CHC HELICOPTERS AFRICA (PTY.), LTD.: P. O. Box 2546, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa; Phone 27 (21) 934-0560; Fax 27 (21) 9340568; Http://www/chc. ca/court; Year Founded 2000. Effective October 19, 2000, all of the subsidiaries of Canadian Helicopter Corporation, Ltd. adopt the CHC moniker and are renamed in the manner of CHC Scotia, Ltd. Thus, Court Helicopters (Pty.), Ltd. is renamed. Aircraft from all subsidiaries are now repainted in the CHC red, blue, and white livery and a common look is adopted for all company literature. The reason for the changeover is reported in a single key sentence in the CHC newsletter, Rotortales: “The integrated global oil companies which have emerged in recent years seek an integrated global helicopter company to provide services around the world.”
Managing Director Jeremy Labuschagne’s 160-employee concern continues operations as before, employing a fleet of 29 aircraft. The main focus remains support of oil and gas exploration, although a variety of EMS, search and rescue, and charter flights continue to be offered.
CHC HELICOPTERS AUSTRALIA (PTY.), LTD.: 45 Greenhill Road, Wayville, South Australia, 5034, Australia; Phone 61 (8) 3730700; Fax 61 (8) 373-3366; Http://www. chc. ca/lloyd; Year Founded 2000. Effective October 19, 2000, all of the subsidiaries of the Canadian Helicopter Corporation, Ltd. adopt the CHC moniker and are renamed in the manner of CHC Scotia, Ltd. Thus, Lloyd Helicopters (Pty.), Ltd. emerges as CHC Helicopters Australia (Pty.), Ltd. Aircraft from all subsidiaries are now repainted in the CHC red, blue, and white livery and a common look is adopted for all company literature. The reason for the changeover is reported in a single key sentence in the CHC newsletter, Rotortales: “The integrated global oil companies which have emerged in recent years seek an integrated global helicopter company to provide services around the world.”
Employing a mixed fleet of Bell and Eurocopter aircraft, including Super Pumas and Dauphins, the concern continues operations as before. The main focus remains support of oil and gas exploration, although a variety of EMS, search and rescue, and charter flights continue to be offered, including the dedication of 2 AS-332Ls and 1 Bell 212 to the UN effort in East Timor.
CHC HELIKOPTER SERVICE, A. S.: P. O. Box 522, Stavanger Lufthavn, N-4055, Norway; Phone 57 (51) 941000; http:// Www. chc. ca/helikopter; Year Founded 2000. Effective October 19, 2000, all of the subsidiaries of the Canadian Helicopter Corporation,
Ltd. adopt the CHC moniker and are renamed in the manner of CHC Scotia, Ltd. Thus, Helikopter Services, A. S. becomes CHC Helicopter Service, A. S. Aircraft from all subsidiaries are now repainted in the CHC red, blue, and white livery and a common look is adopted for all company literature. The reason for the changeover is reported in a single key sentence in the CHC newsletter, Rotortales: “The integrated global oil companies which have emerged in recent years seek an integrated global helicopter company to provide services around the world.”
Operations continue as before, employing a fleet of 30 aircraft, including 19 AS-332L Super Pumas. The main focus remains support of oil and gas exploration, although a variety of EMS, search and rescue, and charter flights continue to be offered, along with a scheduled passenger service from the north Norway torn of Bodo to the island of Vaeroy.
Norsk Hydro awards the operator a C$26-million, 3-year contract on October 20 that renews the existing crew change contract for 2 major North Sea oil fields and grants a 5-year component for a search and rescue service to be flown from the Oseberg Platform. A minimum of two Super Pumas and a Sikorsky S-61N will be dedicated to the contract.
CHC SCOTIA, LTD.: Aberdeen Airport East, Dyce, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB21 7BZ, United Kingdom; Phone 44 (0) 1224 846000; Year Founded 1999. Acting through Vinland Helicopters, Canadian Helicopter Corporation, Ltd. announces on August 2 that all of the remaining conditions to its offer to purchase all shares in Helikopter Services Group, A. S. (HSG) have been satisfied or waived and that the acquisition is completed. In a move that foreshadows a corporation-wide integration a year later, Bond Helicopters, Ltd., the HSG U. K. subsidiary also acquired, is now renamed CHC Scotia, Ltd. Interestingly enough, Bond Helicopters (Ireland), Ltd. is not renamed.
