World Atlantic Airways is a Miami-based charter airline that has served as an ICE deportation flight operator since 2013, primarily in an overflow capacity. The airline operates as a subcontractor to CSI Aviation, the primary ICE Air managing contractor.

Role in ICE Air

• World Atlantic has served as the “overflow” carrier – handling flight requests when the primary operator (formerly iAero/Swift Air, now GlobalX) could not take a specific mission
• Since iAero Airways filed for bankruptcy in 2023, World Atlantic has provided an increased number of flights
• World Atlantic also flies NCAA and sports charters, making it a target for the same “De-ICE” activist campaigns as GlobalX

Historical Context

For years, the ICE Air fleet was dominated by two carriers: iAero Airways (formerly Swift Air) and World Atlantic. When iAero collapsed, the market split between GlobalX (which took the lion’s share) and World Atlantic (which continued overflow operations).

Classic Air Charter’s managing contract (the predecessor to CSI’s current arrangement) ran from 2017 to 2023 and was worth $880 million. World Atlantic was one of the subcontracted airlines under that arrangement.

Sources

• OpenSecrets: Which air carriers are positioned to benefit from increased deportations? (May 2025)
• Simple Flying: A closer look at ICE Air Operations
• Center for Human Rights, U. of Washington: Hidden in Plain Sight: ICE Air and the Machinery of Mass Deportation
• Capital & Main: Sports Teams Fly on Same Private Jets Hired to Deport Immigrants