TAT (TRANSPORTES AEREOS TERRESTRES, S. A. de C. V.): Mexico (1943-1990). When United Air Lines takes over LAMSA (Lineas Aereas Mexicana, S. A. de C. V.) in 1943, it casts aside Gordon Barry’s old Mazatlan-Tayoltita route, which had been maintained under a permanent route certificate on behalf of the San Luis Mining Company. To replace the service, TAT is organized at Tayoltita and begins service with a Stinson.
In late 1948, the mining concern purchases the 20-year old Ford 5-AT-11 in Florida for $5,000 and spends $60,000 to refurbish it. The machine is then flown down to Tayoltita and placed on the company’s runs to Mazatlan and Durango, where it will serve until March 1966, when it is sold to an Arizona concern.
Following departure of the Ford, the carrier replaces its antique with a de Havilland DH-6-100 Twin Otter, the first of its type to fly commercially in Mexico. The company continues to offer charter and contract passenger and cargo flights; although its fleet is enhanced by the addition of a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander and other single-engine types during the 1980s, its fleet at decade’s end includes just one DHC-6-300.
Operations cease in 1990.
TAT EUROPEAN AIRLINES, S. A.: France (1992-1998). Based at Paris (ORY), TAT (Transport Aerien Transregional, S. A.), France’s largest independent carrier, is renamed TAT European Airlines, S. A. in February 1992 and embarks upon a major expansion of routes and services. The original founder of the French concern, Michel Marchais, becomes chairman; his son, Rodolphe, becomes president/general manager with Alain Corbel as deputy president and John Hanlon as deputy general manager.
The fleet now comprises 5 Avions de Transport Regional ATR42-300s, 4 ATR72-202s, 1 Beech Super King Air 200, 5 Boeing 737-200s, 3 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, 11 Fairchild Hiller FH-227Bs, 9 Fokker 100s, 5 Fokker F.28-4000s, 4 F.28-2000s, and 12 F.28-1000s. Simultaneously, a contract is signed with Nordam for the development of a hush-kit system for the F.28s.
New Fokker 100 and F.28 services are inaugurated to Milan and Bergamo on March 9, three-times-daily to London’s Gatwick Airport on March 30, to London (Gatwick) from Lyon on April 27, to Copenhagen on May 11, and to Munich on May 18. Domestic flights from Paris (ORY) continue to provide services to over 30 destinations while new services from De Gaulle are launched to Marseilles and Toulouse. During the summer tourist season, flights are laid on from Poitiers and Tours to London (LGW and STN) from Brive and the Corsican cities of Figari and Calvi.
On September 28 (effective January 1), a ?17.25-million, 49.9% interest is acquired by British Airways, Ltd. (2) with an option to obtain the remainder before April 1997. Most former routes are maintained by company planes, painted as they are in a mixed BA/TAT livery. Also in September, new business-class services are introduced from London (LGW) by Fokker 100s to Paris and F.28s to Lyon.
Enplanements at Chairman Marchais’s carrier, under both monikers, increases 14.8% for the whole year to 910,905. Large, undisclosed, losses are suffered.
Airline employment stands at 3,000 in 1993. The process of applying a BA/TAT livery to the fleet continues into the new year.
By the end of the first quarter, the company, employing the British Airways brand name, is offering the major’s Club Europe and Euro Traveler products and employing BA flight designators.
In March, the partners establish a new regional network based on both Paris and London (LGW, North Terminal). Following the loss of one of its two Fokker 100s in a spring takeoff accident, Palair Macedonia leases one each F.28-1000 and F.28-4000.
Daily flights are initiated to Munich, Stockholm, and Copenhagen from those locations, with twice-daily services also provided Lyon-Satolas and Marseilles-Provence. Flights from Paris are operated by Fokker 100s and those from London by F.28s. Orders are placed for seven Airbus Industrie A320s with which to replace the Fokker 28s.
TAT closes its U. K. office at month’s end and suspends its flights from London (LGW) to Paris (CDG) in favor of BA, which gained slots on the route the previous fall when it acquired Dan-Air/Dan-Air Services, Ltd. At the same time, the London (LGW)-Lyon F.28 service becomes twice daily and a new twice-daily route is opened from Britain to Marseilles. A complaint is now filed with the EU Commission protesting Air Inter’s monopoly on domestic French routes from Paris (ORY).