In addition to a continuation of its offshore activities, CHC Scotia is almost immediately tasked to operate four helicopters out of Esbjerg in Denmark to service a contract for Maersk Helicopters, A. S., the rotary-wing subsidiary of Maersk Air, A. S., in the Danish sector of the North Sea.
The BBC reports on September 13 that CHC Scotia and British International Helicopters, Ltd., the CHC U. K. subsidiary, are, in fact, combining their operations at Aberdeen Airport. Some 71 permanent and 23 temporary positions at the 2 carriers will be lost by November and upwards of 100 positions overall.
On January 7, 2000, ARCO British, Ltd., as a result of its pending merger with BP/Amoco, drops its longtime contract with Bristow Helicopters, Ltd. in favor of a 1-year, C$4-million ($2.75-million) support deal with Bond. The new contract will be filled by an S-76 operating out of the North Denes Airport.
On January 26, the U. K. Department of Trade and Industry and the Competition Commission both clear the merger of CHC’s UK operations and those of Helikopter Services Group.
Working with the Welsh Development Agency, the U. K. managers of British International Helicopters, Ltd. open negotiations with CHC during the first quarter concerning a possible management buyout of this now-redundant U. K. subsidiary. A satisfactory arrangement is concluded on May 17, under which BIH, sold for $51 million, once again becomes the largest U. K.-owned helicopter operator. The new company trades as British International, Ltd. The Canadian corporation’s U. K. offshore activities will now center fully on CHC Scotia, Ltd.
Despite hard times in the North Sea oil support business, CHC Scotia, in July, places $60 million in firm orders for 15 copies of the Next Generation Eurocopter EC-135; deliveries will begin later in the year.
Effective October 19, all of the subsidiaries of the Canadian Helicopter Corporation, Ltd. adopt the CHC moniker and are renamed in the manner of CHC Scotia, Ltd.
CHEBOKSARY AIR ENTERPRISE (CHEBOXSRSKOE A/P): Cheboksary Airport, Privolzuski Zone, 428021, Russia; Phone 7 (8352) 21 31 17; Fax 7 (8352) 22 33 61; Code CBK; Year Founded 1995. CAE is set up at Cheboksary in October 1995 just as the airport at that city gains international status. Anatol Mikhailov is CEO and he begins, and continues, scheduled services to Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Surgut, Mineralnye Vody, and Siktivkar with a fleet of 5 Tupolev Tu-134As. Charter flights are also established to Antalya, Istanbul, and the United Arab Emirates.
CHECK AIR: United States (1979-1981). Jack Kravit forms Check Air at Milwaukee in 1978 to offer scheduled Essential Air Service (EAS) cargo flights to local communities. Employing a Douglas DC-3, the carrier hauls 2.76 million FTKs during the year.
With a workforce of 16, freight traffic is increased by 22% in 1979 to 3.54 million FTKs.
The company’s fleet is altered in 1980 to comprise 1 Fairchild Hiller FH-227 and 2 Israel Aircraft Industries 1123 Westwinds. The capacity shift cannot prevent recession and higher fuel prices from causing a 48.5% downturn in cargo traffic to 2.29 million FTKs. Operations cease in 1981.
CHEE AIR (PTY.), LTD.: Papua New Guinea (1966-1976). Formed at Lae in 1966, Chee undertakes a decade of passenger and cargo charters and contract service flights within Papua New Guinea. Most of the aircraft employed are lightplanes.
CHELAI-CHELYABINSK AIRLINE (CHELYABINSK CHIEF AVIATION ENTERPRISE): Chelyabinsk Airport, Urals Zone, 454043, Russia; Phone 7 (3512) 290325; Fax 7 (3512) 280886; Code H6; Year Founded 1993. Chelyabinsk Avia, taking its name from its Chelyabinsk Airport base in Russia’s Urals District, is established in 1993 to offer regional and domestic passenger and cargo charter flights. Edward M. Bobrovskiy is general manager and a huge workforce of 4,000 is recruited. Shareholding is divided between employees (51%), the state (15%), and other private investors (34%).
