TAE GREEK NATIONAL AIRLINES TECHNICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EXPLOITATIONS COMPANY, S. A. (TAE): Greece (1940-1957). When Helliniki Eteris Enaerion Synghinonion (HEES)

Ceases operations in 1940, its equipment and routes are assumed by this new entrant. When the Germans invade in 1941, all company assets are purposely destroyed.

In early 1946, the prewar company is reformed and on April 6 a contract is signed with Trans World Airlines (TWA) for technical assistance. Pilots of the American carrier, which holds 35% shareholding, inaugurate domestic Douglas DC-3 services, mainly to larger cities, on July 8; later, routes are begun to Alexandria and Istanbul. Frequencies are maintained but services are not financially successful.

Operations continue apace largely without change through the remainder of the decade. The most significant events of this period are tragic.

En route from Athens to Salonika on September 12, 1948, a DC-3, with 23 passengers is hijacked by 8 passengers, some of whom beat members of the crew severely and force the aircraft to divert to Tetovo, Yugoslavia.

On June 6, 1949, a DC-3 with 22 passengers including Maj. Gen. George Kotsalos, the military governor of Kavella, crashes 17 mi. from Athens; there are no survivors.

In July 1951, the local service airline becomes one of three small carriers which, under government supervision, are amalgamated into a new joint stock company that is placed under the TAE banner. Shareholding is divided between TAE (30%), Trans World Airlines (TWA) (15.5%), Aeroporike Metaphore Ellados (AME) (5%), the Greek Civil Service pension fund (24%), the National Bank of Greece (16%), and the Greek government (10%). Scottish Aviation, which had held interest in one of the merger partners, withdraws.

Financial reversals continue and by August 1954 the government, which is making good the losses, is forced to announce that the carrier faces complete privatization. On June 1, 1955, the airline is taken over by the Greek Transport Ministry, which sells it to shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on January 2, 1957; Onassis reforms the airline and renames it Olympic Airways, S. A. on April 6.

TAESA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS EJECUTIVES, S. A. de C. V.): Mexico (1988-2000). Financed with private money, including 51% shareholding from businessman Carlos Hank Rhon, TAESA is established by Alberto Angel Abed Shekaiban as an FBO/air taxi at Mexico City in April 1988. Rhon is chairman, Abed Shekaiban is managing director, and executive passenger charters commence with a pair of Lear-jet 25Bs. A total of 8,000 passengers are flown on the year.

A cargo division is set up by Managing Director Abed Shekaiban very late in 1989 when two ex-Mexican army Boeing 727-100Fs become available.

The first of these, a B-727-64F, is employed to inaugurate cargo charters in January 1990. Two more B-727-100s are obtained as a passenger airline operating division of the FBO/air taxi concern is created. Passenger charters are operated to a number of Latin American locations as plans are made to operate scheduled domestic services and international passenger (mainly business executives) and cargo charters.

The next month, a B-727-104 is acquired and used to open scheduled passenger service over a single route. In addition, an executive transport fleet is built comprising 1 Grumman G-159 Gulfstream I, 12 Learjets, and 1 Rockwell Saberliner 40. As is the custom with many privately owned U. S. carriers, traffic and financial figures are not released.

Airline employment stands at 700 in 1991 and the fleet is increased. In addition to the two aircraft employed the previous year, the following units are leased or purchased: a B-727-22, B-727-27, B-727-35, B-727-51, B-727-24C, and B-727-114. Leased are one each B-737-3Y0, B-757-2Y0, and B-757-236. A second B-757-2Y0 remains on order.

The first international run is inaugurated roundtrip between Mexico City and Laredo, Texas; it is followed by roundtrips from Mexico City to Vail, Colorado, and Las Vegas, as well as from Mexico City to Vienna, Cologne, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid. The airline becomes the first Mexican B-757 operator in October when it receives the B-757-2YO.

In a three-day period in December, the company obtains most of the fleet noted above in response to its quick signature of contracts with Canadian tour operators left in the lurch by the grounding of LaTur (Lineas Aereas Latur, S. A. de C. V.). Passenger charters are consequently initiated to Brussels and the number of domestic scheduled routes is increased to 12. A contract is signed with DHL Worldwide Express and the B-727-24C is dedicated to its fulfillment.

Passenger traffic figures are released and show enplanements for the year totaling 371,700.

Operations of Mexico’s third largest domestic airline and largest charter operator continue apace in 1992 as the B-757-236 is delivered, along with a chartered B-767-3Y0ER, four B-737-5Y0s, one B-737-4Y0, and two B-737-3Y0s. Scheduled services are launched to 18 Mexican communities and the former Mexicana Airlines, S. A. de C. V. commuter partner Noroeste (Aviacion Noroeste, S. A. de C. V.) switches over its feeder affiliation.