Four more Fokker 100s are delivered, two of which are leased to Corse Mediterranean, S. A., along with four ATR72-202s. A significant number of replacement services are offered on behalf of Air France and five B-737s (two Dash-204Cs and one each Dash-210C, Dash 242C, and Dash-248C) are operated in support of L’Aeropostale (2). In December, a five-year fiscal recovery plan is published, calling for 15% savings and the layoff of 350 workers.
Passenger boardings for the year only increase to 995,909 and revenues total $328.8 million. Heavy fiscal losses are again taken.
In an effort to stem its fiscal hemorrhage, TAT begins to restructure in the spring of 1994. The fleet is cut to 6 Fokker 100s, 11 F.28s, 3 ATR72-202s, and 6 ATR42-300s. In January, an ATR72-202 is leased to Kampuchea Airlines. Plans are made to launch service in June between London (LHR) and Paris (ORY) following resolution of a dispute concerning the access of “foreign” carriers to the historic French airport.
That dispute is officially terminated in May by order of the EU Commission, which requires Air Inter to end its historic monopoly. The commission requires that TAT be permitted to commence roundtrip flights from Paris (ORY) to London beginning on June 13, with Marseilles available by fall.
France and British Airways, Ltd. (2) agree that June 30 will be soon enough for the launch of the London-Paris (ORY) service. However, the British are upset by French restrictions that limit both the flag carrier and its French partner to four daily flights shared between them under their common flight designator.
During the 12 months, scheduled departures total 42,567 while enplanements ascend to 1,196,211.
Services to Paris (ORY) are enhanced in early 1995. On January 1, TAT is authorized to begin roundtrip services between Paris (ORY) and Toulouse; flights commence in March. Five Fokker 100s are leased to Munich-based Deutsche BA Luftfahrtgesselschaft, GmbH.
On May 29, six-times-per-day roundtrips commence from Paris (ORY) to Marseilles. Also in May, a new commercial organization is established at Tours. Provided with a new telephone sales and direct-selling base, it is charged with marketing all domestic services within France.
The Toulouse flights start in September. With the European network losing money, company executives determine to concentrate on building up domestic services.
As the year ends, 20 senior pilots take early retirement and although costs have otherwise been cut somewhat, the airline’s deficit now stands at FFr 600 million ($119 million).
Interested in increasing income, the carrier refuses to enter into deep-discount competition with Air France Europe, S. A. when the government completely deregulates domestic air transport on January 1, 1996. Liberalized competition is left to the other independents Air Liberte, S. A. and AOM French Airlines, S. A.
In order to provide additional space for Air France Europe, S. A., TAT and AOM French Airlines, S. A. are ordered in February to vacate the West Terminal at Paris Orly Airport and move to the South Terminal. Both protest vigorously, with AOM Chairman Marc Rochet referring the matter to both Aeroports de Paris and the European Commission. Air France Chairman Christian Blanc proves powerful enough to push the two independents out by April.
Continuing to suffer financially, the carrier now concentrates solely on domestic operations, seeking to increase its market share on the routes from Paris (ORY) to Marseilles and to Toulouse from 12% to 20%, while also focusing on the Toulouse hub and its network of secondary routes. On April 1, the number of daily nonstop roundtrip frequencies from Paris (ORY) to both Marseilles and Toulouse is increased from six to nine.
B-737-336s, leased from British Airways, Ltd. (2), now replace the Fokker 100s on the nonstop roundtrip services from Paris (ORY) to London (LHR) and from Marseilles to London (LGW), however, the Fokkers remain in operation from Lyon to London (LGW). Also during the spring, two ATR72-202s are dry-leased to Vietnam Airlines.
British Airways, Ltd. (2) takes 100% complete control of TAT in August.
Financially troubled competitor Air Liberte, S. A. is placed into receivership on September 26 and its chartered Douglas DC-10 wide-bodies are returned to Finland. Given six months by the bankruptcy court to develop a workable reorganization plan, its chairman promises to write a recovery program by the end of October, at which time $120 million in fiscal year losses must be reported.
