Republic Airlines (Southern Airways) McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 N89S

Southern Airways was a "local service air carrier" mainly serving the southeastern United States from its base at William B. Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. By the start of the 1970s, Southern had transitioned to an all-DC-9 fleet of varying series (though the airline later acquired a few Metroliners for shorter hops) ––fourteen -14s, eight -15s (plus one -15F), nine -31s, and one -32F. The carrier was popular amongst business travelers as Southern regularly scheduled their flights with anywhere from 5 to 12 intermediate stops, hopping city-to-city each afternoon like a commuter train.

The end of the 70s hit Southern Airways hard. In addition to the rising price of jet fuel and the improving highway infrastructure throughout the southern US, the airline experienced a high-profile fatal crash of one of its DC-9s on April 4, 1977 (this in the wake of an earlier crash which killed the entire Marshall University football team). In 1979, Southern Airways merged with North Central Airlines to create Republic Airlines––the new airline initially flying aircraft wearing its heritage base colors with "Republic" crudely plastered onto the fuselage.

N89S, a DC-9-31, was one of these airframes. The aircraft flew for Republic until that airline was bought out by Northwest Airlines in 1986, the latter of whom retained the DC-9 until 2006 when it was retired.