. All of the 5JA fleet had been painted in the new livery, which had expanded to 40 aircraft. By 1974, the fleet had amounted to 8 of the new L-1011-1, 10 Convair 990s, 10 DC–8-55s, 5 737-100s, and 7 737-200s. The very diverse fleet had some wanting to sell off either the DC-8s or C990s in favor of newer Boeing airliners and more L-1011s, but the first jetliners still held value in flying where they were, so no plans had been made. The fleet would also expand in a new way with one simple new order, but one that no one would expect.

During all the fuss over the trijets, something peculiar would happen in 1972. While visiting family in the nation of Tselinoyarsk, Victor Walkman, a 5J Airlines staff member primarily working under Mark Cohen in fleet management, stumbled upon the Ilyushin aerospace company’s open house of new aircraft. Many Zhongjingese and Tselinoyarskan airline officials were there representing their own airlines, and Walkman decided to take the opportunity and try to get more information. Once he had walked in and explained to the staff that he was representing an Oconian airline, the Ilyushin staff treated him warmly, even giving him a private tour around the aircraft. After seeing many different aircraft, he came across the Il-72, which was the crown jewel of the whole open house. It had been in development since 1959, and featured ramjet technologies pushing the airliner to over Mach 2. After getting more information on the aircraft over hours of conversation, Victor quickly went to contact Mark Cohen on his amazing discovery and would soon be talking to James directly about the jet. The entire airline staff was amazed at this discovery, since the only supersonic airliner they had heard about was Concorde, and soon enough, the entire founding crew had booked tickets to travel into Leovetsk. Once the five had gotten there, they marveled at the jet for being so ahead of its time and began working on a deal. It was decided that 4 of the new Il-72s would be delivered and in service by 1976, as 5JA would become one of the only Oconian airlines to ever go supersonic.

Once 1976 finally rolled around and the four-brand new Il-72s were delivered, the media would find out and many planespotters around the United Isles would line up to see the ramjet-powered airliner blast off from Lynwood and Kitesboro. Two of each airliner, which the airline nicknamed the “Supersonic Comets”, would be based in both the airline’s hubs, and fly certain routes out of those airports. With the extended range to the ramjet technologies, 5JA started a system of “triangle flights”, where the Il-72 would fly from Lynwood to Valois, Valois to Tikaranto, and Tikaranto to Lynwood. It would spend nights at the other airport, and overall proved to be a profitable system. The Il-72s also allowed the airline to give tours into the Tselinoyarskan jet to Oconian aviation enthusiasts for extra revenue when they weren’t flying, which was a genius idea from Paul. With supersonic travels booming from continent to continent, the airline considered ordering more of the Il-72, but with the cost of airline-grade fuel increasing massively during the late 70s, the Supersonic Comets were left at a count of just four. Because of the fuel price crisis actively happening, 5JA had to make a choice on what to do with their older jets still flying. The DC-8s and especially Convair 990s drank fuel like it was happy hour, and a decision had to be made. It was decided that the airline would begin looking for replacements with a deadline of 1985, giving them plenty of time to think of replacement jets.

As the airline entered another new decade, the plans made at the end of the 70s went into place, and new jetliners were needed to be found for use to replace the older fuel-thirsty jets, now almost reaching 20 years in service. Replacing the older 737-200s became simple as Boeing revealed plans for the newest generations of 737 aircraft, with the larger 737-300 being set to start deliveries in 1984. While it was right at the end of the set deadline, Mark convinced James to let this one slide as orders were confirmed by 1983 to be delivered by 1986. Finding replacements for the other airliners proved to be difficult however, as the higher-ups were torn on decisions. The DC-8s had been the backbone of 5JA’s long-range intercontinental travels, so the new choice had to replace it on a much grander scale. One of the most repeated suggestions was to simply order more L-1011s, specifically the -500 variant for the extreme range, and that would end up becoming the case. The order was placed right during 1980, and by 1982 the airline had replaced all 10 DC-8s for 15 L-1011-500s. The older L-1011-1 variants were kept on routes for shorter-hauls, but it was only a matter of time before they too were replaced. With the major airliners now replaced, the last one to go was the Convair 990, the airline’s prized flagship. No one was looking forward to trying to find a replacement for the revered Coronado, and several factors played into this. It had the unique characteristics of being extremely fast and more luxurious, like a sports car, which made it difficult to replace. After months of meetings and arguments over what was the best, it all came together after Boeing revealed one of their newest airliners in 1982, being the Boeing 757.

