AIR KANGAROO ISLAND (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (1990-1996). Air Transit, Ltd. is renamed Air Kangaroo Island, Ltd. in 1990. Scheduled service is maintained between Adelaide and Kingscote, American River, and Parndana with a fleet comprising 2 Cessna 402s, 1 Beech 18, and 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter.
Enplanements in 1991, the first full year of service under the new moniker, total 22,522 and grow by 4.5% in 1992 to 23,583.
By 1993, Managing Director John Raye’s fleet comprises 5 Twin Otters, 2 of which are leased to Air North International, Ltd.
Having encountered financial difficulty in the past several years, the carrier is purchased by new owners in the spring of 1994. They replace the de Havillands with a single Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante. During the summer, the carrier is shut down for four months; however, on September 1, it is able to resume operations, flying a Shorts 330 between Adelaide and Kingscote. Traffic figures are again unavailable and will not surface in 1995 either. The company shuts its doors in February 1996.
AIR KAVANGO (PTY.), LTD.: Botswana (1991-1996). Air Kavango (Pty.), Ltd. is formed at Maun in 1991. John Aliott is named general manager and Anthony Baker managing director. The fleet with which domestic commuter flights are provided comprises 2 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, 3 Cessna 206s, 1 Cessna 404, and 1 Cessna 402. Services continue until the nation’s 1996 civil war and the UN intervention forces the company out of business.
AIR KAZAKHSTAN: 14 Ogareva Street, Rm. 401, Almaty, 480079, Kazakhstan; Phone 7 (3272) 572157; Fax 7 (3272) 331192; Http://www. airkaz. com; Code 9Y; Year Founded 1996. Kazair (Kazakhstan National Airways) encounters significant financial difficulties in 1995. A consortium of local construction companies and banks sues the airline for $11.1 million in damages in a dispute over the Almaty Airport runway construction. A number of aircraft are seized at Western airports for nonpayment of landing or parking fees.
An An-24B with four crew is destroyed as the result of a hard landing at Chimkent after a November 1 training flight; there are no fatalities. Other aircraft are grounded at year’s end when their insurance coverage is allowed to lapse.
Enplanements for the year total 445,000.
The fleet flagship, a Boeing 747SP-31 named Sunkar, is leased to the government of Brunei in March 1996.
On April 30, the Kazakhstan government announces a plan to restructure the troubled national carrier. The State Property Committee and Kazkommertzbank act as general managers for the airline during the early stages of reorganization. The latter conducts a financial and technical audit, which is published in August. The Transport and Communications Ministry puts forward its own suggestions for restructuring, including plans to spin off Kazair’s holdings in the Almaty Airport and the Academy of Civil Aviation.
Some consideration is also given in various quarters to simply transferring all of the airline’s assets over to Kazakhstan Airlines, which is also known as Air Kazakhstan. That option loses its viability when, on August 20, Air Kazakhstan also goes bankrupt. Thereafter, every effort is put into restructuring Kazair and upgrading its financial situation; a new group holding company is created and Alexandre Krinichansky becomes president.
In the third-deadliest air disaster and the worst midair collision in aviation history, Flight 1907, a Kazair Ilyushin Il-76TD with 10 crew and 27 passengers, is descending to New Delhi toward sunset on November 12, after a charter from Chimkent. The Il-76TD is below its assigned altitude of 14,000 ft. when Flight 763, a Saudia (Saudi Arabian Airlines) B-747-168B, with 23 crew and 289 passengers that has just taken off for Dhahran and Jeddah, is determined to be 8 mi. away, also at 14,000 ft. The Ilyushin descends another 310 ft., but by this time it is too late. Both aircraft collide and burst into flames, falling onto an arid farming area 3 mi. from the village of Charkhi Dadri in Haryana State, west of New Delhi. Wreckage is spread over a 6-mile-wide area. Controversy will surround the cause of the disaster.
Following the liquidation of Kazakhstan Airlines at the end of the previous year, Kazair, early in 1997, takes over and begins to employ the Air Kazakhstan marketing name. The fleet, in addition to the Sunkar, which remains out on lease, is still comprised of 8 Tupolev
Tu-134As, 13 Tu-154Bs, 3 Tu-154Ms, 3 Ilyushin Il-76TDs, 7 Il-86s, and 25 Antonov An-24s.
Scheduled and charter markets visited include Akmola, Aktau, Aktyubinsk, Arkalyk, Atyrau, Balkhask, Beijing, Delhi, Dushanbe, Ekaterinburg, Frankfurt, Hanover, Kalingrad, Karaganda, Kiev, Kokshetau, Kostanay, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Osh, Petropavlovsk, Samara, Semipalatinsk, Sharjah, Shimkent, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Ufa, Ulgii, Uralsk, Urumqi, Vienna, Zhambyl, and Zhezkazgan.