Following further exploration into the company’s finances during the first week of October, the bankruptcy court determines that Air Liberte, S. A.’s fiscal situation is worse than was originally reported. Even though a number of unprofitable routes are now cut, the court announces that it must have outside acquisition bids by October 14 in order to avoid ordering the company liquidated.
Suitors for the stricken airline begin to emerge late in the week. With pressure to keep it in French hands and its unions seeking acquisition, Air France expresses interest. Under EC restrictions against acquisition of other carriers during the time of its $4-billion state bailout, it appears unlikely that the independent will join the major’s stable.
Other companies expressing an interest include AOM French Airlines, S. A., which has been seeking a merger, along with British Airways, Ltd. (2), Virgin Express, Ltd., TAT European Airlines, S. A., and Corsair, S. A., the in-house airline of France’s largest tour operator, Nouvelles Frontieres. Seeking to protect the interest of its TAT subsidiary, British Airways, Ltd. (2) CEO Robert Ayling complains to the European Commission at AOM should not be allowed to seek ownership as it, too, is up for sale as the result of restructuring plans announced in the wake of a 1995 state aid package to its parent, Credit Lyonnais.
With AOM French Airlines, S. A. and Air France out of the picture, two airlines, Nouvelles Frontiers, and a group of private investors, submit offerings for Air Liberte, S. A. to the Creteil Court on October 14.
The weakest offering is made by an unnamed French pilot acting on behalf of a group of private investors; no details are provided. Virgin Atlantic Express, Ltd.’s offering, for which details are also not provided, is not, as company officials put it, “fully compliant with the court’s requirements.”
Nouvelles Frontiers notes that it has partners in the Rivaud Bank and Royal Air Maroc who would be willing to take over Air Liberte, S. A.
(including its $300-million debt) and make it profitable within 18 months. It would also make an offer to acquire AOM French Airlines, S. A. The two independents would be merged with its own in-house carrier, Corsair, S. A., to create a major independent airline that could then compete with Air France.
In addition to an initial payment of $5 million for AL’s assets, the BA/TAT plan would essentially retain the present Air Liberte, S. A. fleet and routes, concluding a code-sharing agreement for routes now flown in competition and pledging not to begin new routes that overlap. French management would be maintained, 1,250 employees would be hired, and the British would make a major capital investment. The company would be reformed into the new French carrier Societe Nouvelle Air Liberte, S. A.
During the last week of October, the Rivaud bank and Nouvelles Frontiers abandon their efforts to take over Air Liberte, S. A.; Rivaud throws its support behind BA, with the two pledging to invest $124 million in the ailing French independent. BA would hold 70% interest with the remaining 30% stake held by Rivaud. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic Express, Ltd. is joined by a number of unnamed investors in presenting an alternative to the French bankruptcy court handling the case; the court extends the deadline for its decision from October 30 to November 5.
Virgin Atlantic Express, Ltd. does not submit a bid and on November 5 the Creteil Court accepts the BA/Rivaud joint offering to acquire Air Liberte. Under terms of the agreement, which will become final on December 15, TAT Chairman/CEO Marc Rochet will assume the same post at Air Liberte; he will be joined by other TAT officials, as well as by Warren Tucker, head of BA’s Investment and Joint Ventures Department. No immediate plans to merge the carriers are announced; however, schedules will be coordinated and flight operations will be streamlined.
In November, Deutsche BA Luftfahrtgesselschaft, GmbH. completes the sale of its turboprop international and domestic operations originating from Bremen, Stuttgart, and Friedrichshafen to the Regional Airlines, S. A. The five Fokker 100s are returned to TAT as the French carrier begins to operate its prize under the separate marketing name Deutsche Regional Airlines, S. A.
Although the acquisition of Air Liberte, S. A. is scheduled for completion on December 15, paperwork complexities will force a delay into the new year.
Combined enplanements on the year for both TAT and Air Liberte, S. A. total 4.5 million.
On January 4, 1997, the Creteil tribunal officially approves the British Airways, Ltd. (2) purchase of a 67% stake in Air Liberte, S. A.
With the remainder held by Banque Rivaud. TAT Chairman Rochet is also confirmed as chairman of Air Liberte’s board of directors. French government permission is simultaneously acquired by the British major to take over complete control and to integrate AL’s operations into those of TAT.