In 1982, around the same time 5JA staff found out about the newest 737s, Boeing also announced the 757, a medium-ranged airliner that went further than the Convair 990, was only 50mph slower still making it fast, and last but not least, caught James’s eye. Even though the Coronado had been James’s favorite jetliner of all time, he stated that the 757 was a “worthy successor to the crowned jet”, and he put in the order for 15 of the new jets. They would arrive by 1985, and immediately they were proving worthy in just their first year in service. With the Convair 990’s sad retirement from the airline, the 757-200 would take its place as the flagship, and the Convair 990s would go into retirement. As the fleet had been fully figured out for now, the airline could progress in finding new routes and ways to expand the business before the new millennium. A number of suggestions including further travel into Kyokkou and Alavega were introduced, but the one that stood out was making San Ezequiel a secondary hub. While Kitesboro’s hub status was important to the airline, James was determined to keep 5JA in the Maredithian market by doing something the airline had never done before. Opening a subsidiary company. The company would, of course, still be largely controlled by the Oconian side of business but would allow for travel throughout Maredith as a whole from San Ezequiel. As crazy of an idea it was, in 1987 the 5J Airlines Maredith subsidiary would open up.

The first thing the brand-new subsidiary had done was take Paul from the main company’s hiring process and move him to the Maredithian one for the time being. This was to maximize the hiring quality as Paul had been the Staff Supervisor and Head of Hiring since the airline first opened. He would immediately take charge of the hiring and began trying to find Maredith’s best pilots and staff members. Next, Mark would be sent to San Ezequiel trying to work deals to keep 5JA planes there as part of the subsidiary, which would be a success as several smaller spots were given to 5JA to use with their 757s. The last major piece of the starting of Maredithian operations was getting Preston around the entire country securing routes into major and small cities alike. Cities like Saltaire, Gwinnett, and San Berto were all achieved, along with several smaller regional airports as routes served by the 737-300. The entire process took 2 years total, but by the start of the 90s, 5JA Maredith was operating a fourth of 5JA’s fleet serving the neighboring continental country. While Paul, Mark, and Preston all went to Maredith, James and Francis both stayed in Lynwood taking care of the leftover mainline airline businesses. James was busy running the airline as usual, especially with the staff gone, and Francis was occupied making the brand new Maredithian marketing along with managing the other sectors of advertisement. In 1990 however, the gang got back together once the new subsidiary was fully formed and operating in line with the parent company. After the major expansion into Maredith, the airline took a breather for a few short years before picking back up again, this time trying to operate flights into Tselinoyarsk. As 5JA had been the only Oconian airline operating any Il-72s since 1976, it would make sense they flew into Tselinoyarsk, so deals were to be made in 1994 for a route from Lynwood to Leovetsk. However, tragedy would strike before anything was able to happen.

Paul Reagan, the airline’s Senior Staff Manager since the 1970s, would tragically pass away from a sudden heart attack in his son’s home at the age of 71. The heartbreaking news shook the airline to its very core and hit the rest of the founding crew extremely hard. With the loss of a major staff member and a dear friend, the crew made a joint statement talking about their appreciation for all Paul had done for the airline and would put a special livery sticker on an L-1011-500 registered LYD811 in Paul’s honor. With the airline having to deal with the grief of losing Paul, a new issue would emerge in who would take his position. It was decided that Jósef Walerian, a Walowian staff manager under Paul, would be his successor due to his trustworthy history. With the mid-90s underway, the airline would delay the previous plans to fly into Tselinoyarsk until at least the early 2000s but would instead focus on the fleet itself. The newest Novacadian regional airliner series, the CRJ series, had started flying just a few years prior and was proving efficient for inter-island travels in Oconia along with travel across Maredith. 5JA would order a total of 12 of the new CRJs, splitting them at 7/5 between the main company and the Maredithian subsidiary. The new CRJ-200s proved good for getting into smaller airports such as Kauwela and Oconee, and they would fly the closer and lower demand regional routes that the 737-300s wouldn’t need to fly. In 1996, the first retiree of the founding crew would leave the airline, as senior fleet manager Mark Cohen would retire and give up his position to Norman Edwards, a fleet manager he had a good friendship with. The reason for his retirement after 46 years was his want to take things slower in life now that he was approaching his 70s, along with the loss of Paul Reagan still affecting him greatly. After a large retirement party, Mark would move back to Kitesboro, and the company would be down another member before the 2000s.

As the 2000s were quickly approaching, James began questioning his own position at the airline as the CEO, which he had almost held for 50 years now. The airline had been his passion, all started after that one field trip to Lynwood’s growing airport, but he took many months on thinking about it. Preston and Francis, his two closest friends, would still support him no matter what and told James their intentions to stay with the company to keep it safe. James asked them if they would take the CEO position, and both would say no for different reasons. Preston declined as he didn’t want to have the major responsibilities that were much higher than what he did as the Senior Route Manager, which was still a demanding job. Francis also had similar concerns and stated he had also been thinking about retirement to spend more time with his family in Alpinora, along with moving his own established family back to their home country. After many late-night meetings and discussions, James would finally make the decision. He officially made the plan for 2000, which would be his retirement. Preston and Francis would still stay with the company at their own positions, but they would also be given extra positions as CEO Advisors, so they could personally watch over whoever would be given the role of CEO next. When 1999 rolled around, James made his announcement and stated the date of his retirement party and said his replacement would be the Clarence native Steve Robinson, a highly revered worker in the Staff Management department where he worked with his friend and the Senior Staff Manager Jósef Walerian. Once it was announced, many questions appeared around his chosen successor, as he could have chosen his son Mark Lancer instead of Robinson to keep the airline in the family’s name. As it turned out, Mark Lancer did grow up interested and surrounded by aviation but would enlist in the Oconian Air Force instead of taking up his father’s role as CEO. James’s only other logical choice would be one of his grandkids, Jacob, Michael, or Jen, but they were all too young at only 15, 12, and 10 years old respectively. Jacob and Michael both did hold interests in aviation, and Steve made sure that if they wanted to join the airline’s ranks, he would give them an extra inning for it. With 2000 hitting and James’s official retirement happening, there was no going back for the airline, and it would enter a new era. In the way it was expected, however? No.

