Is established at Sydney in 1988 to offer regional services throughout Southern Queensland with a fleet of Shorts 330s and 360s. The company does not achieve viability and closes down the next year, 1989.
INAIR (INTERNACIONAL DE AVIACION, S. A.): Panama (19671987). In January 1967, this company is formed as a charter operation at Panama City. A fleet of 3 Curtiss C-46 Commandos is assembled and under Panamanian permits, scheduled all-cargo services are started to a variety of Central and South American destinations, including Guayaquil, Cali, Lima, and Manus. The American CAB grants Inair permission to initiate flights to Miami, beginning in December 1969.
During 1971, the company expands its route network throughout the Caribbean and acquires a fleet for 4 Douglas DC-6BFs and 1 Boeing 720B. Services link Panama with Chetumal, Caracas, Cozumel, Porla-mar, Maracaibo, Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, Lima, Manaus, Iquique, Santiago de Chile, and Arica. The C-46s are withdrawn in late 1973. A former United Airlines Boeing 707-022 is added; however, it will be lost in an April 22, 1976 crash landing at Barranquilla.
Airline employment at General Manager George F. Novey’s airline reaches 112 in 1975 and in February a DC-6B, the first of its type received by Pan American World Airways (1) and once known as Clipper Liberty Bell, is withdrawn and scrapped.
Flights continue in 1976-1979. During these years, a single Lockheed L-188A, first flown by Western Airlines, is briefly employed. AB-720022 is acquired and provides lift for the Fiesta Travel Club, beginning in October 1977.
In early 1980, the Boeing is replaced by a Convair CV-880 acquired from Delta Air Lines. It is damaged beyond repair when it aborts its takeoff from Panama City on March 29; there are no fatalities.
In 1981-1982, the last DC-6Bs are withdrawn and replaced by two DC-8-55F freighters. Airline employment reaches 105 by 1983 and permission is sought to serve Los Angeles, Montreal, and New York.
As has been the case with many Latin American all-freight carriers, Inair faces severe economic difficulties over the next four years and by 1987 it is flying only one DC-8-55F north to Miami.
In the spring, U. S. Customs agents find 2,500 pounds of cocaine in the aircraft’s belly, buried in the center of four pallets of perfume goods. The aircraft is confiscated and rather than pay the penalty to obtain its return, the airline goes out of business.
INDEPENDENT AIR: United States (1966-1990). Formed in the spring of 1966 this charter airline begins commercial contract services in July as the principal domestic and international transport of the Atlanta Skylarks travel club. A single Boeing 707-320 provides lift. The company acquires a B-720-022 in 1969, at which point it is able to offer flights to both the Atlanta Skylarks and, under contract, the U. S. government.
Fifteen years later in August 1984, the company wins charter certification from the CAB. It is now reformed by A. L. Pittman and
O. L. Dickerson as a Colorado corporation to acquire all of the stock of its same-named predecessor. Pittman becomes president with Dickerson as executive vice president.
With a workforce of 50 (many executives are transfers from Capitol Airways) and two Boeing 707-331Bs and a B-707-323Bs, the supplemental undertakes charter and inclusive-tour services from a Smyrna, Tennessee, base in 1985.
Bookings total 29,000 and profits total $97,000 (operating) and $734,000 (net).
Airline employment grows by 33.3% in 1986 to 60 and the fleet is altered to include 1 operational hush-kitted B-707-331B and 1 B-720-022. Two of the Stratoliners are sent off to have their engines hush-kitted.
Passenger boardings skyrocket 132.1% to 65,000. Revenues increase 86.2% to $5.4 million, expenses are up 23.3% to $3.7 million, and the operating profit is $1.7 million. Net gain, however, drops to $39,000.
Having completed noise-control conversion, the two B-707-331Bs return to the fleet in 1987 along with a B-720-025.
Customer bookings climb 2.9% to 72,000.
Enplanements rise by 31.9% in 1988 to 95,000; however, a $3.25-million net loss is suffered.
Club International, an Atlanta-based tour operation, is created in January 1989 and to accommodate the new enterprise, facilities are acquired at Atlanta and Hapeville, Georgia.
On February 8, Flight 1851 is on its initial approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores on a flight from Bergamo that is continuing on to Punt Cana, Dominican Republic. The B-707-331B with 7 crew and 137 Italian vacationers crashes into the 1,795-ft. level of fog-shrouded Mt. Pico Alto, 7 seconds after the sounding of its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS); there are no survivors.
Customer bookings rise by 34% this year to 96,505 and the net loss declines to $2.62 million.
