Air America poster

Air America

The few. The proud. The totally insane.

5.8(687)19901h 52m5

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.

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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

Produced in

United States of America

Where to watch

All options

Availability for India. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.

Gallery

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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
  • C

    CinemaSerf

    11/14/2022

    6/10

    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…

  • G

    GenerationofSwine

    1/12/2023

    10/10

    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…

  • J

    JPV852

    8/11/2025

    6/10

    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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