With the new leadership in place, the airline had two routes it could take. The first, being the safest, was making sure the airline kept at its exact same pace and actions as before, or at least similar to what it was. The second option, being riskier, was going on their own path and revising and revamping the airline entirely. Steve Robinson would choose option 2 and began his own visions for the airline. The first thing he did was get the livery team to come up with a new livery design and obviously would ask the help of Francis. However, Francis declined making it, as it had been 27 years since he last made one and didn’t plan on doing it again. This left Robinson obviously frustrated, but he would then use the livery designers that worked under Francis instead and some new hires. The livery had been a more secret and side project since about 1999, and once the new ownership was announced, Robinson planned to announce it in mid-2000. The new livery, named “Millenia’s Beginning”, featured a new logo for the airline, a new font, and a new tail design inspired by the Crimson Collide tail swoop. However, the flaws of the livery massively outweighed the positives. They had gotten rid of the iconic star that featured on 5JA liveries since Red Lightning, the 1962 design, and they had gotten rid of the Lynwood red color which was on liveries since the very beginning. The new font as well was criticized and hated for being “ugly” and “too hard to read” with its new billboard design. Surprisingly, people didn’t react too much to the new logo as it actually wasn’t bad, but it still got some hate for being with the Millenia’s Beginning rebranding. 

After the announcement which the current higher-ups thought would be a “brilliant rebranding”, many media outlets, aviation fans, and even staff members all began hating on and criticizing the livery, reacting to its flaws and telling Robinson to either get better livery designers or to bring back Crimson Collide. Within the turmoil of the livery issue, the fleet was another thing at hand. The newest fleet manager, Norman Edwards, was pressured into ordering both new 777-200s and A340-500s to see which would be better for the airline, with the two new long-range jets phasing out the L-1011s which had flown since the mid 1970s. While it was an odd choice, the orders would come in by 2003 for 5 of them each, as the A340-500s operated from Lynwood and the 777-200s from San Ezequiel. 2003 would also see the selling of the older 757-200s from 1985, which were replaced by newly ordered 752s that would arrive by 2004, right before Boeing stopped production of the aircraft. This was done as a sort of "mini-modernization" plan to keep the 757s serving the airline longer. Around this time, the now 18-year-old Jacob Lancer, grandson of James Lancer, would join the piloting ranks and start flying a CRJ-200, registered LYD212, out of Lynwood. While the standard age to start flying was actually 23 years old, Robinson acted on his promise with James to give either of his grandsons the specialty treatment, even though Jacob himself was skeptical at first. While now flying for his grandfather’s airline, Jacob found himself becoming more skeptical of Steve Robinson. 

He enjoyed flying his set CRJ around Oconia and all, but something about Steve just never sat right with him. Even since the late 90s, before he was given the airline’s ownership, Jacob still never took a liking to Robinson. Nevertheless, Jacob would continue flying for the time being and would enjoy being a pilot greatly. Meanwhile, the route management team began working into the Kyokan markets as it was planned many years before. Routes into Umibutsu, Meihua, and Radang had been set to be served by the A340-500s on a bi-weekly basis and would start officially by 2004. As the mid 2000s went on, things in the airline slowly began to crack and deteriorate. Robinson went on a bit of his own power trip with Walerian, and they began to treat employees harshly and insanely rudely, which disrupted the usually upbeat workspace balance that 5JA historically had. The livery situation also failed to get better whatsoever, as many of the airline’s aircraft, new and old, never repainted into Millenia’s Beginning due to a sort of strike the airline’s livery painters were on. They would still paint the new logo on all aircraft, but the livery stayed as Crimson Collide through-and-through. It got so bad to the point that Robinson had to put his foot down in an official statement in 2005, saying that all aircraft would need to be painted in the new livery by 2013. This would only worsen the mood of the airline, as people were not only tired of the poor management but also now the clearly forced livery that was hated by everyone now being forced to stay. Something clearly had to be done before the airline started going more downhill, and so, led by Jacob Lancer, a coalition within the company would begin working and preparing to sue Steve Robinson for ownership of the airline in 2008.

