SI-CHANG FLYING SERVICE COMPANY, LTD.: 14th Floor, Pacific Place, 140 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, 10500, Thailand; Phone 66 (2) 254-3765; Fax 66 (2) 254-3480; Year Founded 1991. Established in early 1991 by Siam Chemicals, Ltd. Chairman Chira Ratanarat, himself a helicopter pilot, Si-Chang provides corporate airlift with a pair of MBB BK-117s. The operation is the only helicopter operation in the country entirely owned by Thai nationals.
In an effort to assist the public in avoiding Bangkok’s congested ground transportation situation, Ratanarat, in January 1992, elects to employ his BK-117s in a new scheduled service. Eight-times-per-day revenue flights commence linking the Oriental and Shangri-La Hotels with Don Muang International Airport.
Operations continue apace without fanfare during the remainder of the decade.
SICHUAN AIRLINES COMPANY, LTD.: 9 Nan Sanduan Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China; Phone 86 (28) 555-1161; Fax 86 (28) 558-2641; Http://www. hps. com/sichuan/sichuan. htm; Code 3U; Year Founded 1986. Sichuan Airlines is established at
Chengdu in Sichuan Province by the provincial government in September 1986 to provide scheduled domestic passenger and cargo services to domestic and regional destinations. Du Dinghuan is president and oversees a workforce that will grow to 800. Revenue flights commence in July 1988 and continue over the next decade with a fleet of 5 Tupolev Tu-154Ms and 5 Xian Y-7-100s.
Operations continue apace during 1989-1993. During these years, services are undertaken to the following Chinese cities: Beihai, Beijing, Changsha, Chongqing, Daedan, Guangzhou, Guilin, Guiyang, Haikou, Harbin, Jinan, Luzhou, Nanchong, Nanning, Shanghai, Shantou, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Wanxian, Wuhan, Xian, Xiamen, Sichang, and Yibin.
En route from Jinan to Guangzhou on September 30 of the latter year, a Tu-154M with 69 passengers is hijacked by taxi driver Yang Mingde and his wife Han Fengying, who have brought along their 6-year-old son. The Tupolev is diverted to Taiwan, where the family is taken in hand and from which the plane is allowed to return. Yang and Han are tried and receive prison terms of nine years and six years, respectively; their son is sent to a foster home.
The first of 2 Yakovlev Yak-42D 120-seat airliners is delivered to the airline from the Saratov Aircraft Plant in Russia on November 4, 1994. A halt in the use of clearing payments within intergovernmental trade has deprived the manufacturers of orders from five other Chinese companies during the year.
The second Yak-42D is delivered in early 1995. During the third quarter, Sichuan places orders for three leased Airbus Industrie A320-232s that will replace Tu-154Ms.
Enplanements this year total 918,320.
Airline employment stands at 1,400 in 1996. The ILFC delivers the first A320-232 during the third week of January. When it enters service in February, it is the first of its type to be operated by a PRC airline. Two more are received by December.
Passenger boardings surge 11.7% to 1.04 million.
In May 1997, orders are placed for two more A320s. In September, Sichuan, in line with Chinese government policy designed to reduce the number of regional airlines so as to increase the efficiency of competition, is one of six carriers to form the New Star Alliance.
Enplanements for the year total 1,078,785.
The New Star Alliance is activated on January 1, 1998; the informal compact soon begins to boost the quality of its members’ services via integrated passenger and marketing services and code-sharing on selected routes.
The first of two new A321-232s is delivered in October, complementing the three A320-232s already in service.
Passenger boardings jump 8.5% to 1.17 million, while cargo traffic climbs 20.5% to 29.94 million FTKs.
The last of five new Airbus A320-232s to be delivered since December 22, 1995, is accepted on July 9, 1999. Director General Du Dinghuan is arrested by police during the summer after customs seizes a pair of Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154Ms that he had been attempting to smuggle into the country. In November, the Tupolevs are put up for auction, but attract no bids from the three potential buyers present due to the high asking price.