Revenue operations commence with a fleet that includes Tupolev Tu-154s, Tu-134s, and Yakovlev Yak-42s.
Operations continue in 1994, although Mr. Bobrovskiy is demoted to deputy manager and is succeeded at the top by Gennadiy P. Osintsev. Enplanements for the year total 398,102.
Airline employment stands at 4,000 in 1995 and the fleet includes 3 Tu-134As, 6 Tu-154Bs, 4 Yak-40s, and 7 Yak-42s.
Passenger boardings decline 10.4% to 360,600, but freight traffic is up by 11% to 6.96 million FTKs.
Flights continue in 1996-1998. During these years, Yevgeni Razu-mov becomes general manager and the fleet is increased by the addition of 2 Tu-154Ms. Enplanements during the latter year total 245,000.
Although traffic figures for all of 1999 are not available, it is reported on September 20 that the carrier’s passenger volume has increased by 3.3% during the first half of the year.
Weekly Tu-154 roundtrips commence on June 4, 2000 from Ekaterinburg to Hanover. It is admitted in July that the company has lost $900,000 during the past 12 months.
CHEREMSHANKA AIRLINE: Cheremshanka Airport, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk Zone, 6603022, Russia; Phone 7 (3912) 236741; Fax 7 (3912) 233341; Code YME1; Year Founded 1994.
Cheremshanka is established at Krasnoyarsk in early 1994 to provide scheduled regional and domestic passenger flights. Rafkat R. Nabiulin is general director and he operates a large fleet that includes 12 Antonov An-24s, 85 Let L-410s, and 60 Yakovlev Yak-40s, plus a rotary-wing unit of Mil Mi-2s, Mil Mi-6s, Mil Mi-8s, and Mil Mi-26s.
Bad weather prevents a Yak-40 with 4 crew and 28 passengers on a service from Krasnoyarsk to land at Tura on September 26; the aircraft is diverted to Vanavara, 450 km. SSE. While still 41 km. NNW from its new destination, the aircraft runs out of fuel. A forced landing is attempted onto a river, but the plane hits the riverbank instead and explodes. There are no survivors.
Flights continue without further incident into the new millennium.
CHERNOMOR SOYUZ AIR COMPANY: 204 Lenin Street, Sochi, 354353, Russia; Year Founded 1996. CSAC is set up at Sochi in 1996 to offer nonscheduled domestic and regional passenger charters. Flights begin and continue with a single Tupulov Tu-134.
CHEROKEE AIRLINES: United States (1972-1973). Cherokee Airlines is established at Flushing, New York, in 1972 to provide scheduled passenger and cargo services linking its New York (JFK) base with Islip and Wilmington.
Although daily Beech 18 roundtrips are duly inaugurated, they cannot be maintained beyond 1973.
CHEROKEE AIRWAYS: United States (1968-1970). When service to Albany, Georgia, is cancelled in 1968, Albany Air Service and Athens Aviation is renamed Cherokee Airways. The fleet now includes 1 Beech 18, 1 Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six, and 1 PA-23 Apache and the previous route is maintained from Athens to Atlanta, Jefferson, Winder, and Gainesville.
Services are now inaugurated from Atlanta to Auburn, Lanette, and LaGrange/Pine Mountain. Flights continue until the company closes down in 1970.
CHERRY RED AIR LINE, LTD.: Canada (1929-1930). Cherry Red is established in Saskatchewan in 1929 to offer scheduled passenger and express services using a float-equipped Buehl CA Airsedan. Operations cease in late 1930.
CHESTER COUNTY AIR: United States (1988-1989). CCA is established at Coatesville, Pennsylvania, in 1988 to offer six-times-per-day service to Philadelphia with a Piper PA-23 Aztec and a Mitsubishi Mu-2.
Operations cease in the spring of 1989 as the result of poor traffic.
CHICAGO AIR: United States (1986-1987). Chicago Air is established in the spring of 1986 to offer feeder service to Midway Airport on behalf Midway Airlines under a code-sharing agreement between the new commuter and the national.
With 6 Fokker F.27s leased from Midstate Airlines, Chicago Air inaugurates scheduled services on May 29, linking its base with Peoria, Springfield, Moline, Madison, La Crosse, Green Bay, Traverse City, Eau Claire, and Wausau. Orders are placed for 10 SAAB SF340s, the first of which are to be delivered (but are not) in August.