TAT and Air Liberte, S. A., under a substantial code-sharing agreement signed at the end of March, begin to more deeply integrate their services as of April 1, the day on which the process of liberalization within the European civil aviation industry is completed.
At this point, Chairman Rochet demands that the working conditions of TAT pilots be cut to the level of their Air Liberte opposite numbers. It is also required that pilots from both lines perform to the EU legal limits for flight and duty time. Believing this to be unsafe, flight crews from TAT and Air Liberte, with support from the European Cockpit Association, walk out on indefinite strike on April 9.
Flight crews at other airlines facing similar difficulties offer support; on April 24-25, pilots at TAP Air Portugal, S. A. declare a 48-hr. strike.
The process of amalgamation continues throughout the spring, summer, and into the fall. During these months, a number of routes are dropped, including Paris (ORY) to Chambery and Castres. Most are quickly snapped up by other companies, including Proteux Air System, S. A.
Although legalization of the merger is not complete, the company trade name is no longer employed after November 1, the unified carrier being known as Air Liberte, S. A. Complete absorption is completed on March 15, 1998.
TATA AIR LINES: India (1929-1946). Neville Vintcent and Johangir R. S. Tata in July 1929 establish the private carrier Tata Sons at Karachi as a division of the latter’s huge family trading enterprise Tata Sons, Ltd. and submit a plan to the government for a Karachi to Bombay air service. A license is successfully sought to open a connecting service to link the Imperial Airways, Ltd. Karachi base with cities further south. The 10-year contract, if successfully executed by Tata and Vintcent, will eventually bring revenues for mail on a sliding scale pounds-per-mile basis.
Beginning Indian commercial air transport, Tata and Vintcent inaugurate an unsubsidized weekly de Havilland DH 80A Puss Moth mail service on October 15, 1932 over a route Karachi-Ahmedabad-Bombay and Bombay-Bellary-Madras. The initial flight, completed by Vintcent from Bombay after Tata had arrived at that city from Karachi, reaches Madras on October 16.
Vintcent begins the first leg of the Madras-Karachi return flight next day with Tata arriving at that destination on October 18.
In 1933, the first full year of service, a total of 155 passengers and 10.71 tons of mail are transported over 160,000 miles. Operations continue apace in 1934.
In order to gain an annual Rs 20,000 subsidy from the Nijam of Hyderabad, the Bellary stop is replaced on January 4, 1935 by one at the new airfield at Hyderabad. On February 23, Vintcent flies a proving mail route Bombay-Calcutta via Nagpur and Jamshedpur, with the carrier’s newly arrived second Puss Moth. During the summer, a Miles Merlin is received and on November 26, it begins an experimental weekly mail service Bombay-Trivandrum via Goa and Cannanore.
American-made WACO YQC-6s join the fleet in 1936 and the Kathiawar Peninsula town of Bhuj becomes a stop on the Karachi-Ahmedabad segment. Tata carries the first Colombo-Karachi airmail, starting on Christmas Day.
The carrier’s name is changed to Tata Air Lines (Pty.), Ltd. in 1937. Two de Havilland DH 89As are placed in service during late summer. WACO mail service begins over a Bombay-Delhi route via Indora, Bhopal, and Gwalior, on November 6. The Karachi-Madras mail route is extended to Colombo with WACOS on January 22, 1938; DH-89A passenger service to the same point is inaugurated on January 29. On February 28, the Indian government grants the carrier a 10-year mail subsidy for its Karachi-Colombo service as a part of The Empire Air Mail Scheme. The Bombay-Trivandrum route is extended to Trichinop-oly on March 2; this move links the two principal southbound routes from Bombay. The first of four DH-86s purchased from Qantas Empire Airways (Pty.), Ltd. arrives in September and is placed in service on October 9.
During 1939-1940, additional DH-86s are placed on the passenger routes. In 1941, five Stinson Model ATri-Motors are acquired from the U. S. carrier Marquette Airways and are placed in service. On November 1, with Douglas DC-2s loaned by the government, nonscheduled multistop Karachi-Baghdad flights are begun. Internal Indian routes are maintained in 1942 with three DC-2s turned over by the RAF in July, August, and October of the former year.
