IRON DRAGONFLY: Dimitrova Str. II, Kazan, Privolzuskaya Zone ATD, 420033, Russia; Phone 7 (8432) 428 344; Fax 7 (8432) 428 364; Code F7; Year Founded 1994. Under the direction of president M. I. Rozenstein, Iron Dragonfly is established at Kazan, Tar-tarstan, in 1995 to offer passenger charters and inclusive-tour flights to destinations throughout the CIS and to Europe and the Mideast. Revenue flights begin with an unspecified number of Tupolev Tu-154B/Ms.
Flights continue in 1995-2000, during which years the company opens an office in Moscow and the fleet is standardized on 2 Tu-154Bs, 1 Ilyushin Il-76T, and 1 Mil Mi-8 helicopter.
IRRAWADDY FLOTILLAAND AIRWAYS, LTD. (IF & A): Burma (1934-1937). Formed in late summer with technical assistance from Imperial Airways, Ltd., IF & A, employing a float-equipped de Havil-land DH 83 Fox Moth, begins weekly Rangoon to Moulmein service on November 13, 1934. Two days later, weekly Rangoon to Mandalay flights begin.
Service is extended beyond Moulmein to Tavoy, a point beyond the railroad terminus, on January 1, 1935. Later in the year, two Shorts Scion Senior seaplanes are received.
Rangoon to Yenangyaung flights begin in June 1936. The summer is hard on the company as the Fox Moth and a Scion are lost in accidents. Rangoon to Prome and Yenangyaung to Mandalay service is suspended on May 24, 1937. The company stops flying later in the year.
IRTYSH AVIA IT: Pavlodar Airport, Pavlodar, 637014, Kazakhstan; Phone 7 (3182) 320617; Fax 7 (3182) 324958; Code IRT; Year Founded 1994. The small regional Irtysh Avia is established at Pavlodar in 1994. Employing a fleet of 5 Yakovlev Yak-40s and 2 Yak-42Ds, the company flies to Almaty and other points without headline or reported incident.
As reported by the Kazakhstani newspaper Vremya on December 22,
1999, Air Kazakhstan, on November 18, has joined with several smaller Almaty-based carriers, including Irtysh Avia IT and Atyrau United Aviation Detachment, to form Air Kazakhstan Group. President Alexander Krinichansky becomes group CEO, with Yerbol Yetekbay moving up to the Air Kazakhstan presidency. Under the new alliance, Air Kazakhstan operates all foreign and 70% of domestic routes. In a news conference confirming the group’s formation, Krinichansky notes that Khazkhstan still has 52 independent domestic airlines, but in his estimation, only two or three are required to meet the nation’s air travel needs.
As one of the two small group divisions, Irtysh continues to fly in
2000, primarily employing its two Yak-42Ds on half of the domestic routes not taken over by Air Kazakhstan. Its financial picture, as part of the Air Kazakhstan Group, will become dire.
IRVING AIRWAYS: United States (1935-1936). Backed by Juneau merchant James Hickey Sr., Wilbur “Wing Ding” Irving purchases a float-equipped Lockheed Model 5 Vegas at a sheriff’s sale at Seattle in the spring of 1935. Painted snow white with a red stripe, the aircraft is piloted up to Juneau where it provides air taxi and on-demand charter services to local communities and bush destinations for the next year.
In 1936, Irving’s Vega is purchased by Sheldon B. “Shell” Simmons, who adds it to the fleet of his newly formed Alaska Air Transport.
ISCARGO, H. F.: Iceland (1972-1980). Organized at Reykjavik in March 1972, Chairman Arni Gudjonsson and Managing Director Hall-grimur Jonsson inaugurate worldwide cargo charter and contract service flights with a fleet comprising 1 each Douglas DC-6A and DC-6B. The 15-employee company also undertakes scheduled all-cargo flights to the Netherlands.
Iscargo is unable to survive the higher fuel costs and world recession at the end of the decade and stops flying in 1980.
ISLAND AIR (1): United States (1971-1972). IA-1 is established at Honolulu in 1971 to provide flight-seeing services throughout the Hawaiian Islands with a single Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander. The company is unable to achieve viability and closes its doors on January 24, 1972.