The recession, together with the effects of Iraq’s August 2 invasion of Kuwait in 1990, wreaks such traffic and fiscal havoc that the company is forced to file for Chapter XI bankruptcy in November.
Passenger boardings plunge 49.5% to 50,000 and revenues total $7.68 million. With expenses of $9.78 million, the operating loss is $2.1 million and net loss is $2.05 million. Services cease at year’s end.
INDEPENDENT AIR FREIGHTERS (PTY.), LTD.: Hangar 81, Bristol Street, Essendon Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, 3041, Australia; Phone 62 (3) 3979 8999; Fax 62 (3) 9379 5949; Code IN; Year Founded 1993. lAF is set up by the Lamb family concern Australasian Jet (Pty.), Ltd. at Essendon Airport in 1993 to offer domestic all-cargo services. Alistair Lamb is chairman/managing director, with Andrew Lamb as director general. A workforce of 25 is recruited, two Douglas DC-9-33Fs are leased, and revenue flights commence.
Operations continue across the Pacific with leased equipment during the remainder of the decade and into the new millennium. Australian domestic cargo charters are also offered with a Fokker F.27-600F.
INDEPENDENT AIR TRANSPORT, LTD.: United Kingdom (1953-1959). Originally formed as a travel agency on January 1, 1953, Independent Air Travel, Ltd. is purchased in January 1954 by a group of airline pilots led by Marian Kozubaki. With a single Avro Anson 1, the company begins ad hoc charters from London (Hurn) in March, replacing the Anson with two de Havilland DH 104 Dove 1s in February and June 1955, respectively. Flying primarily nonscheduled cargo and passenger flights to northern France, and these not often, the two aircraft are sold in July and November as Kozubaki and his colleagues plan a change in emphasis.
In April 1956, the company is renamed Independent Air Transport, Ltd. and is equipped with 4 Vickers Vikings purchased from British West Indian Airways, Ltd. They are employed to inaugurate inclusive-tour flights during the summer. These nonscheduled operations continue in 1957 as the fleet is upgraded by the addition of five additional Vikings (one of which is sold in May) and a Beech 18.
Plans for cargo operations fail and a Bristol 170 Mk. 21 Freighter purchased in January is sold in May. Two Douglas DC-4s are delivered during the year, one each in July and November; the former becomes the center of an international incident on December 31 when it is forced down by MIGs in Albania for allegedly violating that country’s airspace. During the year, the carrier transports 50,000 travelers.
Airline employment in 1958 totals 100 and the fleet comprises 9 aircraft, 1 Viking being sold in February. The DC-4 held in Albania is allowed to return to the U. K. on January 4. Inclusive-tour services continue, with new destinations added in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Africa. Another DC-4 is acquired in June, replacing a Viking sold the same month.
En route to Tel Aviv from London (LHR) on September 2, a Viking is destroyed in a crash at Southall, Middlesex (five dead). A court of inquiry concludes that IAT had been guilty of technical infractions leading to the disaster.
As a result of the court findings, Capt. Kozubski sells his majority shareholding in March 1959 and departs to form Falcon Airways, Ltd. His former company is reorganized with A. E. Cooper becoming chairman; it now operates under the marketing title “Blue Air.” A full summer of ad hoc and inclusive-tours are flown about Europe by the company’s two remaining Vikings and three Skymasters. Unfortunately, the publicity of the previous year’s crash had cost the company significant business; the cash flow situation becomes so desperate that no option exists other than to cease operations on October 16.
INDEPENDENT CARRIER (ICAR): 87/89 Frunze Street, Kiev, 254080, Ukraine; Phone 380 (44) 462 5875; Fax 380 (44) 462 2992; Code C3; Year Founded 1993. ICAR is originally established at Kiev on October 18, 1993, to offer charter cargo services. Victor Vershigora is director general and a fleet of 2 each Antonov An-12Bs and An-24s duly commence freighter runs to local and international points beginning on August 18, 1994. Flights continue in 1995-1997 and the fleet is increased by the addition of one more An-24 and an An-74.
On August 18 of the latter year, the company is granted a new certification to provide scheduled passenger service. The all-cargo operation is maintained through December 31 as orders are placed for a pair of Avions de Transport Regional ATR42-320s.
Airline employment stands at 103 at the beginning of 1998, when passenger flights commence.
The company is severely impacted by the Russian currency devaluation that occurs during the summer and the order for the ATRs must be cancelled. As the situation improves toward the end of 1999, orders are placed for 10 An-140s.
The fleet in 2000 includes 1 An-12 and 2 An-24s. These offer scheduled service to Kharkov, Moscow, Simferopol, and Uzhgorod.
World History