On December 26, the Sichuan Provincial Commodities Auction Center again places the aircraft up for sale. One is sold for 900,000 yuan and the other for 400,000 yuan.
Customer boardings fall to 1.05 million this year while 4.47 million FTKs are operated.
Airline employment at the beginning of 2000 totals 1,580, a huge 55.7% increase over the previous 12 months. One “classic” B-737, a Dash-37K, remains in the fleet, which also includes 6 Tu-154Ms and 5 Y-7s.
Company officials announce on April 28 that they are preparing to establish a new feeder subsidiary for Sichuan Province that will be equipped with five Embraer ERJ-145LRs and five de Havilland Canada DHC-8s. Foreign investors are invited to seek minority equity stakes.
On May 1, new A320-232 services are started from Chengdu to Dalian via Jinan, to Zhuhai via Zhangjijie, and to Shenyang via Shijiazhuang.
An order for the five ERJ-145LRs is announced on May 31; it will be confirmed on July 27 during the Farnborough Air Show in England.
In early August, Sichuan becomes the first Chinese regional to place the Xi’an Aircraft Industry Corporation’s new MA60 into commercial service. Sichuan and several other carriers have requested the lease of a total of 10 of the new Y-7-200A derivatives.
A Boeing B737-37K is leased from Zhongyuan Airlines Company, Ltd. on September 2. Arrangements push forward for the introduction into service of the ERJ-145LRs.
SICOTRA AVIATION, S. A. (SOCIETE INTERNATIONAL DU COMMERCE ET TRANSPORT): Zaire (1986-1991). Founded at Kinshasa in 1986, Sicotra undertakes and continues regional and international all-cargo charter and contract service flights with a single Douglas DC-8-54F first flown by Zaire Cargo, S. A. It enters service in January 1987. A Boeing 707-373C, first operated by World Airways, is acquired in December.
The Douglas Jet Trader is sold to Liberia World Airlines during the summer of 1988, leaving the Stratofreighter to operate flights from the former Belgian colony to Ostend.
Flights continue until the company shuts down in the fall of 1991 following a violent crisis.
SIEM REAP AIRWAYS, LTD.: 571 Rd., No. 6, Phum Salakanseng, Khum Svay Dankum, Srok Khet, Siem Reap, Cambodia; Phone (855 63) 380 191-2; Fax (855 63) 380-191; Code PG; Year Founded 2000. On October 11,2000, Bangkok Airways, Ltd. announces the formation of a Cambodian subsidiary, Siem Reap Airways, which comes into existence on October 29. Employing 3 ATR72-201s leased from the parent, the new regional flies from Siem Reap to Bangkok, Phuket, and Sukhotai and from Phnom Penh to Bangkok and Pattaya.
Bangkok Airways receives its premier B-717-23S on November 15. This first of its type to fly in Asia enters service from Bangkok to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in December on lease to Siem Reap Airways.
SIERRA EXPRESSWAY: United States (1995-1996). Sierra Expressway is set up at Oakland, California, in the summer of 1995 to provide feed at that city for Southwest Airlines (2) and the United Airlines
Division Shuttle by United. The first of five British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31s is delivered in August and is employed with its later-arriving sisters to inaugurate a combined 22 daily nonstop services to Eureka and Redding, California, plus Medford, Oregon.
On November 16, daily service is started from Sacramento to Monterey via Oakland. South Lake Tahoe joins the roundtrip route network on December 15.
The last Jetstream 31 is delivered in early January 1996 and begins daily flights from Oakland to Monterey. The aircraft has a sea otter painted on its fuselage along with Monterey Bay Expressway titles. Nonstop roundtrips are inaugurated on January 15 between Monterey and Sacramento along with one-way, nonstops from Monterey to South Lake Tahoe.
Unable to achieve viability, President Michael Forster’s commuter is unable to make the lease payments on its Jetstream 31s. When JSX Capital Corporation files suit for recovery of the money owed, a California Superior Court judge orders the commuter to shut down at the end of March.