The route to Trichinopoly is suspended in January 1943 and two of the Douglas transports are withdrawn, one each in July and November. On March 1, 1944, DC-3s are placed on the weekly Bombay-Colombo and twice-weekly Bombay-Karachi routes. These replace the Stinsons, which are now withdrawn, and the last DC-2, retired on July 6. Meanwhile, the network is strengthened in April by the inauguration of Jodhpur services.
In 1945, DC-3 routes are opened from Bombay to Nagpur and Calcutta on April 16, Bombay to Bangalore and Coimbatore on April 25, Bombay to Bangalore and Madras on June 24, the former being suspended on July 3. The carrier is allocated four DC-3s on August 25 and leases/purchases eight others from the U. S. Foreign Liquidation Commission. On July 29, 1946, Tata Air Lines, Ltd. becomes a public corporation and is renamed Air India, Ltd.
TATNEFTAERO: Vishnevski Str., No. 26, Kazan, 420043, Russia; Phone (8432) 380988; Fax (8432) 380969; Code TNF; Year Founded 1997. This privately owned charter carrier is formed on March 17, 1997 and registered on May 6. A refurbished Tupolev Tu-154M is acquired in August 1998 and the Russian air transport ministry (FSVT) grants the new concern an operator’s certificate on September 15.
The Russian currency crisis forces the company to put an 18-month hold on its start-up. Employing the Tu-154M, revenue operations commence at the end of March 2000. Over the next several weeks and into the summer, Tatneftaero operates flights of several days’ duration to Delhi, Islamabad, Abadan, Yakutsk, Anadir, Pevsk, Norilsk, Igarka, Noyabsk, Nizhnevartovsk, Nadim, Ufa, Rostov, Anapa, Krasnodar, Stavropol, Mineralnie Vodi, Sochi, and Astrakhan.
On August 15, the company’s fleet is increased by the addition of a Tu-134A. The Tu-154M operates a charter from Moscow to Zurich on September 1 transporting the Russion football union’s combined national team for World Cup elimination matches. The aircraft returns to the Russian capital on September 3.
With an official delegation from the Tartarstan Republic embarked, including State Council Chairman F. Khan. Mukhametshin, the Tupolev on September 4 flies from Kazan to Hanover for a weeklong visit to the Expo 2000 World’s Fair.
A second Tu-154M joins the fleet on September 11. It is joined by the Tu-134A which, on October 19-21, operates a charter flight for Tatneft representatives over a route Kazan-Simferopol-Kalingrad-Moscow and back to Kazan.
Under contract to the tour operator Ver-Tur, a Tu-154M operates a charter from Kazan to Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt between October 28 and November 6. The second Tupolev, flying on behalf of Inturtsenter, transports tourists from Kazan to Sharja, UAE, via Orenburg between October 30 and November 9. Between November 1 and 3, company representatives are flown on the Tu-134A on a route-proving and public relations service from Kazan to Prague and back. Upon its return from Egypt, the premier Tupolev is turned around and flown with tourists to Greece between November 8 and 11. Known as a “fur tour,” this trip and others like it has the express purpose of letting sight-seers return with as many Western-made goods as possible.
Flights continue in December, during which month a homepage is opened on the World Wide Web.
A total of 16,974 passengers are transported between March and December 31.
TATONDUK AIR SERVICE: P. O. Box 61680, 6348 Old Airport Road, Fairbanks, Alaska 99706, United States; Phone (907) 4744697; Fax (907) 474-4687; Http://www. tatondukflying. com; Code 3K; Year Founded 1977. Tatonduk is established by Everts Air Fuel
Founder/owner Clifford R. Everts in early 1977 to oeprate passenger and cargo taxi flights linking Fairbanks with its base at Eagle, on the Yukon River, 5 mi. inside the U. S. border with Canada. The service, a division of the owner’s Tatonduk Outfitters Limited, supports those engaged in the gold mining and trapping industries, as well as hunters and fishermen. In 1984, Robert W. Everts graduates from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and goes to work for his father.
Regularly scheduled commuter flights are inaugurated by the company’s Piper PA-31-310 Navajo in March 1985. A Piper PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance is acquired in 1989 as the commuter becomes a codesharing partner of Frontier Flying Service.
