SIZER AIRWAYS: United States (1970-1973). Orin Sizer sets up this regional carrier at Rochester, Minnesota, in early 1970 to offer scheduled passenger and cargo services linking its base with Minneapolis, Roseau, and Baudette. Beech 18 flights are duly inaugurated on a daily roundtrip basis, but insufficient traveler traffic causes passenger frequencies to end in late December. Mail and cargo services are maintained almost three years longer.
SK AIR: Cambodia (1991-1993). SK Air is established in 1991 as a
Joint venture between private Cambodian and Thai concerns. These lease a Tupolev Tu-134A from Kampuchea Airlines and employ it to inaugurate scheduled services in the fall linking Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Operations continue for only two years.
SKAERGARDSFLYG, A. B.: Flight Operations, Marienhamn Airport, Marienhamn, Fi-22100, Finland; Phone 358 (18) 12515; Fax 358 (18) 19405; Code 5Q; Year Founded 1995. Skaergardsflyg is established at Marienhamn in 1995 to provide scheduled commuter services to domestic locations. Sven Lemberg is managing director and he begins revenue flights with 1 each Cessna 206, Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, and Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante.
SKAGWAY AIR SERVICE: P. O. Box 357, Skagway, Alaska 99840, United States; Phone (907) 983-2218; Fax (907) 983-2948; http:// Www. ptialaska. net/~skagair; Code 7J; Year Founded 1963. Ben Lin-gle founds Skagway at the namesake Alaskan community in 1963 to undertake passenger and cargo charters to local bush destinations. Operations continue apace during the next quarter century.
Employing the company’s lightplanes, Lingle inaugurates scheduled roundtrip commuter services to Juneau beginning in March 1988.
It is during one of these flights, on July 30, 1989, that the company experiences a fatal accident. While returning to Skagway in bad weather, a
Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six, with a pilot and five passengers, crashes into a steep, wooded hill near a saltwater inlet; two aboard are killed and the three others seriously injured.
In 1990, the 10-employee small regional operates a fleet of 4 Piper Cherokee Sixes and 1 each Piper PA-34 Seneca, Saratoga, and Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2 Islander.
Enplanements in the 12 months total 5,780.
Another PA-32 Cherokee Six is acquired in 1991 as passenger boardings increase to 5,971. A total of 105,276 pounds of mail are flown in addition.
Three years later in 1994, the operations continue with a Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2 Islander and a Piper Saratoga. Passenger boardings drop 5% to 8,703 and a total of 18,000 FTKs are operated.
Ten people are employed by the company in 1995.
Just after takeoff from Juneau on August 26, six inches of the blade of the PA-18 with a pilot and two passengers, separates from the propeller; no injuries are reported in the safe emergency landing that follows.
Enplanements for the year jump 8% to 9,393.
The fleet in 1996 includes 6 PA-32s and 1 each PA-34 Seneca, Saratoga, Islander, and Piper T-1020. Customer bookings swell 6.2% to 9,980.
There is no change in the workforce during 1997. Passenger boardings decrease 6.8% to 9,304. Business significantly improves in 1998 as customer bookings ascend 15.6% to 11,000.
Passenger bookings turn around the other way in 1999, falling by 12.2% to 9,000.
SKIPPERS AVIATION (PTY.), LTD. Valentine Road, Perth Domestic Airport, Redcliffe, Western Australia, 6104, Australia; Phone 61 (8) 9478 3989; Fax 61 (8) 9478 3184; Http://www. skippers. com. au; Year Founded 1990. Skippers is established in 1990 to provide charter services for the mining industry in the vast reaches of the state of Western Australia. Mining crew changes, executive charters, and general flights are offered from bases at both Perth Domestic Airport and the International Airport at Broome. The fleet includes both Cessna 402s and C-441 Conquests.
In a surprise move, Skippers, on July 30, 1996, purchases a 17.3% stake in Cudai, New South Wales-based Hazelton Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. from Rothschild Australia (Pty.), Ltd. for $A3.2 million. Analysts had expected Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. to acquire the shareholding instead. Skippers Chairman Stanely Quinlivan joins the Hazelton board, eventually becoming its chairman.
