ODESSA AIRLINE: Odessa Central Airport, Odessa, 270054, Ukraine; Phone 380 (0482) 252 490; Fax 380 (0482) 250 052; Code 5K; Year Founded 1995. OA is set up at its namesake city by Air Ukraine in 1995 to offer domestic passenger charters. Valeri Sergeev is appointed CEO and he begins revenue flights with several Yakovlev Yak-42Ds leased from the parent.
Enplanements in 1996, the first full year of service, total 108,031. Customer bookings fall 17.5% in 1997 to 91,942, while cargo traffic plunges 61.5% to 2.29 million FTKs.
The business picture does not brighten in 1998. Passenger boardings fall another 11.4% to 77,000, while freight traffic declines 5% to 2.07 million FTKs.
The airline, which also is paid to oversee the operation of the local airport, is bitterly disappointed when that responsibility is taken away on October 26, 1999. Enplanements for the year drop to a total of 50,000.
The fleet, at the beginning of 2000, includes 1 Tupolev Tu-154A, 3 Tu-154Bs, 7 Tu-154Ms, and 4 Yak-40s. Scheduled destinations visited include Baku, Bucharest, Kiev, Moscow, St Petersburg, and Yerevan.
ODIN AIR H. F.: Reykjavik Airport, Reykjavik, IS-101, Iceland; Phone 354 561 0880; Fax 354 551 0858; Code 5A; Year Founded 1992. This Icelandic commuter operator is established at Reykjavik in 1992 to offer scheduled flights to domestic locations. President Helgi Jonsson’s inaugural fleet comprises 3 Handley Page HP-137 Jetstream 1s, 1 Mitsubishi Mu-2, and 1 Piper PA-31-310 Navajo. One Jetstream is withdrawn in 1993 and placed into storage.
Service continues thorughout the remainder of the decade.
World History
