RELIANT AIRLINES: Box 827, Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, Michigan 49198; United States; Phone (313) 483-3266; Fax (313) 483-5544; Http://www. reliantairlines. com; Code RLT; Year Founded 1983. In 1983, two years after Zantop International Airlines becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of The Aviation Group, Reese C. Zantop learns that Federal Express (FedEx) has parked its fleet of Dassault Falcon 20s and put it up for sale. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he establishes Reliant at Willow Run Airport to offer all-cargo charter and courier services to destinations in Europe and the Americas. The new entrant is incorporated in April 1984. The first former FedEx Falcon 20 arrives on May 10 and is employed to launch revenue flights one month later. With a workforce of just three people, Reliant becomes the only charter cargo operator employing the cargo-door Falcon.
Additional Falcon 20s are acquired over the next three years. Many are given names in honor of Zantop family members (wife Lindsay), employees or colleagues, including Art Parker, John Roper, and Althea Hollis. With six aircraft, by 1987 Reliant is the largest operator of the modified Falcon freighter. During the next 10 years, Reliant becomes so successful that another hub is established at Memphis. By the middle 1990s, it has become a specialist in the transport of hazardous materials and explosives.
Reliant becomes an employee-owned company in 1996 through the purchase of founder Zantop’s majority stake. Although overshadowed by the Employee Stock Ownership Plan of giant United Airlines, Reliant’s plan proves more stable in the long run.
While landing in heavy rain at Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky, on August 13, 1997, after a service from Oklahoma City, a Dassault Falcon 20A with two crew is hit by a downdraft that forces it to touch down 13 ft. short of the runway. The freighter is substantially damaged, but no injuries are reported.
In 1998, President Zantop flies 8 cargoFalcon 20s and 1 passenger Falcon 10 from Michigan and 5 Falcon 20s from Tennessee. The Falcon fleet is supplemented in October when a Douglas DC-9-15F, first flown by Continental Airlines, is delivered in the carrier’s basic blue and white color scheme. Cargo traffic skyrockets 456.9% in 1999 to 8,342,000 FTKs.
The workforce at the beginning of 2000 stands at 140. It is announced on July 24 that two more DC-9-15Fs will soon be acquired. A DC-9-15F is purchased from Kitty Hawk Air Cargo on November 28. It arrives at Willow Run wearing Kitty Hawk colors and Reliant titles.
REMEX AIRLINES: Russia (1997-1999). Skytrump Aviation Services, Ltd. is renamed on February 1, 1997. Its mission to provide international and domestic passenger and cargo charter service remains unchanged. Konstantin G. Vartanov remains director general and by now he oversees a staff of 80. The Skytrump fleet of 4 Ilyushin Il-76Ts and 3 Yakovlev Yak-42Ds is fully engaged on the summer schedule by April 1.
Passenger and freight charters are operated from Moscow to various national and CIS points, including Tbilisi, Baku, Ashkhabat, Almaty, Bishkek, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Senake, Kogalym, Usinsk, Khabarovsk, and Yazhno-Sakhalinsk. Ad hoc long-haul flights are also made to over 50 destinations in Africa, China, and Europe.
Working with the travel company Klassik Line, executive and public passenger charters are also flown to those destinations, as well as holiday points in Greece, Spain, and Turkey. Flights continue in 1998. Under the chairmanship of Vladimir Moseenkoiv, REMEX is renamed ATC RUSS in early 1999.
RENAN AIRWAYS, S. A.: Old Airport Building, Floor 2, Chisinau, Moldova; Phone 52-61-28; Fax 52-29-84; Http://www. renan. mold-pac. md; Year Founded 1994. Privately owned Renan Airways is registered in the State Registration House of the Republic of Moldova’s Ministry of Justice on September 14, 1994. Andre Grosul is director general and plans are put into place to operate worldwide all-cargo charters. The company is registered with ICAO on November 7.
Revenue flights begin in early 1995 and continue with a mixed fleet of Antonov An-12s, An-32s, An-72s, and An-74s. A major UN contract is received in 1996 for the operation of humanitarian airlifts to Sierra Leone under the “World Food Program.” It also begins a close association with the Paris-Dakar endurance race, providing lift for various teams.
The fleet increases to 10 ships in 1997 with the addition of 1 each Ilyushin Il-18 and Yakovlev Yak-40. The new ships are employed to inaugurate passenger charters to points in Europe, Africa, and the Mideast.
Flights continue in 1998-2000.
World History