Before the lawsuit would actually happen, a year would be taken to gather all the evidence needed against Steve Robinson along with getting lawyers ready to take on this nightmare of a case. Leading the “5J Airlines coalition” as it was known, was Jacob Lancer and his newly wedded wife Claire, who he had met in 2005 while flying into Valois. With the new couple came Preston Friedman III, grandson of the route manager Preston Friedman and best friend of Jacob since childhood, along with Andrew Fisher, another close friend between Jacob and Preston. The four coalition leaders would begin gathering evidence with the help of the four founding crew members, who had experience in working with Robinson, and they began looking through decades of records to see what they had missed about him. Unfortunately, they couldn’t talk to Paul, the one who hired him, due to his passing 11 years prior, and they couldn't talk to the one who had taken his place, Jósef Walerian, because he was a friend of Robinson. Much of Paul’s own notes and background details on his hires were with his son Frederick Reagan, so they had to make the trip into Clarence to find him. Fortunately, Frederick did keep the records his father had, including details on Robinson and most other people in the airline’s history. After hours of sifting through all of his records, Andrew Fisher was able to find Steve Robinson’s file and began digging into his past. More hours went by looking through pages thoroughly, making sure they wouldn’t miss a thing, and still it seemed like a dead end.

That dead end would soon end on its own, when after a full all-nighter, Andrew found an inconsistency in the file. While looking through his former employment section, there was a short 3 year gap between two of his jobs, one being at a small, defunct airline based in Oconee called “Oconee Regional Airways” in 1971, and then his job at 5J Airlines in 1974. Before this, he had only several week gaps between jobs, which instantly raised suspicions. After more caffeine-fueled digging, a local Oconee newspaper article from 1971 would pop up. The headlines were normal, and everything seemed ordinary, but right on the bottom of the first page lay the section; “Local Businessman Attempts to Hire Hitman”. The article had been lost and edited out of the final print but was found by Claire when she was looking through old newspapers of Paul’s. They had no clue how he had this paper when in the public records the story was nowhere to be found, but after asking Mark Cohen, he told them that Paul was good friends with someone who worked at the Oconee Daily and would regularly give him the newest newspapers once they were freshly printed. The newspaper Paul was given was a fluke and was given early in the morning before the official prints and publications had been made. This was one of the biggest breakthroughs they had so far in terms of evidence, and it showed that Robinson wasn’t afraid to not only bribe anyone with cold hard cash but knew methods to getting hitmen. The question now was, how did he cover up such a thing, and what were the details behind it?

The article went into some detail on how Steve Robinson was working for Oconee Regional Airways, and because of a demotion after acting out harshly over an innocent employee, he attempted to hire a hitman from the Hampden region of Oconee. The plan failed miserably however, as the so-called “hitman” was actually an ordinary farmer who had his address mistakenly printed on an illegal pamphlet for hitmen. After hearing Robinson’s plan, the farmer reportedly told the local authorities, and Steve would be sentenced to only three years in prison for a first-degree murder charge. The story checked out, but there was still an underlying question. Why was the story not published and instead removed and replaced by an advertisement for a new opening of a local grocery store? This is the question that Jacob and Preston III would ask the older workers at the Oconee Daily, and they would eventually find Paul’s old friend who gave him the newspaper that morning. He told the two that there was a scandal about someone taking a bribe to remove it from the papers, and only a handful were actually printed before the story was removed, which included the one Paul had. After asking for details, Paul’s friend revealed that the bribe was uncovered to be 200 thousand dollars and was given to the writer of the paper that day who would eventually be fired once it came out. This was some of the best information they could’ve gotten before the case and solidified their accusations and suspicions about Robinson. The real struggle now was actually starting the case, as many different scenarios could and would play out no matter what. One of the most obvious downsides would be the Oconian Federal Aviation Bureau would be notified and could be forced to blacklist and temporarily shut down the airline’s operations, which was one of the worst-case scenarios that could take years to eventually fix.

While all of the downsides were considered, it was high time to take Steve Robinson out of his spot of tyranny, so both James and Jacob would go to his office with one of their lawyers to personally notify him of being served in 2009. As predicted, he had a monumental freakout and began cursing the two out, telling them to “get out of his ####ing office in his own damn company”. This clearly wasn’t a good look for him seeing as he was just served with a lawsuit with one of the points against him being his treatment of employees, but nevertheless, he pressed on with his own set of ironclad lawyers. The suit would start in late January of 2009 and would present its own struggles. Robinson clearly had been in troublesome situations before, since his lawyers had practically perfect arguments which had the judge nodding almost always. Evidence from the 5J Airlines coalition was usually dismissed and supposedly debunked, but usually just put off to the side. The case would drag on day after day for many more grueling months, with a few week period of Claire leading the lawsuit instead of Jacob because he caught the flu. It would all fortunately come to a breaking point, when Robinson mistakenly worded a statement wrong about the newspaper article, and his lawyers visibly were staring him down and mouthing words at him. He tried to correct himself but would end up stuttering so bad that he visually and mentally gave up and confessed to what the jury had tried to find him guilty of. The charges being 2 different hitman hiring attempts during his time at 5JA, 3 charges of bribery for positions and getting out of being publicized, and many different smaller cases of mistreatments of staff over his time as CEO and a Staff Manager.

