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Aero Contractors (United States)

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Government Transportation Contractor
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Aero Contractors Ltd.
Commenced operations
1979; 47 years ago (1979)
Ceased operations
April 1983;
43 years ago (1983-04)
Operating bases
Johnston Regional Airport
Fleet size26 planes
HeadquartersSmithfield, North Carolina, U.S.
FounderJim Rhyne

Aero Contractors Ltd., was a CIA front airline noted for operating CIA extraordinary rendition flights.[1][2][3][4][5]

A European Parliament report in 2006 stated:

According to FAA records, Aero Contractors leases its planes from Premier Executive Transport (shell company) [...]. Aero Contractors has no web site and does not advertise its activities. All the resources come from the CIA, from the US Army and other Government agencies. However, Aero Contractors remains a real company [i.e. not a shell company], with premises and eighty employees.[5]

Extraordinary Rendition Flights

Multiple European and American investigations have named Aero Contractors (and connected shell companies) as part of a network of CIA planes, airlines, and flights that transported prisoners repeatedly to countries known for torture and imprisonment without trial.[5][6][4][7][1][8][9][10][11] The European Parliament report led to a resolution that condemned extraordinary rendition and stated the CIA was responsible for "illegal seizure, removal, abduction, and detention of terrorist suspects" in Europe specifically and in violation of international law and fundamental human rights.[12]

On May 31, 2005, The New York Times reported that the company was heavily involved in extraordinary rendition, the transport of terrorism suspects to countries where they can be interrogated to extract information. An Aero Contractors plane was used (registration N313P[7]) in the transport of Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who was pulled from a bus on the Serbia-Macedonia border and held for three weeks. He was drugged and beaten before being flown to Afghanistan on a Boeing Business Jet operated by Aero Contractors. El-Masri was released after five months.[13]

A book published in September 2006, Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA Rendition Flights[14] includes many details about Aero Contractors' involvement in extraordinary rendition.

Front and Shell Company Connections

A European Parliament reported stated that Aero Contractors was the operating company of several shell companies, including Stevens Express Leasing, Inc., Premier Executive Transport Services, Aviation Specialties, Inc., Aero LLC (Wyoming)[citation needed] and Devon Holding and Leasing, Inc.[5], and was part of a network of US companies, including Pegasus Technologies and Tepper Aviation, who operated airplanes for the CIA[3].

Origin and Growth

The company was founded in 1979 was based in Smithfield, North Carolina by Jim Rhyne, a former pilot with the CIA front Air America. The company had 26 planes and 79 employees and operated from the tiny Johnston Regional Airport.[15] During the CIA's extraordinary rendition operations from 2001 to 2004, Aero's staff grew from 48 to 79.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Siems, Larry (2018-01-17). "CIA rendition flights from rustic North Carolina called to account by citizens". The Guardian.
  2. ^ a b "C.I.A Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights". Der Spiegel. 2005-05-31.
  3. ^ a b Fitzgibbon, Will; Richter, Nicolas. "Operation Goldfinger". Panama Papers - The secrets of Dirty Money. Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Archived from the original on 2026-02-13.
  4. ^ a b Weissman, Deborah (2019-06-01). Report on Reparations for Victims of Extraordinary Rendition and Torture. Carolina Law Scholarship Repository (Report). University of North Carolina School of Law.
  5. ^ a b c d Fava, Giovanni Claudio (2006-01-06). WORKING DOCUMENT No 4 on the flights operated by the CIA in Europe (PDF). Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (Report). European Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-04-04.
  6. ^ Manning, Maurice (2006-05-24). Response to Minister for Foreign Affairs in relation to the transfer of persons to locations where they may be subjected to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment (PDF) (Report). IHRC.
  7. ^ a b Mascolo, Georg; Schlamp, Hans-Jürgen; Stark, Holger (2005-11-28). "CIA Flights in Europe: The Hunt for Hercules N8183J". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 2022-01-16.
  8. ^ Spiller, Sarah (2018-11-30). "The morality of torture - A toxic legacy. An investigation into the covert CIA programme of torture". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 2022-01-26.
  9. ^ The North Carolina Connection To Extraordinary Rendition and Torture (PDF) (Report). University of North Carolina School of Law. January 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-01-31.
  10. ^ Dr. Ruth Blakely; Crofton Black; Dr. Sam Raphael; The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (July 2019). CIA Torture Unredacted - An Investigation into the CIA Torture Program (Report). The Rendition Project.
  11. ^ Uncredited. "Aero Flew Them". North Carolina Stop Torture Now.
  12. ^ Legislative Observatory (2006-06-07). Alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners. Interim report (Report). European Parliament. Archived from the original on 2026-07-22.
  13. ^ C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights
  14. ^ Trevor Paglen and AC Thompson, Publisher: Melville House (October 1, 2006), English, ISBN 1-933633-09-3 and ISBN 978-1-933633-09-1
  15. ^ European Parliament Working Document No 4 on the flights operated by the CIA in Europe
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