LORAIR LTD.: 1000 E. Valencia Rd., Tucson, Arizona, 85706, United States. Phone (520) 294-3136; Fax (520) 889-4496; Http://www. lorair. com; Code: LOR; Year Founded: 1999. LorAir, Ltd. is established by its CEO, Ron Clark, at Tucson, Arizona, in 1999 to provide passenger charters and contract service flights, mostly on behalf of the casino industry. Revenue flights commence on behalf of the Grand Casino in Gulfport/Biloxi, MS. Wearing “Grand Casino” titles on its bright red tail, the B-737-247 employed is one of the oldest Dash-200s still flying, having been delivered new to Western Airlines in 1968.
The carrier garnishes significant adverse publicity on November 25 when it strands a 124-member group of mourners from Texas A & M University, led by its president, Dr. Ray Bowen, in Stockton, California, where they have come to attend the funeral of Jeremy Frampton, one of those killed in the bonfire collapse of November 18. The majority remain stuck in local hotels over another day while the carrier brings in a chartered replacement aircraft.
Enplanements for the year total 54,000. At the beginning of 2000, the company operates three B-737-247s on regularly scheduled sub-service charters on behalf of CAIG Air between Miami and Managua. It also flies weekday charters on behalf of the Fort Lauderdale-based consolidator Swissjet, from Boston to Fort Lauderdale and on to Montego Bay, Aruba, and Cura9ao. LorAir also undertakes contract flights for the U. S. Forestry Service and the U. S. Bureau of Prisons (“Conair”).
Swissjet files an application with the DOT on June 25 seeking its own operating authority. If granted, the LorAir contract will be withdrawn. The CAIG sub-service flights end on June 30.
A contract is signed with Vacation Express Charter Service on July 17 under which the carrier will provide holiday tourists flights on its behalf from Charlotte, NC, beginning in December. Before the new arrangement can begin, LorAir declares Chapter XI bankruptcy on October 3.
On June 12, 2001, a letter of intent will be signed with California-based Transtar Holdings under which that concern will take over 51% control and bring the carrier back to fiscal viability.
LOS ANGELES AIR SERVICE: United States (1947-1960). Kerkor “Kirk” Kerkorian and Rose Peculs found LAAS at Los Angeles Airport in 1947 to offer charter cargo services and aircraft leasing throughout the western United States. Incorporated in December 1948 and equipped with a single war-surplus Douglas C-47 (converted to civil DC-3 standard), the small operator inaugurates unscheduled flights to Las Vegas.
A CAB certificate as a Large Irregular is received on July 8, 1949. The assets (two Sikorsky S-43s) of Amphibian Air Transport Service are purchased on July 12 and air taxi services from Glendale to Catalina Island are maintained.
Unable to achieve viability with the Catalina service, that portion of the business is closed down on March 22, 1950 and the amphibians are sold to Reeve Aleutian Airways. Early in the second quarter, Kerkorian adds a DC-4 that is used when the company obtains a military contract following the outbreak of the Korean War in June. Unlike some others, the company does not make large wartime profits.
During the spring of 1951, Kerkorian purchases a wrecked British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Lockheed L-049 Constellation and an undamaged wing from a crashed Air France Constellation; the Anglo-French combine is welded back into a useable aircraft, which is leased to California Central Airlines. Following a CAB advisory that it might restrict the business of “non-skeds,” Kerkorian ceases operations and grounds, leases, or sells off his little fleet.
When the anticipated action does not occur, the company, having been reequipped, resumes revenue service in May 1954. Among its aircraft is the Constellation, returned after CCA’s February failure. Flights continue until January 1957, when the carrier is again shut down.
Following a 22-month hiatus in service, LAAS resumes operations in December 1958. On July 18, 1960, to avoid confusion with the helicopter carrier Los Angeles Airways and to emphasize a planned expansion in its route system, the company changes its name to Trans-International Airlines (1).
World History