With the case finally ending, Jacob was officially given ownership of 5J Airlines, as Steve would be sent straight to prison for life for all of his crimes. However, while Jacob would be given ownership, it came at a serious cost. As expected, the Federal Oconian Aviation Bureau would officially blacklist 5J Airlines from operating any commercial flights within UIO airspace, along with not being able to land any more aircraft in UIO airports. The airline would face the heavy repercussions not only because of Steve Robinson’s careless ownership, but due to the actual flying side of things, which was described as “overlooked” in the case. Many maintenance checks and required pilot quitting times were simply ignored to keep the airline going, which was credited to Walerian, the Senior Staff Manager of the airline. Robinson's management team also tried to majorly cover up Flight 205, an incident involving an A340-500 flying to Valois that ended in a bird strike on approach with one engine being lost right before safely landing. The blacklist, as harsh as it was, was coming from that side of things, which made it more justifiable despite many feeling it was unfair. Even though the airline had just been dealt one of the worst hands it could’ve possibly received, the brand-new modern-day management was able to spend time looking at the good for the time being, rather than worrying about the hand it had been dealt. After a heartfelt barbeque with the leaders of the 5JA court coalition, the founding crew, and many family and friends, the airline would now go back to square one. Sort of like how the airline started, but instead of being the beginning, it was a new beginning.

The airline was now back to practically square one, with 75% of its fleet now stuck grounded for the remainder of the blacklist, which would be a total of three years until 2013. Jacob Lancer, now CEO of the airline, needed to start work immediately on fixing up the airline with the help of four of his closest friends. The first of which, of course, being his wife Claire. She had great skills in handmade and computer graphic design after working in her parent’s restaurant in Valois, giving her the spot of Senior Marketing Manager. The next would be Preston Friedman III, as his grandfather had taught him all of his expertise on the Senior Route Manager position along with his willingness to join Jacob’s efforts. Next would be Andrew Fisher, a close friend of Jacob and Preston’s and former manager of a small coffee shop in Harden. Andrew would get the Senior Staff Manager position for his experience and his great help with coordination during the court case. The final position of Senior Fleet Manager would be filled by Oliver Jiang, Jacob’s friend since high school who had worked previously at Boeing working on the 787 project as a flight engineer. With this new team of five, given the name the “Modern-Day Management Crew’, they would begin to reconstruct 5J Airlines from the ground up, similarly to how James and the Founding Crew did 70 years prior. Just like the Founding Crew did, the new management would need to work around many different shortcomings and things to get 5JA back in the air before the blacklist was supposed to end.

Before the crew would be split between their four respective fields according to their positions, one thing needed to be solved; 5JA Maredith. Because the blacklist only applied in the United Isles, the Maredithian subsidiary was completely untouched by the blacklist demands. While 5JA could technically still operate, only the smaller 16 plane fleet would be at their disposal for the time being. Surprisingly, there was heavy debate on whether or not they should actually continue. Preston and Oliver wanted to keep operations up as it would be an opportunity to still gain desperately needed revenue, while Jacob and Claire wanted to keep 5JAM dormant until they could get the airline as a whole back in line, as operating a technically blacklisted airline would definitely give a bad look. After about a week of bickering between the four, the choice was made to still operate in limited service within Maredith only, with the remaining 6 757s, 5 777s, and 5 CRJ-200s. Most would still be in their Crimson Collide liveries, besides three unfortunate 777s that wore the tainted Millenia’s Beginning design. While it was met with some Oconian criticism, the Maredith Aviation Administration allowed them to continue flying as it was now under new management.

With some now limited operations, the five could finally start working on getting the airline’s act together in their respective areas. The first of the five, Oliver Jiang, had to make choices on what the fleet would look like going into the future. While they had been nice, the A340-500s had to get the boot and were sold to an Udyanapurian airline by 2011, leaving 5JA with more room for newer 777-300s and possible 787s in the long-range department. Next, Preston Friedman had to work on keeping the routes 5JA had in line and still in service, which was slightly difficult for an airline that was blacklisted in the neighboring nation. While his work was one of the more straightforward of the five, keeping the routes in line still proved to be a challenge at times with the competitive nature of Maredithian airlines. Claire Lancer, along with the returning Francis Bernardone, both worked to create new Maredithian-directed marketing campaigns along with leaving some ideas for the future. Claire would take a small pause in 2011 with Jacob taking over for her during her maternity leave after their twins were born, but she would return after 12 weeks to continue working with Francis. With all these departments getting overhauls, Andrew Fisher, the new Senior Staff Manager, had to hire the many new employees for the many different sectors while also laying off many of those who had been bribed and had helped Steve Robinson during his time as CEO. After looking through all of Paul Reagan’s old files during the court case, he now knew some of Paul’s greatest tactics as well as learning what not to do because of Paul’s shortcomings.