SIERRAFLITE SERVICE: United States (1979). Sierra Flite Service is set up at Bakersfield, California, during early 1979 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo flights to Las Vegas. Beech King Air 90 revenue flights commence on March 1, but due to lack of traffic, cannot be maintained beyond August 3.
SIERRA LEONE AIRLINES, LTD (SLA): Sierra Leone (19821987). In 1982, Sierra Leone Airways, Ltd. is reorganized and British Caledonian Airlines, Ltd. (BCAL) withdraws its interest. National citizens with Mideast backgrounds help to convince the government to seek new leadership for its national carrier.
Renamed Sierra Leone Airlines, Ltd., ownership is now split between the government (60%), Alia (Royal Jordanian Airlines) (20%), and private interests (20%). A new nine-man board of directors takes office; Ali Ghandour, chairman and managing director of Alia, is chairman of the new group as well.
Alia is also given a three-year management and technical support contract and in turn, wet-leases to its new partner one Boeing 707-3D3B Stratoliner painted in SLA livery. It joins an owned fleet of just two Brit-ten-Norman BN-2 Islanders. Under the direction of Jordanian Managing Director Capt. Khaja Yousufuddin and three associates, revenue services over the previous BCAL routes commence in November.
International services in 1983 consist of one weekly roundtrip from Freetown to London via Las Palmas, a second to the British capital via Paris, plus two weekly roundtrips from Freetown to Lagos, one routed via Monrovia and the other via Abidjan. The wet-leased Stratoliner continues to be flown by Alia crews seconded to SLA for two-week periods.
Enplanements are 28,913,
In the spring of 1984, King Hussein of Jordan presents a B-720-030B (B-720B) to Sierra Leone’s President Siaka Stevens. Transferred to the Sierra Leone aircraft registry, the aircraft, christened Spirit of Friendship, serves as backup to the Stratoliner. Meanwhile, a number of Sierra Leone Trislander pilots are sent to Amman for conversion training on B-707s/B-720Bs.
Passenger boardings climb to 37,500. That traffic figure drops 25% to
30,000 in 1985. In July 1986, flights begin to Banjul and Conakry.
With a history of foreign exchange problems, Sierra Leone cannot afford to make additional necessary improvements and operations of its flag carrier are suspended in August 1987 following the withdrawal of the Royal Jordanian Airlines management team. Government efforts to locate another foreign carrier willing to provide management assistance are unsuccessful and it contracts with Aer Lingus Irish Airlines, Ltd. in September to operate international flights from Freetown with one each McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and A310-324, both leased from Air Liberte, S. A. The nation is left without an air service it can truly call its own.
SIERRA LEONE AIRWAYS, LTD. (SLA): Sierra Leone (19581982). With a fleet of de Havilland DH 89A Dragon Rapides, this carrier is formed at Freetown in 1958 as a subsidiary of West African Airways Corporation (WAAC) to operate feeder services with 3 de Hav-illand DH 89A Dragon Rapides across the Sierra Leone River to Lungi International Airport. When WAAC ceases trading on September 30, the operator receives assistance as Sierra Leone Airways, Ltd. from Nigeria Airways, Ltd. and the British state carrier British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
During 1959-1960, Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneers are acquired for bush country operations. Financial problems cause the airline to shut down at the beginning of 1961.
Following independence on April 27, the company becomes a new national flag carrier. A management contract is signed with British United Airways, Ltd., which assumes 70% majority equity as well. The government holds a 20%stake and Mining and General Services holds 10%. BUA and the government select two each of the five members of the board of directors, with M & GS nominating the fifth. Thomas C. Luke is chairman, with Ken Sheparson as general manager.
BUA personnel arrive at Freetown and assume control; flight personnel begin flying the Twin Pioneers to domestic points during June.
A Bristol Britannia 317 is also provided by British carrier, allowing the inauguration of Freetown to London return service in November.