Acting under U. S. DOT authorization, TAESA on July 22 launches thrice-weekly same-plane flights from Chicago (ORD) to Mexico City via Zacatecas and Morelia. Mexico City to Milan charters begin on August 11 and, in mid-October the airline is awarded new routes from Chicago to Guadalajara and Leon, from Laredo to Leon, and from Los Angeles to Zacetecas via Ontario.

Employing the original Learjet 25Bs reconfigured, the company inaugurates small package services on behalf of Airborne Express. In December, the airline is criticized for a variety of safety-oriented deficiencies in a U. S. General Accounting report, which also notes that Canada has suspended all TAESA flights to its territory because of safety shortcomings.

The workforce is increased to 2,000 and bookings jump 433% to reach 898,000, of which 800,000 are carried over the company’s extensive charter system throughout the U. S. and Europe. Revenues total $300 million and a net $12-million profit is recorded.

Airline employment, all nonunion, stands at 2,200 in 1993. On February 22, Chairman Rhon joins in a public worry over the new alliance between Aeromexico (2) (Aerovias de Mexico, S. A. de C. V.) and Mex-icana Airlines, S. A. de C. V. Managing Director Abed Shekaiban is interviewed by The Wall Street Journal on March 1 and again expresses concern over the linkage between the majors. Later in the month, he meets with officials from the Mexican Transportation Secretariat and Civil Aviation Authority to discuss the airline’s safety record.

Alberto and his brother Miguel obtain complete ownership in April, with the former president now occupying the post of chairman/CEO. The company inaugurates scheduled international services to Laredo, Oakland, Chicago, New York, and Detroit. Charter destinations now include Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Vienna, Reykjavik, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo.

On his third journey to Mexico, Pope John Paul II is flown from Kingston, Jamaica, to Merida aboard a company B-757-2Y0 fittingly and briefly reregistered XA-KWK, the initials of the Pontiff’s name, Karl Wojtyla Kaczorowska. Among the air taxi division’s other famous passengers this year are Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.

Passenger boardings through November total 1,585,627 (sched-uled)—a 141.9% increase—and 339,281 (charter). Estimated revenues are $340 million.

Regularly scheduled passenger service is provided to 26 domestic locations by January 1994. In addition, charters are undertaken from numerous Mexican markets to 6 destinations in Canada, 12 in Europe, 3 in South America, 9 in the Caribbean, 24 in the U. S. A two-year marketing and code-sharing alliance is signed with United Airlines in February while charters to Tokyo begin on March 30. That service, the first ever between Japan and Mexico, is undertaken as a charter joint venture with the large Rising Sun tour operator Nichimen Aviation, Ltd.

At the end of April, several Mexican regionals join with TAESA in a merger of support services designed to make the carriers more competitive with Aeromexico (2) (Aerovias de Mexico, S. A. de C. V.) and Mexicana Airlines, S. A. de C. V. Under the arrangement, the carriers share reservations systems, maintenance facilities, ticketing, airport facilities, hangars, and work crews.

During the spring, the airline leases a B-737-5Y0 to Dominicana (Compania Dominicana de Aviacion, S. A.) until that carrier can obtain a leased aircraft of its own.

The company is the official carrier of the Mexican national soccer team when it comes to the U. S. to play in the summer’s World Cup matches. The subsidiary company Pueblas Aerolineas, S. A. de C. V. is established to provide scheduled feed from Puebla with a pair of B-737-3Y0s transferred over from the parent’s fleet. Meanwhile, Noroeste (Aviacion Noroeste, S. A. de C. V.) is purchased and merged. Enplane-ments are 2,803,264.

Airline employment stands at 3,000 in 1995. The airline’s 52 aircraft transport a total of 2,070,358, a large 35.4% decline. Freight traffic is also off, falling an even greater 65.5% to 15.92 million FTKs.

Two hundred workers are hired in 1996. The fleet now includes 2 B-727-23s, 1 each B-727-14, B-727-31, B-727-51, B-727-64F, B-727-24C, 2 each B-737-2T4As and B-737-33As, 1 each B-737-3K2 and B-737-3M8, 1 B-757-23A, 2 DC-9-14s, 3 DC-9-15s, and 3 DC-10-30s. The majority of these aircraft are leased.

Although customer bookings decline 30.9% to 1,429,704, cargo surges, growing 121.7% to 35.3 million FTKs.

The employee population is reduced by 12.5% in 1997 to 2800. A B-737-4Q8 is chartered from ILFC.

Still, passenger boardings accelerate 11.7% to 1,596,235 while freight skyrockets an almost unbelievable 905.5% to 354.99 million FTKs.

Destinations visited by the nation’s third largest airline in 1998 include Acapulco, Cancun, Chicago (ORD), Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Larado, Leon/Guanajuato, Merida, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Tapachula, Uruapan, Vail, and Zacatecas.

A DC-9-31F, previously employed by the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), enters service in June.

On October 22, the U. S. FAA fines TAESA $160,000 for operating a DC-10-30F in a cargo-carrying operation to the U. S. in excess of its maximum allowable gross weight and failure to maintain it properly.