While the four members of the crew worked in their respective areas, Jacob was split between all of the sections of the airline. While still doing all of the CEO duties with aid from his grandfather, he still was helping the others in their own respective departments, and overseeing them to make sure they were doing well. Following Andrew’s footsteps from the court case, Jacob ran off of caffeine and prayers trying to manage trying to bring the company back from the FOAB blacklist while still raising his two newborns. It was indeed a struggle, but out of sheer determination and amazingly strong espressos from a coffee shop on Eastwood Island, he knew he had to push on. Once 2011 hit, the FOAB ordered a meeting with the 5JA major staff and had an evaluation on how the airline was moving forward so far. They were impressed with how much the company had turned around, and said that if they kept up the pace, the blacklist could end as soon as 2012 instead of 2013. With that, the crew began working even harder than before because of the goalpost being moved closer. With much of the urgent business taken care of, two major steps had to be made concerning the airline, being the livery issue and the fleet issue. The livery issue, of course, was fully moving on from the Millenia’s Beginning design and creating a new livery for the airline, and to do so Jacob would bring some of Oconia and Maredith’s best artists and designers to help create the new livery.

The fleet issue was next on the chopping block, and would prove much tougher than the livery issue. A bulk of the UIO-registered fleet had been moved to Clarence and Norman following the blacklist to make space for still operating airlines, which had stayed relatively in the same state as when they were left. They were given the mandatory maintenance checks needed while being tarped and preserved, which left the remaining 40ish aircraft simply sitting, waiting to fly again. The choice was in Jacob and Oliver’s hands, to either sell off most of the aircraft and start anew, or keep what they had and figure all that jazz out later. The aircraft that were stored were 752s, some 733s, and CRJ-200s. The airline’s 777s were fortunately spared during this due to their operations in Maredith, which led to the A345s getting sold off leaving more room for newer widebodies. After many weeks of consideration, the fleet would remain the same until after the blacklist was over, so they could effectively see what needed to stay and get replaced going into the modern day. For now though, the focus was largely showing the FOAB that 5JA was ready to continue operations in Oconia. With 2012 going by and progress continuing with changes for the better, it was clear that the blacklist had a genuinely good shot at getting removed within the year.

In mid-2012, the FOAB called for another meeting with the staff and congratulated them on the amazing turn-around they managed to pull off. It was officially said then, on July 9th, 2012, 5J Airlines would be unblacklisted. After a short celebration where some tears had been shed, the FOAB would then give 5JA staff the basic info that they needed to know going forward, including what they were now capable of doing and what they needed to make sure they knew. The airline was given full operational capacity once again with the United Isles, and they could now go back to their main city and leave San Ezequiel to return to its former status as a side-hub for 5JAM. Their aircraft would be returned to service after required checkups and maintenance was done. This left Jacob and Oliver officially out of time on their choice for the “figure all that jazz out later” option, and they finally would make their decisions on the fleet. The 733s had run their course after being delivered in 1987, and a replacement needed to be found for their long-haul regional option. The 737-700 was chosen as the best fit, and orders for 15 were placed with a 10/5 split between Oconian and Maredithian operations. The CRJ-200 was next on the chopping block, and the logical choice was to choose the more modern CRJ-700, which would replace all the operating CRJ-200s. The 757-200 was out of the question for replacements, as not only was it iconic for the airline, it was also incredibly loved by pilots and was efficient in what it needed to do.

With the skipping of the 757s, the next was the 777-200s. They had only been ordered 8 years prior in 2004 and had proven themselves useful, so instead of full replacements they were kept serving Maredithian long-haul routes within the nation and into Novacadia. The question of a new international long-haul airliner out of Lynwood did persist, however, since the selling of the A345s, two new options arose. The 787 project that Oliver had worked on before joining the airline effort had been completed during his absence and the first variant, the 787-8, had started deliveries in late 2011. The other option was to not have any widebody airliners at all, due to the odd size of Lynwood’s airport only really allowing the 787 to serve the airport. The choice for the 787-8 made the most sense considering its long-range capabilities and other perks it offered. It was small enough to serve Lynwood and San Ezequiel, along with having a high passenger capacity of over 300 passengers in some configurations. The choice was made, and a new order for 7 of the aircraft was placed and set to deliver by early 2014 as they were busy with other orders at the time. A slight issue occurred however, as the brand new livery; codenamed “The New Red”, had a set year of release for 2015, as they wanted to make a big deal over the 55 years of 5JA with the brand new livery. A choice was made that the newly ordered aircraft would be the last to ever receive the Crimson Collide livery, and they would simply be repainted when the livery released. This officially made Crimson Collide last a whopping 42 years, from 1973 until 2015.

Once all of the newest aircraft arrived in 2013 and 2014; the CRJ-700s, the 737-700s, and the 787-8s, 5J Airlines was once again ready to reclaim its past glory. All of the new aircraft would be painted in what was called “Crimson Collide’s Farewell”, with a celebratory sticker and other unique design additions. With the release of the new livery right around the corner, Jacob, Preston, and Claire would all go on a worldwide trip in a G650 making new deals for the airline’s older routes that needed to be renewed because of the blacklist. All of the Avalonian and Aesirian routes had been restored and served by 2015, and the regained Kyokan routes would be set to start in 2016. As 2015 arrived, the day would soon come. On May 5th, 2015, 5JA’s brand new livery was officially unveiled. It was named “A New Red”, and was met with positive press and opinions from critics and aviation enthusiasts alike. The very first aircraft in the livery, a 757-200 registered LYD755, was given a grand debut flight serving the old Lynwood to Corbaun route, piloted by Jacob Lancer himself. After the ANR celebration shenanigans, business would return to normal now with the modernized fleet and boosted economy. Over the next couple of years, the airline would grow steadily in income but stay the same in fleet as it had already reached a large amount.