During 1962-1965, routes and frequencies are increased. Daily or twice-daily domestic flights link Freetown with Bo, Bonthe, Gbanbatok, Kabala, Kenema, and Yengema. The Britannia 317 leased from BUA for use on the London service is replaced in 1964 by a Vickers VC10. Derek Graham becomes general manager in 1965, with E. H. Chamber taking up the office in April 1967. The Twin Pioneers are finally replaced late in the decade with two DH 114 Heron 1Bs.
British Caledonian Airways, Ltd. (BCAL) takes over both BUA and the Sierra Leone contract upon its formation in 1970. In March 1973, the African airline is reorganized. The government becomes the majority owner (51%) with BUA’s new owner, British Caledonian Airways, Ltd., assuming the 43% and Mining and General Services, 6%. Chairman A. B. Kamara’s fleet comprises a pair of Britten-Norman BN-2 III Trislanders. Under charter, BCAL operates services to London and Monrovia on behalf of the carrier.
Regional service is opened to neighboring African states, plus London, Paris, Rome, and the Canary Islands during 1979-1981. The fleet is altered and enhanced to include a Boeing 707-399B, a B-720B, (both jetliners are BCAL charters) and two BN-2 Islanders, the latter for domestic operations. One of the Islanders is involved in a Freetown accident on August 25, 1980.
SIERRALEONE NATIONALAIRWAYS, LTD.: Leone House, P. O. Box 285, 25 Pultney Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Phone 232 (22) 22 2075; Fax 232 (22) 22 6297; Code LJ; Year Founded 1990. Reorganized at Freetown in 1990 to replace the former Sierre Leone Airlines, Ltd., which had stopped flying in 1987, SNA begins Freetown to London return flights on May 1 using a leased Boeing 707-320B. In August 1991, a management contract is signed with Air Liberte, S. A. Under terms of the agreement, the French carrier will pay off $20 million in debt incurred under the previous management of Royal Jordanian Airlines executives in order to allow the company to operate to London and a number of European capitals.
Employing an Airbus A310-324 chartered from Air Liberte, weekly service is inaugurated to Paris on October 26; the frequency becomes twice weekly on December 20.
The previous route network is resumed in 1992 and includes stops at Accra, Abidjan, Conakry, and Lagos. During the latter year, the government turns to Europe Aero Service, S. A. to take over the management of the airline’s operations. EAS brings in its own A310-304 and begins roundtrip service to Paris in December.
President Stanley Palmer acquires a B-727-294A for the airline in 1994. EAS now also undertakes long-haul flights to Las Palmas and extends the Paris service on to London (LGW).
Flight services end in January 1995, at which point, J. S. Kamandah becomes managing director. The 193-employee company turns its attention to the provision of ground-handling services for international carriers visiting Freetown. Surveys are run and plans are made to resume flying. Unhappily, this dream is thwarted by political unrest at the end of the decade.
On November 14, 2000, after suspension for nearly a decade, the carrier resumes weekly multistop return service from Freetown to London (LGW) employing a leased B-727-294A. British troops have been stationed at Freetown for some months providing the security necessary for this and other essential public activities.
SIERRA MOUNTAIN AIRWAYS: United States (1987-1989). Oakland, California-based SMA begins scheduled Dornier 228-200 passenger services during the summer of 1987 linking its base with Mammoth Lakes, Fresno, Long Beach, Battle Mountain, and Reno. Operations continue for only two years.
SIERRA NEVADA AIRLINES: P. O. Box 19398, Las Vegas, Nevada 89132, United States; Code 1I; Year Founded 1992. Sierra Nevada is established at Las Vegas in 1992 to offer scheduled passenger and cargo services. Revenue flights commence with 4 Cessna 402s and 1 Beech 58 Baron. A total of 15,677 passengers are flown on the year and revenues reach $1.6 million. Expenses are kept down and profits are made: $285,062 (operating) and $11,520 (net). Scheduled operations cease in 1994; however, the carrier continues to offer charter flights.
World History