On May 4, investigators looking into the previous November’s crash are able to state that the Kazak freighter had descended nearly 1,000 feet below the 15,000-ft. altitude set for it by Indian air traffic controllers; the deviation put it squarely into the path of the ascending Jumbojet.
Service continues in 1998, though initially with diminishing returns. The Transport Ministry announces in May that the company will be privatized within two years. The company joins the Amadeus reservations system in September.
By the end of the year, British Airways, Ltd. (2), Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G., and KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines, N. V.) control $800 million of the $900 million earned on international routes from Almaty and 90% of the airline market.
Determined to redress the airline’s competitiveness and upgrade its service abilities, Kazakhstan begins an overhaul of its national airline in January 1999. The effort begins with an announcement on February 15 by Transportation and Communications Minister Serik Burkit-baev that the government will issue a $200-million guarantee towards the purchase of 4 Boeing or Airbus jetliners. He also informs journalists that the state will form a single and unified national airline that will regain market share.
Shortly thereafter, 2 Airbus A310-322s, previously operated by Swissair, A. G., are acquired and enter service during the summer. Two Boeing 737-200s are also brought in. The new planes, together with 12 Western pilots and 13 engineers working under contract, fly mostly to Istanbul, Moscow, and Peking.
To gain additional international business, the carrier switches its Moscow flights on April 8 from the internal Domodedovo to the international Sheremetyevo Airport.
The devaluation of the Kazakhstan tenge by approximately 30%, also in April, and its continuing decline, will have dire fiscal results for the carrier.
In the summer, the company’s main air terminal at Almaty is gutted by fire. The company is forced to cancel many flights. Later, additional local services are cut and the company runs into even greater financial difficulty.
As reported by the Kazakhstan newspaper Vremya on December 22, the company, on November 18, has joined with several smaller Almaty-based carriers, including Atyrau United Aviation Detachment, to form Air Kazakhstan Group. President Krinitchansky becomes group CEO, with Yerbol Yetekbay moving up to the Air Kazakhstan presidency. Under the new alliance, Air Kazakhstan operates all foreign routes and 70% of the domestic ones. In a news conference confirming the group’s formation, Krinichansky notes that Kazakhstan still has 52 independent domestic airlines, but that, in his estimation, only two or three are required to meet the nation’s air travel needs.
In late January 2000, representatives of the expanding SAirGroup, parent of Swissair, A. G., arrive at Almaty to open negotiations concerning their possible acquisition of a stake in Air Kazakhstan Group. A stumbling block will be the group’s huge debt, estimated at $110 million.
A new strategic agreement is signed with Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA) on March 15; the two companies agree that state support is required for cooperative ventures. Under its terms, the two begin to code-share on daily services between Almaty and Moscow where they will establish new hubs.
By spring, the fleet has been increased by the addition of 6 more B-737-200As and a leased B-757-200. The latter is employed on April 2 to launch weekly roundtrips between Tashkent and Rome.
A full regional tour package is undertaken with the beginning of the summer schedule in May, including flights to the Marmaris and Bodrum resorts in Turkey. Also in May, ground is broken for a new $15-million terminal building at Almaty International Airport.
The media, in June and July, reports a growing dispute between the airline and its creditors concerning aircraft and debt repayment.
A fuel crisis strikes the Kazakhstan airports on August 11. With none of the domestic oil processing plants (OPP) producing avgas, airlines must stop flying until a stock of aviation fuel can be built up through transfers from national reserves and purchases from foreign sources, principally Russia. As a result of determined action by First Deputy Prime Minister Alexandre Pavlov and new Minister of Transportation and Communications Karim Masimov, the situation is resolved within five days. OPPs are ordered to produce fuel and arrangements are completed for the import of 1,400 tons in September and October.
On August 14, the airline reaches an agreement with the Kazkom-mertzbank for a resolution of the carrier’s debt questions.
A code-sharing agreement is signed with Korean Airlines (KAL) on September 7. Two days later, it is reported that Air Kazakhstan Tu-154s and Il-86s have transported 9,100 tourists to the Turkish resorts since May 29.
Statistics are released at the beginning of October covering the first nine months of the year. These show enplanements of 362,000 and a loss of KZT 755 million ($5.3 million).
On October 17, Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev admits that the carrier is near bankruptcy and that the previous year’s purchase of two Airbuses had been a costly mistake. He orders the Transport Ministry to take immediate steps to shore up the failing national airline.
On November 17, Air Kazakhstan Group swaps 50% of its equity to its principal creditor, the state fuel conglomerate Kaztransoil, which agrees to pay off the airline company’s debts, now estimated to be in excess of $20 million. Among the assets transferred is Atyrau Airport and Atyrau Airways (Atyrau United Aviation Detachment), which officials at the oil concern indicate will be quickly merged into their own rotary-wing airline, Euro-Asia Air.