Tatonduk’s two aircraft fly a total of 1,114 passengers in 1990. En-planements grow by a total of 10 customers in 1991. In addition, 197,144 pounds of mail are transported. Passenger operations are scaled back in 1992-1994 and the Navajo is sold. Meanwhile, in 1993, Robert
W. Everts becomes the company’s owner/operator.
Following the collapse of MarkAir in April 1995, Everts is granted authority to estbalish another division of Tatonduk Outfitters Limited, an all-cargo concern under the marketing name Air Cargo Express (2).
A Douglas DC-6 is leased and roundtrip freight service is inaugurated on July 19 from Fairbanks to Barrow, four times a week. On the other days, charters are operated to gold-mining sites in the state’s interior.
Operating income exceeds costs and there are profits: $240,000 (operating) and $223,000 (net).
The Tatonduk Air Service fleet in 1996 includes 2 Cessna Lances and 1 Cessna 206. Two more DC-6 freighters enter service with Air Cargo Express (2).
A total of 1.07 million FTKs are operated, a huge 204.5% increase. Revenues of $7.3 million are generated and expenses are $6.16 million. Operating gain swells to $1.14 million while a net $1.05-million profit is posted.
The total fleet of President/General Manager Everts in 1997 includes 3 Piper Lances, 1 Cessna 206, and 3 DC-6s. Although traffic figures are not available at this writing, revenue figures demonstrate a good year.
Operating revenues skyrocket 74.1% to $12.7 million, while expenses increase 72.6% to $10.63 million. The operating gain shoots up to $2.08 million and a $1.79-million net profit is banked.
Airline employment in 1998 stands at 28. Flights continue without incident or gain. Cargo traffic falls 94.7% to 10,000 FTKs. Still, revenues are up 20% to $15.26 million and costs are $14.03 million. The operating profit falls to $1.2 million, while the net gain slides to $929,000.
The cargo division’s fleet is altered in 1999 as five DC-3s join the fleet, replacing the earlier DC-6s. The new additions provide scheduled services to 13 major markets in Alaska, including Aniak, Barrow, Bethel, Dillingham, Emmonak, Galena, Iliamna, McGrath, King Salmon, Kotzebue, Nome, St. Mary’s, and Unalakleet. On-demand charters are also flown. Freight traffic during these 12 months plunges again, dropping to 3,968,000 FTKs.
A total of 23 full-time and 2 part-time pilots are employed at the beginning of 2000 to fly the company’s 2-division fleet, which now includes 2 each C-206s and C-208Bs, 1 PA-32R-300 Lance, 3 PA-32-300 Cherokee Sixes, and 5 DC-3s. Air Cargo Express (2) now opens a homepage on the Internet’s World Wide Web.
This year, for the first time, the salmon runs along the entire Yukon watershed collapse. By fall, subsistence salmon fishing must be shut down and Governor Tony Knowles declares an emergency. In addition to the economic loss, thousands of dogs in rural bush areas, used to haul sleds and are dependent upon salmon for food, face starvation or liquidation. Something must be done to avert this disaster and a number of small airlines, coming off a bad year caused by rising fuel and insurance costs, are able to assist, while also enjoying renewed profits.
The key to the situation, in the eyes of many, is the transport of donated dog food and fish obtained by local governments and tribes as the result of press reports of the failed salmon returns. In late August and September, a massive food shipment is organized by Warbelow’s at Fairbanks, with support from the U. S. Postal Service and other small airlines.
Because Warbelow’s has made special arrangements with its competitors, the USPS, which will not be directly involved in distribution, agrees to allow the donated food to be classified as bypass mail, for which rock-bottom postage is charged. The entire $25,000 bill will be paid by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, which also rents refrigeration to hold frozen foot awaiting delivery.
Under the direction of Chief Pilot Michael Morgan, Warbelow’s, which has the only bypass mail shipping permit in Fairbanks, runs the packages through its meter and, with USPS assistance, farms out this mail for delivery. The airlines involved, including Warbelow’s Air Ventures, Frontier Flying Service, Arctic Circle Air Service, Belair, Larry’s Flying Service, Servant Air, Tanana Air Service, Tatonduk, and Wright’s Air Service, are paid a rate per pound (between 400 and $1 depending on distance), to haul the approximately 100 tons of food to villages along the Yukon, Tanana, and Koyukuk Rivers.
