The History of Moore International Airlines

The history of Moore International Airlines began with a man named Clarence Moore. Moore was born on August 5th 1923, and served in World War II as a Navy pilot. He was based onboard the USS Belleau Wood with the VF-31 squadron. He was credited with the last aerial victory of the war. After the war, he worked as a regional manager for C&P Telephone Company.

Moore and Charles Raines became friends while in the same squadron and kept in contact after they returned to civilian life. Raines contacted Moore in 1974 about starting his own airline and offered him an executive role at the company. Doubting success in the industry, he respectfully declined. However, after seeing Raines' airline flourish, he decided to start his own airline based on the East Coast.

With funding from Raines International, Moore International Airlines started operations in 1981 with 3 Douglas DC-8-63s. The airline was headquartered in Miami with a branch office in Baltimore for Moore to work in. This branch office would later be moved to Owing Mills in 1990. Moore International's initial routes included domestic and South American flights.

The airline would expand in 1983 with 3 new DC-8-73s and all new routes to the Caribbean. The company won a contract from the US government to transport cargo to US military bases, which included the infamous Guantánamo Bay. In 1987, the airline expanded into Europe with an inaugural flight to Shannon, Ireland.

In 1988, Clarence Moore retired at the age of 66 and passed the role of CEO over to his son-in-law, Robert Rittler. In 1997, the company took up delivery of its first Boeing 767-200 converted freighter. These would replace the DC-8s which would be fully retired by the middle of 2004. The first 767-300 freighter was delivered in 2001. In 2005, Robert Rittler, now 61 years old, passed the role of CEO to his son, Andrew Rittler. By 2010, Moore International had a fleet of 3 Boeing 767-200Fs and 4 Boeing 767-300Fs, and the Rittler family owned 51% of the company.

After dwindling profits post-2008, the company began searching for a potential buyer for the airline. Negotiations with Hudson Airlines, which involved Moore International's rebrand to Hudson Air Cargo, fell through in 2015. On April 7th, 2016, the airline was acquired by Raines Air Systems. They would merge Moore International into Raines Air. On February 28th, 2017, the airline closed its doors after 36 years in operation. The offices at Miami became the regional operations unit for Raines' Florida hub and the offices in Maryland were sold. Andrew Rittler became an Executive Vice President at Raines Air Systems and worked for them until 2021, when he moved to another executive role at Maddux Airlines.

Though it didn't have the grandest history, Moore International proved to be a real workhorse in the cargo industry. For former employees, the memory of the airline still lives on.