In the fall, Hazelton enters into a major marketing and code-sharing arrangement with Qantas rival Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd. Thereafter, through the remainder of the decade, the Skippers involvement with the regional airline is largely submerged, although its equity stake rises to 25%.
In the period between the acquisition and the beginning of the new millennium, Skippers grows its fleet to include a mix of leased de Hav-illand DHC-8-100s, Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias, Fairchild Metro 23s, as well as the original Cessnas. Both Hazelton and Ansett are the source of these charters. Weekly roundtrip scheduled service is inaugurated from Broome to Derby and from Perth to Margaret River.
On October 6, 2000, the Hazelton family sells a 20% stake in the carrier to the Air New Zealand Ltd.-owned Ansett Holdings, Ltd., cutting its stake in the carrier from 33.11% to 13.11%. Six days later, Ansett launches an A$15.3 million (900 a share) takeover bid for the remaining shares of the regional. Although Deputy Chairman Charles Hazelton announces that the sale will be good for Australia, several minority shareholders do not believe that. Both Truegrip Aviation (10% stake), led by Peter Truegrip, and Hazelton/Skippers Chairman Quinlivan, believe the Ansett offer to be inadequate. Consequently, a bidding war soon follows.
On November 28, Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. enters the picture when its wholly owned subsidiary Qantas Longreach (Pty.), Ltd. makes an off-market takeover bid for all of the shares in Hazelton via a cash offer of A$1.20 a share. According to Qantas CEO James Strong, this tender is a 33% increase over the Ansett price; the Hazelton board, led by Chairman Quinlivan, quickly endorses the Qantas bid as representing far better value for the company’s shares.
Not to be outbid, Ansett soon returns with an offer of A$1.35 a share and lowers its ownership demand from 90% to 50.1% control. On December 12, Qantas CEO-designate Geoffrey Dixon informs the press that his carrier will be revising its Hazelton bid and urges the regional’s shareholders not to accept the Ansett offer. Rivalry for the Hazelton slots intensifies in light of the government’s decision not to proceed with plans to build a second international airport at Sydney, indicating that it will instead direct overflow traffic to an upgraded, smaller airport at Bankstown.
On December 20, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission notifies Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. that it will be coming out against the proposed ownership of Hazelton by either Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd. or Qantas, noting that a takeover by either major would stifle competition in New South Wales’ regional market and by controlling Hazelton’s 450 takeoff/landing slots, have an unfair advantage at Sydney Airport.
After informing the ACCC that it wishes to proceed anyway, Qantas, on December 27 informs the Hazelton shareholders that it wishes to purchase 20.1% of the shares, instead of the 20% originally sought. It will leave its offer open until January 24 in order to give it time to consult with the ACCC.
As the year ends, the Hazelton family prepares to accept the Ansett bid on January 2, boosting the stake of Australia’s No. 2 carrier from 23% to 35.4% and bidding up Hazelton’s value to A$23 million (US$22 million). The bidding war will intensify in early January 2001, with both sides topping each other “subject to ACCC approval.” The ACCC will eventually disapprove the Qantas effort and the pioneer will bow out of the Hazelton bidding on January 22.
At the end of February, it will be reported that the carrier has suffered a half-year net loss of A$1.705 million ($889,158). Analysts will suggest that the outlook for the company’s survival is bleak unless the ACCC allows the Ansett takeover.
SKOCDOPOLE BROTHERS AVIATION, LTD. See SUNWEST INTERNATIONALAVIATION SERVICES, LTD.
SKODA AIR, LTD.: Czech Republic (1979-1996). Skoda Air is established at Pilsen in 1979 to offer scheduled regional flights; the airline is part of Skoda Holdings, the nation’s biggest industrial group. Milan Svoboda is named managing director and he establishes a fleet that grows to include 4 Let L-410 Turbolets, 1 Cessna 421, and 5 Cessna 410s. These are employed over the next 15 years on charters and scheduled freight services, the latter on behalf of DHL Airways in Europe. It also wet-leases short-term capacity to companies and carriers in Africa.