At the same news conference announcing the Kaztransoil arrangement, AKG President Krinichansky reveals that his concern is now partnering with Kazkommertsnbank, which will replace the Kazakhstan government as guarantor of aircraft leases. This changeover will permit the chartering of additional Western-built jetliners with which to replace the aging Soviet-made fleet, only 15 units of which are still flying. The first new aircraft, a B-737-2Q3A, is delivered at the beginning of December and allows retirement of a Tu-154B.
AIR KEDROS, S. A.: 96 V. Georgious Str., Athens, Glyfada, Greece; Phone 301 8983462; Fax 301 8947252; Http://www. airkedros. com; Year Founded 1997. Air Kedros is set up at Athens in 1997 to provide nonscheduled all-cargo services to destinations worldwide. Revenue flights begin, and continue, with a single Ilyushin Il-76.
AIR KENTUCKY AIRLINES: United States (1974-1989). In late summer 1974, officers of the FBO Owensboro Aviation establishes this third-level carrier as its air transport division. Limon S. Cox, who had started the facility in the early 1940s and trained Army Air Corps pilots from a nearby grass field during World War II, is chairman and his nephew, Frank Shrively, is president. The two secure a fleet of 3 Beech 99s, which are employed to commence daily scheduled passenger and cargo flights on September 23.
Destinations visited at the beginning of 1975 include Paducah, Frankfort, Bowling Green, Louisville, London/Corbin, and Clarksville. During the next four years, routes are also opened to Mt. Vernon, Evansville, and St. Louis.
When Ozark Airlines pulls out of Owensboro in 1979, Air Kentucky has a monopoly on airline service from that city. Independent operations continue until October 26, 1980, when, following negotiations initiated by Chairman Cox, the third-level operator joins the Allegheny Commuter network. Enplanements for the year total 58,000.
A Beech 99A is acquired in 1981 as passenger boardings, undisturbed by the summer PATCO air traffic controllers’ strike, reach 65,117. Bookings climb 20.2% to 78,200 in 1982, as flights commence point-to-point throughout the state and from Louisville to Nashville.
Due largely to the national economic downturn, enplanements remain level in 1983 with only 700 additional passengers carried. Freight declines 15.5% to 101,661 pounds. The fleet in 1984 includes 4 Beech 99s and all are busy as passenger traffic improves. Customer bookings jump 31.9% to 104,071. Cargo, however, continues to fall, down 11.6% to 89,909 pounds.
In 1985, the fleet of the 72-employee small regional is increased by the addition of 2 more Beech 99s. When USAir reduces its services to Louisville and Piedmont Airlines begins flying jetliners from Cincinnati to Nashville, Air Kentucky begins to suffer a traffic decline.
The carrier desperately attempts to reverse this downturn, withdrawing two aircraft, cutting pay and services, and undertaking various costcutting measures. While retaining its Allegheny affiliation, the company is sold on December 28 to North American Aviation, Ltd. (later VOR Investment Group), the Albany, New York-based private investor firm headed by one-time Mall Airways executive Patrick Rogers. Although the sale price is not disclosed, it is reported in the aviation press that investors Rudy Paulsen and Robert Mitchell invest $1.2 million and $500,000, respectively, in the carrier.
Passenger boardings decline by 8.9% during the 12 months to 94,812, but freight is up to 174,000 pounds, a substantial increase.
Patrick Rogers becomes president on January 1, 1986. In March, monthly passenger boardings reach a low of 4,802. The same month the new owners undertake a system reorganization designed to boost local traffic and increase aircraft usage. At the same time, orders are placed for two Embraer EMB-110P Bandeirantes, which arrive late in the fall. The year’s enplanements are level at 95,000.
In early 1987, the fleet includes 2 EMB-110Ps and 7 Beech 99s. In June, the owners hire Albany consultant David Gardner, who succeeds Rogers as president in July. With the airport authority’s promise to pay moving expenses, the company transfers its headquarters in September to Indianapolis in order that Air Kentucky might feed USAir flights arriving at and departing from the Indiana capital. Passengers claim that they do not mind the three-minute ride on USAir buses from the main terminal to planes waiting on remote parking pads.
Enplanements for the year total 103,027.
Airline employment is increased by 23.2% in 1988 to 170 as a third Brazilian turboprop and eighth Beech 99 join the fleet.
Orders are placed for 12 Fairchild Metro IIIs, the first two of which arrive in June. Fairchild Aircraft not only provides the new aircraft under lease but also grants the commuter a short-term loan. By summer, the regional is offering daily service to Champaign, Chicago (MDW), Decatur, Fort Wayne, Lexington, Owensboro, Peoria, South Bend, Springfield, and Terre Haute.
The Allegheny Commuter boards a total of 133,248 passengers, a 29.5% increase, but finances deteriorate.
Early in 1989, the first three Metro IIIs arrive. GMF: Gene Morgan Financial, Inc., the Los Angeles owners of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation, purchases Air Kentucky from VOR Investment Group in March as an investment. It is hoped that it can be upgraded financially into resalable condition, but these efforts fail. The last revenue flight is completed on May 15 and Air Kentucky shuts its doors on June 1.
World History