The new operator is soon in deep financial difficulty and in order to save itself, its officials offer the carrier to Midstate Airlines in October. President Bryce Appleton’s large regional agrees to operate Chicago as a subsidiary, beginning on October 14. Even with this support, the new affiliate must stop flying at the end of December.
Midstate Airlines steps in during the first week of January 1987 and takes over the dormant airline’s Midway Connection. Unable to proceed, Chicago Air files for Chapter XI bankruptcy in February and is shortly thereafter liquidated.
CHICAGO AND SOUTHERN AIR LINES: United States (19351955). A new company name, Chicago and Southern Air Lines, which is much more geographically correct, is chosen when Carleton Putnam incorporates Pacific Seaboard Air Lines, under Delaware law, on February 1,1935.
A Stinson SM-6000B crashes at Yorkville, Illinois, on February 11 while a second is lost in an accident at Maywood, Illinois, near Chicago, on May 28 (two dead).
The company’s headquarters at Memphis will be moved to St. Louis in September, but will return to Tennessee five years later. The Pacemakers and Pitcairn PA-6 are all sold between February and November and are replaced by 3 more Stinson SM-6000Bs (purchased from Eastern Air Lines, Rapid Air Transport, and Central Airlines) and a Stearman C3R mailplane. An order is now placed for modern Lockheed Electras.
The first Lockheed Model 10B Electra is delivered on March 31, 1936. Christened City of New Orleans, it is placed into service just before the arrival of another 10B on April 11, the City of Memphis. Two more Electras are received in April, the City of St. Louis and City of Jackson and between April and May, all five of the company’s Stinsons are retired.
En route from New Orleans to Chicago, the City of Memphis crashes at St. Louis on August 5 (eight dead). A replacement Lockheed arrives on September 10 and is also named City ofMemphis. The Stearman C3R is sold in November.
In September 1937, a fifth Lockheed Model 10B is acquired from Eastern Air Lines and is christened City of Springfield. The Electras are now able to maintain three, daily Chicago-New Orleans return frequencies. The first profits are recorded in 1938-1939.
Four new Douglas DC-3s join the fleet in April 1940, followed by a fifth in September. In some cases, given names are removed from the Electras and given to the DC-3s. Three are christened as City of St. Louis, City of Memphis, and City of Chicago. These not only enhance frequencies but make expansion possible as well.
The primary destinations served, however, continue to be those located along The Valley Level Route from New Orleans to Chicago. Meanwhile, between December and January, 4 Lockheed Model 10Bs are withdrawn and 3 are sold to the British Purchasing Commission.
With CAB permission granted on March 1, 1941 Chicago and Southern opens a branch route on June 12 from Memphis to Houston, Texas, via Little Rock, Hot Springs, Pine Bluff, El Dorado, and Shreveport. Company headquarters are shifted to Memphis in August.
A week after Pearl Harbor, Putnam accepts a contract to fly new aircraft from factories to the Mississippi and forms a C&S Military Transport Division (MTD). The fleet at year’s end includes 6 DC-3s and en-planements for the period are 62,125.
As part of their campaign against Midway Island in the Pacific, Japanese naval forces attack the Aleutian Islands on June 3, 1942, capturing Attu and Kiska while grasping at underdefended Dutch Harbor. In a textbook example of the mobilization foreseen by Air Transport Association (ATA) President Edgar Gorrell at the beginning of the year, the U. S. Army orders 11 airlines to halt their normal passenger and contract cargo activities and dispatch aircraft to Edmonton, Alberta. There they will participate in a massive contract airlift that is quickly organized for the defense of Alaska.
Over 100 aircraft from this airline and 10 other carriers execute daily roundtrips between Edmonton and Dutch Harbor through mid-July, transporting troops and supplies. Over 90% of the pilots involved had never flown to or from Alaska before and few had encountered such tough weather conditions.
Beginning in mid-July, the company contributes aircraft to a 50-transport group from 6 contract carriers (also including American Airlines, Braniff Airways, Northeast Airlines, Pennsylvania Central Air Lines, Transcontinental and Western Air Lines, and United Airlines) that are rushed to Presque Isle. From here, the planes, joined by 110 Air Transport Command C-47s, will transport the supplies and men required to set up and man the bases at Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland that will facilitate “Operation Bolero,” a mass bomber ferry from the U. S. to England.