Operations continue apace in 1993 as an L-200 Morava is purchased. In July 1994, Skoda acquires its first SAAB 340B, which is employed, on behalf of CSA Czech Airlines, to operate scheduled passenger flights from Prague to Vienna, plus a Cessna 421C Golden Eagle II.
In 1995, the Golden Eagle is sold to a company in the Philippines and the four Turbolets are sold to a firm in Kenya; they are replaced with an Antonov An-26, which undertakes the DHL Airways cargo contract.
Airline employment stands at 29 in 1996. On March 1, the company is renamed Skoda Engineering + Air Transport, Ltd.
SKODA ENGINEERING + AIR TRANSPORT, LTD.: Namesti Ceskych Btatri 8, Pizen, CZ-31600, Czech Republic; Phone 420 19 773-2838; Fax 420 19 742-1709; Code SOA; Year Founded 1996. Skoda Air, Ltd., based at Pilzen, is renamed on March 1, 1996. Jaroslav Panik is appointed managing director. With a workforce of 29 and a fleet comprising 1 Antonov An-26, 1 SAAB 340B, and 1 Let L-200 Morava, the company continues its freight, charter, and scheduled services as before.
SKY AIR CARGO, LTD.: Room 75, Passenger Building, Ostend Airport, Ostend, 8400, Belgium; Phone 32 (59) 50 7500; Fax 32 (59) 80 5368; Year Founded 1988. SAC is organized at London on November 10, 1988 to operate a weekly all-cargo service from Ostend Airport to
Tehran, Singapore, and back. Manager Azam Begg recruits a staff of 17 and acquires 1 Boeing 707-323C originally flown by American Airlines.
Operations continue apace in 1989-1992 and in 1993 the workforce totals 20. The single Boeing now flies regularly from Ostend to Kinshasa and Nairobi, the Mideast and Far East service having been discontinued in favor of ad hoc charters.
Flights continue in 1994-1999, during which years Roger Sherman becomes managing director.
SKY AIRLINES, LTD. See SABRE AIRWAYS, LTD.
SKY CABS (PTY.), LTD.: P. O. Box 683, 294 1/2 Union Place, Colombo 2, Sri Lanka; Phone 94 (1) 633 332; Fax 94 (1) 635 505; Http://www. skycab. com; Code 2E; Year Founded 1990. Sky Cabs is originally set up by its chairman, Ali Akber Seafudeen Jeevunjee, at Colombo in July 1990 as the flight training school Asian Academy of Aeronautics. In 1993, the company becomes the first in Sri Lanka to offer scheduled cargo services. A workforce of 27 is recruited and 2 Antonov An-12s are acquired. Revenue flights commence in August with weekly services to Gan Island in the Addu atolls; the usual outbound cargo is fabric, which is returned as completed garments.
With capitalization of Rs2.5 million and Priyakarage Edward Suren-dra de Silva as a new partner, the company continues its flights in 1994-1997. During these years, the fleet is increased with two An-8s and Male and Sharjah join the route network. The carrier is reformed into three operating divisions: domestic charter, international cargo operations, and the Asian Academy of Aeronautics.
Sky Cabs frequencies by 1998-2000 reach 11 weekly roundtrips between Colombo and Male, becoming the largest cargo carrier operating into Male. Indeed, it is now the second largest carrier in Sri Lanka.
SKY FREIGHTERS, B. V.: Belgium (1994-1995). Sky Freighters,
B. V. is established at Kortrijk in the fall of 1994 to provide twice-daily express services to London (STN). Employing a British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 transferred to the Belgian register by its U. K. associate, Euro Direct Airlines, Ltd., Sky Freighters inaugurates flights on October 3, but must shut down upon the failure of Euro Direct in 1995.
SKY HARBOR AIR SERVICES: United States (1970). SHAS is set up at Omaha, Nebraska, in the spring of 1970 to provide Cessna light-plane air taxi flights to intrastate destinations. During the fall, the company is bought out by and merged into Alliance, Nebraska-based Trans-Nebraska Airlines.
