Is set up at Asheville, North Carolina, in early 1982 to provide daily roundtrip air taxi services to Raleigh/Durham. Although Piper PA-23 Aztec revenue frequencies are duly inaugurated, they are only maintained for a year.
ASI CHARTER: 6005 Propeller Lane, Sellersburg, Indiana 47172, United States; Phone (812) 246-4696; Fax (812) 246-4365; Http://www. aircraft-specialists. com/Pages/ASICharter. html; Year Founded 1995. ASI is set up at Clark County Airport at Jefferson, Indiana, in 1995 to offer a variety of passenger and executive charters and air express services. The concern is a subsidiary of the FBO Aircraft Specialists, established in 1976 as a maintenance facility, which has grown to include nonscheduled flight services.
Within three years, President Eric Taylor’s company employs nine pilots and operates two Learjet 35As and one each Learjet 31A and Cessna 208 Caravan I.
ASIA PACIFIC AIR, LTD.: Malaysia (1995-1998). APA is established at Kuala Lumpur in early 1995 to offer nonscheduled flights to tourism destinations in the country. Hairun Nilsa Abu Bakar is named CEO and services commence late in the first quarter with a Fairchild Metro 23. In mid-February 1996, orders are placed for four more Metro 23s; the first of these enter service during April, with the remainder being delivered throughout the remainder of the year.
The carrier is unable to survive the Asian economic recession that begins in mid-1997 and is forced out of business in 1998.
ASIA PACIFIC AIRLINES COMPANY, LTD.: 8f. 108, Sec. 5, Nanking E. Road, Taipei, Taiwan; Phone 886 (2) 762-2448; Fax 886 (2) 762-2048; http://www. caa_motc. gov. tw/airline. e_ap. html; Year
Founded 1988. Rotary-wing Asia Pacific is established at Taipei in 1988 to provide scheduled air taxi and energy industry support services to domestic locations. The fleet grows over the next 12 years to include 3 Bell 412SP helicopters.
ASIA TENGGARA AVIATION SERVICES SDN BHD: City Heliport, Lot 4888, Jalan Segambut Tengah, Kuala Lumpur, 51200, Malaysia; Phone 60 (3) 261-0555; Fax 60 (3) 261-3472; Year Founded 1994. Captain Nasir Ma Lee is named managing director of this new rotary-wing operation that is set up at Kuala Lumpur in 1994. Oil industry and transportation support services begin with a helicopter fleet that includes five Bell 206L LongRangers.
These nonscheduled operations continue without change until 1996, when a Boeing 737-300 is acquired with which to undertake regional passenger charter flights.
No information is available concerning fixed-wing operations in the 1997-2000 period.
ASIAN SPIRIT: Nigi Nigi Nu Noos ‘e’, Nu Nu Noos Beach Resort, White Beach, Boracay, The Philippines; Phone 63 (36) 288-3101; Fax 63 (36) 288-3112; Http://www. pworld. net. ph/user/nigingi/ asian. html; Code RIT; Year Founded 1996. The last of four new entrants to be formed in the Republic of the Philippines following deregulation of that country’s air transport in early 1995, Asian Spirit is the only one to be entirely focused on turboprop domestic operations.
Owned by a number of Philippine aviation workers under the group name of the Airline Employees Cooperative, the company, which had originally planned to open shop in December, formally incorporates in February 1996. Antonio Buendia is appointed general manager.
A pair of de Havilland Canada DHC-7-102s are purchased and begins daily roundtrips in March to Baguio, Catarman, Caticlan, Cauayan, Daet, Masbate, and Tablas. Operations continue apace during the remainder of the year until December, when a Nihon YS-11A-200 is acquired.
Early in 1997, the new Japanese-made turboprop begins flying from Manila to Virac and San Jose. The company encounters rough financial flying and reverts to a charter operation. All but one of the DHC-7s is withdrawn and the company begins flying vacationers two or three times daily from Manila to Caticlan Airport.
From here, they are transferred to a resort on Boracay. Uniquely, the central reservations office is located in a resort on Boracay, which has no airfield and is located 20 min. from Caticlan by outrigger.
From June 1998 onward, the air transport situation in the Philippines becomes critical as labor and management at Philippine Airlines (PAL) move toward closure for Asia’s oldest airline. In August, however, Asian Spirit is grounded by the Air Transportation Office over safety concerns.
When closure of the flag carrier becomes inevitable in mid-September, the leaders of the nation’s four independent airlines are summoned to a meeting with Philippine President Joseph Estrada in Malacanang. It has become necessary to find a way to increase the gap between the 230,000 monthly domestic seats provided by them and the 280,000 offered by PAL.
Meeting with Estrada on September 22, company executives and the leaders of Cebu Pacific Air, Grand International Airways, Air Philippines, and several other small operators promise to acquire additional aircraft and fill any vacuum left by PAL within a month. For its part, the government indicates a willingness to grant incentives, including higher fares and concessional loans, designed to help them speed up their capacity build-up.
Asian Spirit is allowed to resume flying, but its efforts will have little impact on the seat requirement.
Airline employment stands at 120 at the beginning of 1999. By now, the fleet has been increased by the addition of two Let L-410UVPs from the Czech Republic.
Early in the spring, the company leases several Nihon YS-11As from Aboitiz Air, which will employ them to open a new hub at Cebu on July 1. Although Aboitiz continues to utilize the cargo spaces, the Japanese-made turboprops now offer Asian Spirit passenger flights from Cebu to Naga, Cagayan de Oro, Tagbilaran, Butuan, Dipolog, Bacolod, and Caticlan.
Flights continue apace during the remainder of the year. While en route from Manila to Cauayan on December 7, Flight 100, a Let L-410UVP with 2 crew and 15 passengers, crashes in the mountainous area of Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya province, 96 km. from its destination. The pilot of the flight, Capt. Rolando Salandanan, was formerly vice president-operations at Cebu Pacific Air. The wreckage is found the next day and there are no survivors.
On March 21,2000, the carrier accepts delivery of the first of 3 CN-235-200s leased from IPTN in Indonesia. The new arrivals will replace aging NAMC YS-11s.
Thrice-weekly roundtrips are launched on September 1 between Cebu and Surigao, while six-times-a-week return flights begin on November 1 from Cebu to Dipolog.
ASIAN STAR: Tynistanov St. 120, Bishkek, 720000, Krygy-stan; Phone 7 (3312) 263 455; Fax 7 (3312) 263 666; Year Founded 1995. A joint venture of the Uliss Insurance Company and Krygystan Aba Yoldoru, Asian Star is set up at Bishkek in 1995 to operate passenger charters and inclusive tour services. Boris Roinik is named president with Raisa Mambetalieva as director general. They begin and continue revenue flights with a single Tupolev Tu-154M.
By 1999-2000, the fleet is doubled to include 2 Tu-154Ms.
World History