TATRA AIR, A. G.: M. R. Stefanik Airport, Bratislava, 82314, Slovak Republic; Phone 421 (7) 292 318; Fax 421 (7) 292 459; Code QS; Year Founded 1990. Tatra is established at Bratislava-Ivanka Airport in July 1990 to operate as the new nation’s flag carrier on international, regional, and domestic routes. Slovair, with two-thirds of the holdings, and the Swiss regional Crossair, Ltd. holding the other third, jointly own the enterprise. Milos Vrablica becomes director general and Slovair provides both staff and infrastructure. Close cooperation is maintained with CSA (Czechoslovak Airlines) while Crossair, Ltd. trains flight and ground crews at its Basel base.
A SAAB 340A turboprop is leased from Crossair, Ltd. and is employed to inaugurate scheduled services on April 2, 1991. Initial internal flights are undertaken linking the carrier’s base with Tatry, Popra, and Kosice, and Sliac with Prague. In August, former Swissair official Jana Jorasek is named director general.
In September, negotiations are held with CSA (Czechoslovak Airlines) aimed at allowing Tatra to fly replacement services for the flag carrier. Later in the year, markets are initiated at Zurich and Munich, with twice-daily frequencies to the former and daily to the latter.
During the spring of 1992, Jorasek’s carrier, due to severe start-up losses, loses its Crossair, Ltd. support and aircraft. The Swiss carrier, having lost over a million Swiss francs and having received no lease payments for its turboprop, withdraws the SAAB 340A at the end of March. Tatra is able to charter a Yak 40 from the state of Slovakia with which to maintain its services to Zurich and Munich.
New Austrian owners, the freight forwarding concern Cargo Rach-bauer of Salzburg, replace the Swiss in April and the company acquires three Let L-401s and two chartered SAAB 340BQCs, the latter formerly operated by Air Exel Belgium. International destinations now visited from Bratislava include Berlin (Schoenfeld), Geneva, Stuttgart, Zurich, Munich, and Frankfurt. A frequency is also inaugurated to Berlin (Schoenfeld) from Tatry and Popra. Protected by the Czech government, Tatra in July demands that Deutsche BA Luftfahrtgesselschaft, GmbH. split its Stuttgart-Prague service with it.
Enplanements total 8,174 and revenues of $2.4 million are generated.
Airline employment stands at 90 in 1993. The company shuts down for a month in June in protest of the delay in granting it national carrier status; flights are resumed in July and the move does not impact the year’s traffic figures. Meanwhile, the company, having spent many months seeking investment from other airlines, finally finds a partner. Unable to make lease payments on its own SAABs, Lausanne, Switzerland-based AlphaLines purchases Tatra in August.
Passenger boardings are up a spectacular 56.6% to 18,832 while freight skyrockets 118.7% to 25,000 FTKs flown. Revenues slide 20% to $2 million.
The workforce is decreased 12.2% in 1994 to 55 and the fleet now includes 1 L-410UVP and 2 SAAB 340BQCs, 1 of which is leased. New routes are opened to Prague and Kiev.
Customer bookings accelerate another 31.9% to 24,833 while cargo jumps 38.4% to 33.9 million FTKs. Revenues increase by 14.9% to $2.3 million.
Five employees are rehired in 1995 to help the carrier initiate new services to Warsaw.
Enplanements jump 26.4% to 31,395 and operating revenues climb 18.9% to $3.85 million.
The workforce is increased by 13.3% in 1996 to 68 and the leased fleet now includes 2 SAAB 340QCs and 5 Boeing 737-300s.
Customer bookings increase 38.2% to 43,401 and 61,500 FTKs are operated, a 23% increase.
During the first quarter of 1997, Tatra becomes the first European Customer for the SAAB 2000, ordering two of the jetprops. The first of the Swedish-made aircraft is delivered in October and on November 1 enters service over a route from Bratislava to London (LGW). Plans are made at the end of the year for receipt of the second SAAB 2000 in March.
Passenger boardings accelerate 26% to 54,738, while cargo jumps 32% to 81,000 FTKs.
Service is maintained in 1998.
Customer bookings jump 23% to 70,000, while freight traffic rises 21% to 98,000 FTKs.