An emphasis on special liveries also arose with the ANR era, with Claire stating that it was “a way to catch people’s eyes outside of normal marketing”. Most of the airline executives approved of this thinking, especially Jacob, as he always had an eye for unique and fun liveries. Some of the first ideas set were the “Lynwood One” and “Argenta One” liveries, making the entire Lynwood and Argenta flags the fuselage to represent where the airline was based. Four aircraft would get the two liveries in 2016, being LYD795, LYD889, OB7725, and OB3311. The reaction to the livery was very positive, as people enjoyed seeing the flags flying to the airports they represented. A second alternate version to this livery was also suggested, being the Oconia and Maredith One liveries, which had the same concept but would be the UIO and Maredith nation flags. These two would release in 2018 to celebrate the anniversary of the Oconian-Maredithian alliance and would come to get great reception once again but on a national level. With the popularity of the new liveries, new ideas had been thrown around and considered including bringing back some of the older mainline liveries that had been retired. While this idea was being floated around, Jacob would bring it up with his grandfather James and then would come the discovery and marketing stunt of a lifetime. 

As 2019 came, Jacob would visit his grandfather in January to discuss some of the plans he had for the airline. Even in his retirement, James was always willing to help Jacob with the running of the family business, and his feedback proved invaluable to the airline’s running. During this visit however, a conversation came that would shock the entire airline.

“Jacob, there's something I’ve kept a secret from everyone, even your grandmother, for over 30 years. It's something about the company.”

“Well..what is it?”

“This something is very important, to me at least, and has to do with the Coronados.”

“What about em? I know they were your favorite jets, but they were all sold by 85.”

James hesitated and thought for a moment, and then told Jacob the secret:

“Well, I may have managed to keep our very first one instead of selling it. I still own it to this very day.”

“Anywho, could you get me a creamer for my coffee bud?”

Jacob was stunned. He hadn’t even seen a flying 990 because they were retired by the time he was born. He pressed on and asked his grandfather very calmly after getting the creamer:

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?? YOU KEPT AN ENTIRE AIRLINER IN SECRET FOR 30 YEARS??? HOW DID YOU EVEN MANAGE THAT???”

“Yeah, I asked a buddy of mine to lend an old hangar in the Argenta desert for me to keep the jet in. Wasn't a big deal really, I’ve visited the jet and checked on it since about ‘92. How no one found out shocks me to this day. Not even Mark was suspicious about me “handling the selling of the 990s”. Ha, he really didn’t think that one through.”

After gaining his composure, Jacob had then just realized what his grandfather told him. Turns out, during the selling of the Coronados, James managed to “purchase” LYD995 from himself and asked one of his friends to use a hangar in an airport in the middle of the Argenta desert to keep it there as a secret. Why James did this in the first place, Jacob didn’t try to find out, but his mind instead floated to another possibility. He would ask his grandfather if the airline could own it once again, so they could possibly get it flying once again. James was stunned and began laughing, saying that it was the “craziest idea since operating the A340 out of Lynwood”, and that they would need a miracle to pull it off. Jacob was serious however and actually offered to get it running again for a sort of publicity stunt and memorial for the jet. After getting his grandfather onboard due to his nature of liking bold projects and marketing strategies, he then went to tell the rest of his crew to get their opinions. He first told Claire over family dinner that night, and she thought it would be interesting but a difficult feat to accomplish. The next day at work, he went to tell Preston and Andrew who both thought it would be neat, with Preston going as far as saying he could try and arrange it to fly on the very routes from when it entered service. After that though, he had to tell Oliver, which would be a major challenge. 

Once he got the news, Oliver flat out refused, saying managing such an old aircraft would be ridiculous, and would make maintenance much more annoying for the people he had to manage and hear the complaints from. Jacob argued on how much it really meant to him and his family, and asked Oliver to “stop being a buzzkill and help a brother out”. After that one comment, Oliver sighed in frustrated defeat, and agreed to help the project. For starters, it obviously wasn’t going to be easy getting a 57-year-old jet flying, but it was decided a good sum of funds would be taken and put into partnering with preservationist engineers to start getting ol’ LYD995 flying again. The Oconian Aviation Preservation Society and the Maredithian Historic Aviation Society offered their best aircraft restoration experts to help with the effort, and work began in late January of 2019. With so many people working on the project and how well James had kept it maintained in secret, it was expected to be finished by 2021, and many would spend every day working on it tirelessly including Jacob. During that period of time, not much would really happen for 5JA, besides the ordering of 5 new Alavegan Embraer E190s for regional travel to see how it would compare to the currently operating CRJ-700s.