ISLAND AIR (2): United States (1970-1990). Following the demise of Puget Sound Airlines in October 1970, the assets of merger partner Island Sky Ferries are purchased out of the combine by John Carabba and Marigine Wilson. These resources form the basis of a new charter carrier, IA-2, which is set up at Anacortes and begins to provide two decade’s worth of nonscheduled flights with Cessna lightplanes to Seattle and destinations in the San Juan Islands group.
During this period, Carabba and Wilson sell the company to Katie and Gary Rovetto, who operate it until the first quarter of 1990, when they transfer it to Jim Burton. The new owner reforms the operations and begins scheduled services in April as West Isle Air.
ISLAND AIR (3): United States (1971-1983). Island Aviation of Agana, Guam, establishes an airline division in March 1971 with which to inaugurate charter passenger and cargo flights to other destinations in the Mariana Islands. President R. L. Brown inaugurates flights on April 3 with a pair of Cessna 402s. Destinations visited include Rota, Tinian, Yap, and Palau.
Nonscheduled operations continue over the next five years without significant change. In 1977, the carrier elects to inaugurate scheduled service and enplanes a total of 3,708. Airline employment is reduced by 33 1/3% in 1978, down to 12. The company receives a third Cessna 402 and signs interline agreements with Pan American World Airlines and Continental Airlines. Passenger boardings skyrocket 85.2% to 25,053.
A new route is inaugurated to Yap and Palau in 1979. An Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante is delivered in December.
Customer bookings accelerate 39.2% to 34,879 while freight traffic soars by 73.3% to 732,547 FTKs. Despite increased income, greater expenses (led by a $1.20-per-gallon avgas price increase) cause a $55,250 net loss.
A second Bandeirante is delivered in March 1980 and operations continue apace through 1982. Unable to weather the recession, the carrier ceases operations in 1983.
ISLAND AIR (4): United States (1976). IA-4 is set up at New York (LGA) in 1976 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo services to Farmingdale and also down to Baltimore via Philadelphia. Although daily Douglas DC-3 roundtrips are duly inaugurated, they can only be offered for a few months of the Bicentennial year.
ISLAND AIR (5): United States (1984-1985). Organized at Farming-dale, Long Island, in the fall of 1984 as successor to Trans-East International Airlines, which had ceased operations in the spring, IA-5 resumes revenue services with a fleet of Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, and Cessna 402s.
Scheduled passenger and cargo commuter flights are started or planned to link the carrier’s base with New York (LGA), White Plains, Newark, Atlantic City, Washington, D. C. (IAD), Boston, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and New Bedford. Before most of these destinations can be visited, the new entrant encounters significant financial difficulty that forces it to close in January 1985.
ISLAND AIR, LTD. (1): Suite 30, The Concourse, Private Mail Bag, Nadi, Fiji; Phone 722 371; Fax 720 378; Code 4M; Year Founded 1983. Island Air, Ltd. is formed at Nadi in late 1983 to offer scheduled commuter flights from the international airport to Malololailai in the Mamanuca Islands group. Equipped with a single Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, the company commences revenue services in early 1984.
Managing Director R. Smith’s little carrier maintains its one-route service throughout the next 15 years. By the end of 1999, the fleet has grown to include 3 each Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes, de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otters, and Beech Super King Air 200s, plus 8 Bell 206L LongRanger helicopters.
ISLAND AIR, LTD. (2): P. O. Box 2433, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Phone (809) 949-0241; Fax (809) 949-7044; Http://www. cayman. com. ky/com/iair; Code G5; Year Founded 1989.
Island Air is established by its owner/president Mervyn Cumber at Georgetown in 1989. Employing a fleet that will come to include 1 each Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, Piper PA-31-310 Navajo, and de Havil-land Canada DHC-6-300 Vistaliner, revenue flights are begun to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Charters are also operated throughout the Caribbean area.
In 2000, the company has approximately 30 employees based on all 3 islands and main offices located in a 12,000-sq.-ft. hangar next to the general aviation terminal on Grand Cayman. A Learjet 25A is acquired and worldwide executive charters are now begun.
World History