Airline employment in 1999 stands at 68.
TAUNUS AIR, GmbH. & CO., K. G.: Frankfurt Airport, GEB 515, Frankfurt, D-60549, Germany; Phone 49 (611) 840 096; Fax 49 (611) 840 066; Code TAQ; Year Founded 1990. Taunus is set up at Frankfurt by Georg Patzold in 1990 to provide executive and small group passenger charters and air ambulance flights to destinations throughout the world. Another base is established at Wiesbaden. By 2000, President Patzold oversees a 14-person workforce and a fleet of 3 Learjet 35A Century IIIs.
TAVAJ (TRANSPORTES AEREOS REGULARES, S. A.): CP484, Rio Branco (Acre), 69901-320, Brazil; Phone 55 (68) 223-2866; Fax 55 (68) 224-3654; Http://www. tavaj. com. br; Code TVJ; Year Founded 1994. TAVAJ is established at Rio Branco (Acre) in January 1994 to provide scheduled air taxi flights to local destinations. Idaiberto Luis Cunha is managing director and he begins revenue services with three Embraer EMB-110P2 Bandeirantes.
Airline employment stands at 105 in 1995 and Managing Director Cunha is able to report to ICAO that for the first quarter, his enplane-ments have skyrocketed to 5,440, a 212.1% increase over the same period a year earlier.
Forty-five new workers are hired in 1996, a 42.9% increase. The company’s 9 Bandeirantes, 1 Fokker F.27-600, and 3 lightplanes fly a total of 28,708 passengers through July, a huge 115.6% increase. During the fall, a 12-year, $48-million lease is signed with Bombardier Regional Aircraft for 4 DHC-8Q-200Bs.
The first two of the combi DHCs enter service in February 1997, while the third arrives in June and the fourth in July. The new turboprops allow the company to significantly increase its passenger and cargo services to small communities in the central and western regions of Brazil.
Flights continue during the remainder of the decade.
Destinations visited at the beginning of 2000 include Altamira, Belem, Boa Vista, Boca do Acre, Brasilia, Carauari, Costa Marques, Cruzeiro do Sul, Cuiaba, Eirunepe, Feijo, Guajara-Mirimi, Itaituba, Labrea, Manaus, Parintins, Porto Velho, Rio branco, Sao Gabriel, Santarem, Tabatinga, Tarauaca, and Tefe. In August, a Fokker F.27-600 is leased from the new freight operator Jet Sul Cargo, Ltda.
TAVINA (TRANS-COLOMBIANA DE AVIACION, S. A.): Colombia (1973-1986). Gabriel Echavarria Obregon forms TAVINA at Cartagena in 1973 to undertake Douglas DC-3 charter services for oil and mining companies. The base is transferred to Barranquilla in 1974.
In 1979, TANA (Transportes Aereos Nacionales, S. A.) is purchased and absorbed, together with its aircraft and route network. The major shareholder in the private airline remains Aeroejecutivos (49%). The combined route system now extends throughout western Colombia to the Ecuadorean frontier.
In 1980, this system is consolidated, with scheduled services being concentrated at a Barranquilla hub in the north. In 1981, 4 Embraer EMB-110P-1s, 2 de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters, 2 Britten-Norman BN-2A Trislanders, 1 Swearingen Merlin, and 1 Swearingen Metro II are brought into supplement the Douglas transports.
Enplanements reach 140,000 for the year.
As is the case for other carriers, rising fuel prices and the world economic recession conspire with stiff competition to cause traffic downturns and financial difficulties.
Passenger boardings show steady decline, plunging to 104,000 in 1982.
An EMB-110P-1 with two crew and five passengers fails its takeoff from Barranquilla on May 29, 1983, and crashes; there are no fatalities.
The year’s bookings total only 96,000.
Major fleet rationalization occurs in the early 1984 as the Embraers and Swearingens are replaced by six de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters and two Britten-Norman BN-2A Trislanders. At this point, the route network for the 100-employee airline includes stops at Cartagena, El Banco, Guamal, Maicao, Mompos, Monteria, Providencia, Riohache, San Andres Island, and Valledupar.
The disappointing traffic figures do not improve with the general return to prosperity in mid-decade and TAVINA fails in 1986.
World History
