SGA AIRLINES, LTD.: India (1998). This airline is originally established as UP Airways, Ltd. by NCM (Singapore) and the state government of Uttar Prades in late 1994 for the express purpose of helping the latter develop the tourist potential of the Lucknow area, particularly in relation to Buddist traffic. CEO Capt. V. P. S. Sindu’s airline is renamed in 1998 and shareholding is now divided between Delhi-based Roopali Industries and the Uttar Prades government.
Employing 2 Fokker F.27-500s first acquired in 1995, pilgrim flights are continued to the cities of Agra, Bhopal, Delhi, Jamnagar, Kanpur, Khajuraho, Lucknow, Patna, and the Bihar Buddhist centers. Additionally, daily scheduled roundtrips are offered between Delhi and Jaipur.
Faced with mounting debts and unpaid bills, the carrier, even with a new name, does not complete the year.
SHABAIR, S. A.: Aeroport de la Luano, BP 1060, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Phone 243 (22) 5686; Fax 243 (22) 4597; Code SS; Year Founded 1989. Organized at Lubumbashi, Zaire, in 1989, Shabair undertakes regularly scheduled and charter passenger and cargo flights to domestic and international destinations. The inaugural fleet includes 1 leased British Aerospace BAe (BAC) 1-11-401AK and 2 owned BAe (HS) 748-B2s.
Operations continue apace in 1990-1991; however, the fleet is dramatically increased in 1992. Added are one leased BAe (BAC) 1-11-201AC, one B-707-323C, and one B-727-23F.
In 1993, Managing Director Capt. Stavros Papaioannou’s 400-employee company possesses a fleet comprising 1 each Boeing 707-323C, B-727-100, B-727-23F, British Aerospace BAe 1-11-201AC, BAe 1-11-401AK, and Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2 Islander. In August, a Douglas DC-10-10, once operated by Western Airlines, joins the fleet.
DC-10-10 cargo flights to Western Europe commence in the spring of 1994. Destinations served include Ostend, Belgium.
The leased fleet in 1995-1998 includes 1 BAC 1-11-401AK and 1 Lockheed C-130A Hercules. Owned units include 2 BAe (HS) 748-B2s and 1 each B-707-323C, B-727-22, and B-727-23F. The latter is chartered to Angola Air Charter.
Service continues during 1998 and into 1999, despite the civil war that will see Zaire renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
SHACAF AVIATION SERVICES, LTD.: P. O. Box 333, Herzlia Beth, 46103, Israel; Phone 9-501193; Fax 3-501193; Year Founded 1968. Organized at Herzlia Beth, SAS initially undertakes revenue flights as an air taxi and flight training component of an FBO. Later, road patrol flights are undertaken on behalf of the Israeli Police Department, and toward the end of the 1970s scheduled commuter services are initiated linking Tel Aviv with Elat.
These operations are continued over the next quarter century with a fleet that, at its height, comprises 3 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, 1 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, 1 Cessna 172, and 5 Cessna 152s.
Yossef Hadari is managing director in 1998-2000. Although scheduled services are no longer provided, the company continues to offer charter and air taxi travel, as well as flight training. The fleet now includes 2 C-152s, 1 C-172, 1 C-310, and the 3 BN-2s.
World History