Also in July, 2 DC-3s, including the City of Chicago, having survived the Alaska airlift, are taken over by the government as C-49s and are reassigned to the C&S MTD. One crashes at Memphis on November 6 and the other, formerly City of Chicago, at Del Valle, Texas, on March 10, 1943.
During the spring of 1944, Col. Roscoe Turner, employing single-engine Stinson SR Reliants, undertakes what he calls “scheduled charters,” multistop flights from Detroit to Memphis, on behalf of his Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation (later Turner Airlines). The new service is protested by C&S and the CAB orders it shut down.
Two ex-military C-49s (military DC-3s) are obtained in June and are christened City of Detroit and City of Little Rock.
Late in the year, the carrier is awarded route certification by the government for an extension to Detroit.
Four additional C-49 converted DC-3s are received from the USAAF between February and May 1945 and the last 3 are christened City of Fort Wayne, City of Memphis, and City of Chicago. Like those received the previous year, they are assigned to the airline’s Military Transport Division. When it commences operations on a CAB-approved route from Houston to Detroit on June 1, Carleton Putnam’s airline “owns” a vast airspace over the central United States.
New stops between the Memphis base and the Detroit include Paducah, Evansville, Terre Haute, Indianapolis, Anderson, Fort Wayne, and Toledo. The last 2 C-49s to be received from the military arrive in August and are christened City of Hot Springs and City of Evansville. Five more are purchased from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation later in the month and shortly thereafter the Military Transport Division is closed.
The first DC-4, converted to civil standard from a military C-54, is delivered on November 23, but is not named. Four more C-54 conversions are received in December and are christened City of Caracas, City of Kingston, City of San Juan, and City of New Orleans in anticipation of CAB approval of a Latin American route application.
During the year, founder Putnam publishes his recollections, High Journey: A Decade in the Pilgrimage of an Air Line Pioneer (New York: Scribners, 1945).
On January 1, 1946, the company flies a 2,153-mile route network throughout the Mississippi Valley and offers the shortest flights from Chicago and Detroit to New Orleans and Houston. It has route applications before the CAB requesting that its present routes be extended to 50 new cities. A New Orleans-Havana route certificate is received on May 22.
Chicago and Southern inaugurates Douglas DC-4 domestic service on June 1, and on November 1, begins flying to Havana, Cuba, from New Orleans, thus becoming the first U. S. airline to launch a route awarded as the result of CAB hearings on the “Latin American Case.”
An interline agreement is reached with PIA (Peruvian International Airways, S. A.) in the fall of 1947 allowing passengers to continue on as far as Lima. The Memphis-based airline initiates New Orleans-Caracas, Venezuela, flights in August 1948 and, on September 9, begins a new domestic route linking its base with Kansas City via Springfield.
In 1949, orders are placed for Lockheed Constellations. The first L-649A is delivered on August 12, 1950; christened City of Houston (later Ciudad Trujillo), it is placed into service on the main domestic trunk route in October prior to assignment to the Caribbean in December. Meanwhile 2 more arrive in September and October, but only 1 is named, City ofDetroit (later City of Caracas). During the last half of the year, 4 DC-4s are withdrawn and sold, including the City of New Orleans, which goes to Brown & Brown on December 15.
The last named Constellations, City ofSan Juan and City of Kingston, are received in February 1951 and the last 2 DC-4s are sold in March. On March 15, the carrier completes a billion miles of safe flying. A final L-649A is delivered on May 18 but is not named.
Operations continue apace in 1952 and the Havana route is stretched to Port au Prince, Ciudad Trujillo, and San Juan on January 10, 1953. On April 1, an interchange agreement is made with Trans World Airlines (TWA) , which results in the availability of a through service from New York to Houston for both carriers. By this time C&S’s independent days are numbered. Chairman Putnam engages in negotiations with Delta Air Lines, which agrees to buy him out on May 1.
For two years of integration, the combined company will be known as Delta-C&S Air Line, but by late 1955, all vestige of the earlier pioneer has disappeared.
World History
