Nike, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment.

The company was founded on January 25, 1964, as "Blue Ribbon Sports", by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. The company takes its name from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just Do It" and the Swoosh logo.

‘’Just Do It’’ also applies to the corporate aircraft fleet and hangars operated by Nike. At a corner of Hillsboro Airport (HIO), which is close to Beaverton, Nike constructed the Air Hangar 1 and Ochoco Private Hangar, and inside of them, Nike’s own Gulfstream air force. Built in 2002, Nike’s 40,000 square feet corporate hangar is named Air Hangar 1 (a reference to their iconic Air Force 1 shoe). The facility is capable of sheltering three full-size business jets. Next to the Air Hangar 1 a new structure rose adjacent to Air Hangar 1 in 2014 for the private use of Nike’s billionaire co-founder, Phil Knight. Officially named Ochoco Private Hangar and occupying nearly 30,000 square feet, Knight’s personal hangar is large enough to house two private jets.

See also my 2016 USA trip report for pictures of my visit to Portland-Hillsboro and the Nike hangars.

Six different aircraft registration numbers are associated with the company. N1KE, N19HT, N1972N, N3546, N6453 and N6458 (currently not assigned).

N1KE – N1KE of course translates as NIKE!

N19HT – N19HT can be pronounced as NIGHT (Phil Knight)

N1972N – In 1972 the Nike brand shoe was launched.

N6453 - The numbers 6453 spell “NIKE” on a touchtone telephone keypad and are the last four digits of the company’s corporate headquarters main number.

N3546 - is 6453 backwards, which also bears significance in Nike’s history. The numbers 3546 spell EKIN on a touchtone telephone keypad, which is an homage to Nike’s EKIN team. In Nike lore, an EKIN is an employee (who often sport backwards Swoosh tattoos on their ankles) tasked with traveling to retail accounts to train salespeople on new product releases. Because they must know their product backwards and forwards, the EKIN name is most appropriate.

Currently, but also in the past, Gulfstream aircraft are the main choice when it comes to business aircraft Nike operates. In most cases they are painted in striking color schemes. 

Gulfstream III, 349, was the start of the Gulfstream adventure for NIKE. In October 1990 the aircraft was delivered and stayed in service until the beginning of 1999. Already the well-known registrations N1KE, N6453 and N6458 were used but also in the beginning very shortly serial N89AB. For almost 2 years N6453 was registered to Aero Air, a name based on the Nike Air Aero basketball shoes brand.

The history: N89AB, Nike Inc., 10-1990 / N1KE, Nike Inc., 01-1991 / N6453, Nike Inc., 18-12-1995 / N6453, Aero Air, 07-02-1997 / N6458, Nike Inc., 12-01-1999.

Nowadays this GIII is out of service and located as 349 (N911HJ) at Norm Hill Aviation, California City (CA) for parting out. It arrived there on its last flight November 10, 2015.  

On the 11th September 1995 Gulfstream IV N173LP was delivered to Philip H. Knight and registered on the same day to Hum Air LLC. In April 1996 the N1KE registration was applied. Other registration carried during it's service for Nike are N6453 and N6458. In May 2004 the aircraft was sold to Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas (NV). Currently it flies around with registration N76EJ since 2010.

This Gulfstream V with test registration of N647GA became part of the Nike fleet in February 2000 as N1KE. In April 2012 the registration was changed in N6453 and in December 2014 to N6458. Mid 2021 it left the fleet again and is now active elsewhere. Also, this aircraft had a very specific and recognizable color scheme and was one of the highlights during the 2012 WEF. 

C/n 672 (a former Transworld Oil aircraft (VP-BJD) was delivered to Nike in November 2005 as N225GV. In January 2006 it was registered N3546 and wore this registration until it left the fleet in October 2016. Currently 672 is active with NASA as N95NA.

C/n 5121 was registered to Nike Inc. 22 July 2013 as N550PR from test registration N921GA. This was changed to N1972N in September of the same year and N671BR after that. Currently the G550 is no longer in the possession of Nike but relocated to Brazil as PS-CAT and flying for JHSF Par Ltda. (a large real estate company) and still with some small Nike c/s details in the tail and on the winglets. 

This former Nissan Motor Co. aircraft (N155AN) entered the Nike fleet in January 2017 as N421GD. Two months later it was re-registered as N3546 and it has a beautiful blue and black color scheme. 

The aircraft, registered N1KE in June 2013, is painted to match the University of Oregon’s, Oregon Ducks college team football helmets. The feathered livery mimics Nike’s “Liquid Metal Hydro Chrome” finish and pattern seen on the Ducks’ oft-changing uniforms, extending over the port-side engine nacelle, the entire tail and underside of the wings. The test-registration was N624GA (2011).

Gulfstream G650, 6078, is still in service and flying for Nike since November 2014 as N6453.

The orange color used throughout the exterior of the N1972N mimics the color on Nike’s shoe boxes. Also, the Air Max shoe can be recognized in the tail. The underside of the wings shows some street wear drawings. The aircraft was delivered in December 2019 (test registration N604GA). 

On the 25th of October 2022 Gulfstream G650 N694GS (c/n: 6494) was delivered to NIKE Inc. This is the same registration as was initially used by Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. The used color scheme is basic with a NIKE logo on the tail.

N19HT was delivered to Portland-Hillsboro Airport in Oregon on May 14, 2021 from Savannah (GA). This G500 is the new personal aircraft for Phil Knight. Before delivery the aircraft was registered N571GD with Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. 

Sources: Planelogger.com; Jalopnik.com