Established at Monrovia in 1976, LWA offers international all-cargo charter and contract service flights to destinations throughout Europe and Africa through the remainder of the decade using Bristol Britannia 253 equipment.
During the 1980s, the fleet is altered to comprise 1 Boeing 707-330B and 1 B-727-100. Late in the decade, the Boeing trimotor is traded in for a pair of Douglas DC-8-50Fs.
A Douglas DC-4, christened Julliet Papa, is acquired in the summer of 1987 and is sent to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to operate European passenger charters on behalf of the Rotterdam-based tour company Chartermaster. The first revenue flight is made to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on December 21. At year’s end, the company is reformed as LWA (Gibraltar), Ltd. and, although registered in Liberia, is based at Ostend Airport in Belgium.
LYNCH FLYING SERVICE: Logan Field, Billings, Montana 59105, United States; Phone (406) 252-0508; Fax (406) 245-9491; Http://www. wtp. net/lynch; Year Founded 1940. LFS is established as the FBO at Logan Field, Billings, Montana in 1940. In addition to the usual airport “gas station” activities, Lynch begins to offer lightplane charter services, including air taxi, air express and cargo, photography, and air ambulance flights.
Forty-six years later on November 6, 1986, a Cessna 421C Golden Eagle crashes 5 mi. SW of the airport, while on approach to Butte, Montana, killing its pilot. Flights continue without incident for the next 13 years.
In 2000, Bob Palmersheim is general manager and oversees a workforce that includes 21 full-time and six part-time pilots. From Billings, LFS operates a fleet that includes 2 each Beech King Air 100s, Cessna 340As, Cessna 182 Skylanes, and Cessna 210L Centurians, 3 each Cessna 404 Chancellors, Cessna 402B/Cs, and Cessna 310s, and 1 each Beech King Air 90 and Cessna 421C Golden Eagle.
LYNDEN AIR CARGO: Anchorage International Airport, 6441 SO Airpark Place, Anchorage, Alaska 99502, United States; Phone (907) 243-6150; Fax (907) 245-0213; Http://www. lynden. com; Code L2; Year Founded 1995. LAC is set up at Anchorage in early summer 1995 as the airline arm of freight forwarder Lynden Air Freight to operate domestic and worldwide all-cargo charters. The decision to enter the air transport business comes as a direct result of an opening of markets brought about by the demise in April of MarkAir. Passenger services are offered in association with Loken Aviation.
Revenue flights, dominated by Alaskan by-pass Special 4th Class mail service to bush areas on behalf of the U. S. Post Office, commence on August 30 with 3 each Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules freighters.
The carrier also leases from Zantop International Airlines 2 Lockheed L-188AFs first flown by Northwest Airlines and 1 L-188CF initially operated by Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). These simultaneously start all-cargo service to Aniak, Bethel, Dillingham, King Salmon, Kotzebue, Nome, and St. Marys.
Services continue in 1996. On a round-robin, all-cargo service from Juneau to Juneau via Hoonah and Elfin Cove on July 19, a DHC-2, chartered from Loken Aviation attempts to traverse a mountain pass, but collides at the 1,250-ft. level with steeply rising terrain. The pilot is killed.
In October, the carrier receives government certification to handle and haul hazardous waste, the cleanup of which is a growth industry in Alaska. As military installations and bases are closed, the government is forced to contract with environmental companies to dig up and properly process oil drums and other buried hazardous materials.
To handle this work, a former Northwest Airlines L-188AF is purchased from Zantop International Airlines; the three leased units are now also purchased.
Before the end of the year, Lynden begins flying to remote areas to pick up materials that have been packaged according to “hazmat” guidelines. The waste is then flown to Anchorage, where it is turned over for transport to a storage facility.
Loken Aviation, which had suffered poor traffic loads in 1996, struggles on in 1997, but finally ceases flying during the summer. Lynden Air Cargo informs the DOT on September 24 that Loken is out of business and petitions that its certificate be reissued eliminating the Loken trade name. A new certificate is duly allowed on October 8.
During the year, Lynden operates. 4.3 million FTKs.
Flights continue in 1998. While landing at a private strip at Hog River, 40 mi. N of Huslia, on June 26, an L-382G with five crew clips a tree; although no injuries are reported, the Hercules sustains damage to its left wing.
In July, it is announced that the company will withdraw its four Elec-tras and operate only Hercules freighters. Although one L-188AF is chartered to Channel Express Air Services, Ltd., the other three will remain in operation alongside the L-182Gs during the remainder of the year.
Cargo traffic during the 12 months increases 72.2% to 15.42 million FTKs. Revenues balloon 87.2% to $24.08 million, while costs, unhappily, rise to $25 million. The operating loss “improves” to $948,000, while the net loss grows to $5.75 million.
Service is maintained in 1999. In July and August, the company adds a service designed to handle the shipping of household goods for companies relocating workers in Russia. When the last of the Electras is retired at year’s end it is believed to be the highest-time L-188 in the world: 71,659 flight hrs. and 38,382 landings.
Freight traffic skyrockets 136.4% to 21,963,000 FTKs.
A total of 20 full-time pilots are employed at the beginning of 2000 to fly the company’s 5 L-100-30 Hercules freighters. In December, the concern establishes an import and ocean brokerage division and opens offices in Las Vegas, Denver, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
LYNSTAR AVIATION: Morristown Municipal Airport, 9 Airport Road, Morristown, New Jersey 07960, United States; Phone (973) 292-2829; Fax (973) 292-1529; Year Founded 1987. Lynstar is established at Morristown Municipal Airport in 1987 to provide executive and small group passenger charters, as well as courier, flight-seeing, and other rotary-wing aerial work.
Within 13 years, Ken Keith oversees the work of 3 pilots, who fly 1 each Beech King Air 90, August A-109 Mark II, and Eurocopter AS-355B Twinstar.
LYNTON GROUP, LTD.: Denham Aerodrome, Hangar Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, England, UB9 5DF, United Kingdom; Phone 44 (1895) 835 000; Fax 44 (1895) 832 564; Year Founded 1978. Originally established as an FBO in 1978, Lynton, by 2000, employs 15 pilots and operates a group of aircraft on executive and small group passenger charters from three airports. It also undertakes a variety of rotary-wing services, including flight-seeing, courier, and executive charters.
One Dassault Falcon 900B is flown from Leeds/Bradford, while a second is operated from Oxford-Kidlington Airport, along with 1 British Aerospace BAe (HS) 125-700 Hawker. The helicopters are based at Denham Airport and include 5 Eurocopter AS-355F Twinstars and 2 Sikorsky S-76s.
LYNX AIR INTERNATIONAL: 1995 W. Commercial Blvd., Suite A, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309, United States; Phone (888) LYNX-AIR or (954) 772-9808; Fax (954) 772-1141; Http://www. lynxair. com; Year Founded 1989. Lynx Air is established at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in May 1989 with the goal of operating the most reliable (and in many cases the only) nonscheduled passenger transportation directly from the U. S. to and from Cap Haitien, Santiago, and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. All flights are conducted in a fast, comfortable, fully licensed turboprop aircraft, the Fairchild Metro III.
Besides passenger transportation, Lynx also provides a range of services for people living and working in the developing nations of the Caribbean. These services include subscription mail services, standard, and express cargo.
Flights continue apace during the 1990s with neither an accident nor a safety violation. Destinations visited come to include Cap Haitien, Ex-uma, Fort Myers, Grand Turk, Guantanamo, Marsh Harbour, Providen-ciales, and Santiago. Unhappily, the company is unable to maintain economic viability and is forced to file for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection on November 16, 1999.
World History
