

Air America
The few. The proud. The totally insane.
Air America was the CIA's private airline operating in Laos during the Vietnam War, running anything and everything from soldiers to foodstuffs for local villagers. After losing his pilot's license, Billy Covington is recruited, and ends up in the middle of a bunch of lunatic pilots, gun-running by his friend Gene Ryack, and opium smuggling by his own superiors.
TMDB
5.8/10
689 votes
IMDb
Not rated yet
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $35M
- Box office
- $57.7M
- Language
- English
- vietnam war
- central intelligence agency (cia)
- airplane
- drug smuggling
- refugee camp
- pilot
- laos
- drugs
- 1960s
Top billed cast
















Behind the camera
Director
Writers
Music
Produced in
United States of America
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for India. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
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Videos
Release dates
United StatesUS
- TheatricalR10 Aug 1990
United KingdomGB
- Theatrical154 Jan 1991
- Physical154K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/DVD7 Oct 2024
AustraliaAU
- TheatricalM26 Sept 1990
BrazilBR
- Theatrical124 Oct 1990
DenmarkDK
- Theatrical1112 Jul 1991
FranceFR
- TheatricalTP14 Nov 1990
- PhysicalDVD28 Feb 2001
- Digital / OTTVOD1 Jan 2016
GermanyDE
- Theatrical129 Jan 1991
GreeceGR
- Theatrical1515 Dec 1990
ItalyIT
- TheatricalT9 Jan 1991
NorwayNO
- Theatrical152 Oct 1990
South KoreaKR
- Theatrical185 Dec 1992
XCXC
- Theatrical2 Apr 1992
Frequently asked questions
Air America was released on 10 August 1990.
Audience reviews
4- C6/10
CinemaSerf
11/14/2022
When "Billy" (Robert Downey Jr.) loses his pilot's licence after a lively misdemeanour, he finds himself working in war-torn Laos with the team at "Air America". This is a CIA-backed operation consisting of a disparate bunch of pilots whose job it is to fly in supplies to local villages. It's there that he meets "Gene" (Mel Gibson) and also where he realises that not only is it pretty dangerous out there, but that hi…
- G10/10
GenerationofSwine
1/12/2023
I have a special love for this film, if for no other reason that the bulk of my college experience was spent on the cold war, the alphabet soup of PBSUCCESS, MKULTRA, JMWAVE, PAPERCLIP, COLDFEET, MKOFTEN, The Phoenix Program, ARTICHOKE, and my favorite (just because of how bad it sounds) Midnight Climax. So a comedy about Air America was absolutely priceless. And, given that I am not one of those history nuts that…
- J6/10
JPV852
8/11/2025
Entertaining enough action-war movie thanks to the charisma of both Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. The film also has some solid action scenes and direction, to go along with Roger Deakins's cinematography. From what I read about this, doesn't seem like many had fun making the movie, including Deakins and Downey. Still, I found it enjoyable even if Gibson's character shift didn't felt surface level. **3.0/5**
- K
kevin2019
9/5/2026
"Air America" is an expertly crafted film with cohesion being the top priority throughout. It perfectly balances some unassuming action sequences with the more realistic aspects of the film to create a fast paced and fascinating motion picture experience which successfully holds your interest principally because it is based upon a true story and like many such stories - especially if it is interested in being honest …
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