The possibilities of supersonic travel for the first time in many decades also appeared in the form of the Boom Overture. Orders were allowed for this brand-new jet that could fly up to Mach 1.7, and Jacob asked the Fleet Division for their opinions on it. They concluded that it could be fairly useful for the cross-Maredith flights served by the 777-200s and longer ranged flights out of Lynwood, as it would cut down flight times by double triple the amount, making it more efficient for their operations. Options for up to 10 of the jet were placed and would be relooked in the following years, but when would be a mystery due to how long development of the Overture had been taking. With all the buzz about fast aircraft, 2021 was soon approaching and had many in the airline wondering when LYD995’s restoration would come about. To everyone’s surprise, in late 2020 it was announced that the aircraft would be ready for flight by January 2021 and would return to the skies on 5JA’s 71st Anniversary. While an odd year to celebrate, it was when the jet was done, so no one complained and they were of course excited. Once the day of the flight finally came, LYD995 looked like a true flying beauty. It was painted in the original Red Lightning livery it started life as and even had a small crown near the cockpit windows with text under it reading “El Avion Coronado”; “The Crowned Plane”. Lynwood’s runway 27 was packed with planespotters waiting to see the aircraft take off, and many got amazing photos of it once it did. 

LYD995 flew on a three-stop journey from Lynwood to San Ezequiel, San Ezequiel to Kitesboro, and back home to Lynwood which took two total days for all the flights. On board these flights were the Modern-Day Management crew, James Lancer, Preston Friedman I, and Francis Bernardone, all celebrating the return of the old jet. Once LYD995 returned to Lynwood after the trip, it was put in an aviation museum owned by the OAPS in Norman where you could walk into and see inside of it and would regularly make yearly trips out of preservation to fly on the anniversary of 5JA. With the modern day flying smoothly, not a lot would happen for the rest of the year of 2021, as the only new aircraft arriving were the 5 new E190s for regional service. However, tragedy would strike in 2022, when James Lancer would pass away peacefully at the age of 92.

The news hit the airline like a freight train, and the Lancer Family especially was shaken. Jacob’s family couldn’t believe the loss of James, and Jacob proved to be in a particularly bad stage of grief for quite some time after. Claire jointly took charge of CEO duties with Preston as they wanted to give Jacob time to grieve, and a service was planned for James later in the year. During the service, many of 5JA’s staff attended in honor of the founder, with Preston I and Francis both attending. The service would see James’s family and friends speak of their best memories of him, with the end being marked by an aircraft flying over with red aerobatic smoke. In honor of James and the entirety of the Founding Crew, 5 of the airlines’ 757-200s would get stickers commemorating one of the five founding members, with LYD575 getting James’s sticker. Into the mid-2020s, business stayed afloat, and plans were made to replace the airline’s aging 737-700 fleet with the modern replacement 737 MAX 7s with delivery starting in 2023 and expected to be fully delivered by 2027. Suggestions had also been made to replace the airline’s iconic 757-200s, but because of their versatility and viability throughout the airline’s history, this was declined and would only realistically be put through if Boeing “had the guts to make a 757 MAX or something just as good” as Jacob put it. As such, the airline continued on into the modern day, rolling into 2025 as good as ever with many ideas for the future. What would come of those ideas however, we do not yet know. 

As of the present day, 5J Airlines still operates from its hubs in Lynwood JAFB and Kitesboro International in the United Isles, and San Ezequiel International in Maredith via their subsidiary in the nation. The airline operates a 63-aircraft fleet across the three hubs consisting of its iconic 757-200s, long-haul international 777-200s and 787-8s, short-haul 737-700 and MAX 7s, regional E190s and CRJ-700s, along with the historic Convair 990A “LYD995” and three 5J Airlines Executive private jets for official airline business travels. The CEO, Jacob Lancer, has kept the airline going with the help of the Modern-Day Management crew, along with the dedication to his family’s business started by his grandfather. With the fiery spirit of all its employees, 5J Airlines has a bright future ahead. Throughout its history, the beginning, the expansions, the downfall and lawsuit of the new millennium, and the rebound and rise once again afterwards, it has proven to be a resilient company held together by the teamwork of everyone involved. As Jacob put it in an interview in 2024: “I think the airline will have no problem going through the future. If there are any rough patches we hit along the way, I have zero doubt in my mind that we can overcome it. If the time from 2008 till 2012 didn’t show that, I’m not sure what could.” For now, the airline continues to fly under its iconic slogan:

Fly Right, Fly 5J

A gallery of all the 5J Airlines lore media, including images of scenes mentioned in lore, historic and important photos, and old advertisements.

With the new lore, some of these are now outdated. Updated versions of the outdated images will release soon.

With the lore starting in 2024 and being helped by so many and taking so much time, I personally wanted to add a section for all of the amazing help I have been given by the 5JA and Aeronautica Lore communities. I will forever be grateful!

A huge thanks to all 5JA pilots and members who suggested and told me about their ideas for the lore
A special thanks to @agentcodec for helping with feedback and guidance on the lore during the writing process
A special thanks to @jacobteg for helping with lore image development & addition of Soluna Tepui characters in lore
A big thank you to all that reads or has read the lore, I appreciate you reading this monumental story!