SKY LINE, A. S.: Esenboga, Ankara, Turkey; Phone 90 (212) 2961694; Fax 90 (212) 296-1695; Year Founded 1983. Sky Line is established at Ankara in 1983 to provide executive and small group passenger charters around the country. By 2000, General Manager Ferda Tariz oversees the work of 4 full-time pilots and the operations of 2 Beech 400A Beechjets and 1 Beech King Air 90.
SKY ONE EXPRESS: United States (1991-1993). William B. Parris III establishes Sky One Express at Reisterstown, Maryland, in 1991 to operate Section 135 charter flights from Baltimore (BWI) to Ocean City. Services commence with 2 Piper PA-31-310 Navajos and 1 PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain and by year’s end, a total of 6,222 passengers have been flown.
During the summer of 1992, scheduled services are inaugurated over the company’s nonscheduled route and a second Chieftain is acquired during the fall. Operations cease in 1993.
SKY PROJECT HELICOPTERS, S. A.: Av. Franklin Roosevelt 39, Rixensart, B-1330, Belgium; Phone 32 (0) 2 654 09 58; Fax 32 (0) 2 652 44 18; Http://www. sky-project. com; Year Founded 1993. Employing a chartered Aerospatiale AS350B, Sky Project is organized at Rixensart on November 11, 1993 to offer sight-seeing flights on behalf of the
Poire Commerciale de Wavre. The weather is poor and the flights are made in light snow and low ceiling. While the charters could not be successful, the organizers are sufficiently impressed to remain in business.
In the summer of 1994, Sky Project operates the first commercial flights in Belgium of the McDonnell Douglas MD520 Notar. The helicopter transports a total of 143 passengers from the little community of Virginal. Sight-seeing flights are made over the Plan Incline in Ron-quieres as well as over the Castle of Ittre.
Under contract to the UN in 1995, Sky Project pilots undertake humanitarian flights in Rwanda in the period after the end of the horrendous genocide. Later in the fall, the company is reformed. Henceforth it will engage in both international operations and local flight-seeing activities. At this point, company aircraft begin air work.
Through the remainder of the decade, the operator provides pipeline patrols, medevac, flight-seeing, aerial photography, airlift, cablepulling, and other contract services, both in Belgium and overseas.
The company’s large helicopter fleet in 2000 includes 1 each Bell 47G, 407, and 412, 2 LongRanger 212s, 3 LongRanger 206Ls, 3 Eurocopter AS350B Ecureuils, 2 SA3 Aloutte Ils, 1 each AS355F and AS365 Dauphin, 1 each MD500E and MD520 Notar, 3 Robinson R22 Betas, and 1 R44 Astro.
Sky Project has two major international operations under way. The first employs two Bell 212s in flight operations on behalf of relief organizations in Central and Western Africa. In the second, the company is positioning itself to provide helicopter support for oil and gas fields being opened in Southeast Asia.
SKY SERVICE, S. A.: Kortrijkstraat 317, Wevelgem, B-8650, Belgium; Phone 32 (56) 40 39 11; Fax 32 (56) 40 42 08; Http://www. sky-service. be; Code SK; Year Founded 1983. Sky Service is organized at Wevelgem in October 1983 to offer domestic and regional cargo charters and express services. Nonscheduled flights continue apace over the next decade. As the 1980s move into the 1990s, the company fleet includes 1 Beech King Air 100 and 1 Cessna 550 Citation I.
In 1993, Barth Foucart is director, a workforce of 15 is recruited, and 1 each Cessna 406 Caravan II and Embraer EMB-110P Bandeirante are acquired. Scheduled passenger operations commence in October and continue as the fleet is increased with two EMB-121 Brasilias which, due to economic difficulties, must be withdrawn in 1994.
Flights continue in 1995-1999, during which years airline employment rises to 18 and the fleet is altered to include 1 Beech King Air 90, 1 Fokker F.27-500, 2 Cessna 550 Citation IIs, and 1 Bandeirante.
By 2000, airline employment totals 35 and the number of EMB-110Ps is increased by two.
World History