In November, another DC-10-30F undertakes cargo flights on behalf of the Chilean start-up NSW-New Southways, a cargo sales agent. The aircraft wears dual titles for both concerns.

In the midst of a nationwide scandal involving charges of government and business corruption, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo vows to crack down on white-collar crime and asks Congress to enact stiffer laws against tax evasion. The Finance Ministry and Office of the Attorney General are directed to enhance their efforts to assure that taxpayers comply promptly and correctly with their payments.

In line with this new government push, Chairman Abed Shekaiban is arrested on December 10 and charged with tax fraud in the amount of 28.78 million pesos ($2.9 million). It is alleged that this figure has been withheld from workers’ paychecks but not turned in to the country’s coffers.

Customer bookings jump 18.6% to 1.89 million, while cargo traffic falls 29.5% to 354.99 million FTKs.

A strategic partnership is entered into with the U. S. firm Network Cargo System World Wide on January 21, 1999. Under its terms, the airline will provide its fleet and the forwarder will invest $25 million. Between them, nonstop cargo services will be offered from the U. S. to various communities in Mexico and Central America.

During the first quarter, a new color scheme is introduced in which the yellow on aircraft tails extends to the tops of fuselages. The livery is introduced on the B-737-4Q8, which will be returned to ILFC later in the spring.

It is reported on March 5 that the carrier has begun to renegotiate its huge $350-million debt. On March 14, it liquidates $80 million of its debt to foreign banks. Although it still owes $270 million, a restructuring program has been started and recovery is expected.

Unhappily, the turnaround will not occur.

Daily B-737-33A roundtrips are inaugurated on October 28 from Oaxaca to Tijuana via Puebla and Hermosillo. A B-737-4Y0 is now subleased to Ryan International Airlines for the winter charter season.

Flight 725, the former NASA DC-9-31F is en route from Tijuana to Mexico City via Guadalajara and Uruapan on November 9 when disaster strikes. Just after takeoff from Uruapan, where 85 passengers have deplaned, the jetliner, with 5 crew and 18 passengers, crashes into an avocado grove 3.3 mi. S of the airport. There are no survivors.

As a direct result of the tragedy, TAESA’s operations are suspended by the Mexican government on November 23. A promised fast investigation of the airline continues for a month. On December 23, the government releases its findings, which include 43 conditions TAESA must meet before regaining its certification.

Prior to its shutdown, enplanements for the year have risen to 2,027,000 and 53.76 million FTKs are also operated.

Airline employment at the beginning of 2000 stands at 3,820, a 36.4% increase over the previous 12 months. January is spent attempting to meet the government’s conditions and to cobble together a restructuring plan.

It is reported on January 21 that the grounded company has found partners willing to inject the $130 million required to get the carrier back into the air once civil aviation authorities have finished their review of its aircraft and procedures. It is anticipated that these details will be completed in a matter of course and that TAESA will soon be offering scheduled services.

On January 31, representatives of the Mexican tourism industry petition Secretary of Communications and Transportation Carlos Ruiz Sacristan and Tourism Secretary Oscar Espinosa asking them to intervene in the TAESA situation and allow the company to resume operations as a way of ending the growing air transport monopoly of the CINTRA carriers Aeromexico (2) (Aerovias de Mexico, S. A. de C. V.) and Mexi-cana Airlnies, S. A. de C. V.

The company is unable to make its January payroll. This gigantic downturn causes hundreds of employees to protest in downtown Mexico City on February 3, demanding that the government allow the carrier to resume operations. For his part, Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transportation Sacristan answers that by noting that the airline is, technically, bankrupt, under national law it cannot continue flying.

On February 17, most of the company’s 3,500 unhappy workers demand the confiscation of two aircraft, which should be sold to raise the 12.3 million pesos owed them for unpaid wages. A strike is threatened if the funds are not forthcoming. The airline, meanwhile, indicates that it is virtually bankrupt and cannot pay any of its debts.

With an estimated $60 million in assets and $380 million in debt, the company is officially declared bankrupt by Mexico City Bankruptcy Court Judge Justino Montes de Oca on February 21. On March 9, Banobras is appointed the defunct carrier’s official executor. Executives from the public works development bank now begin a review of the company’s books to determine its exact financial situation, how it may be able to work with creditors, and whether or not it can fly again. Simultaneously, Angel Celorio, who heads the TAESA workers’ union, indicates that at least two potential buyers will soon step forward.

A potential takeover remains shrouded in mystery. On April 3, Marco Delgado, representing an unnamed “American consortium,” asks to begin negotiations by requesting use of 22 TAESA routes—and seven more besides. On May 12, Judge Montes de Oca denies four requests for stays of execution on his earlier bankruptcy order. Banobras completes its audit of TAESA on June 9 and its findings are not encouraging. Instead of an estimated $60 million in assets, it actually has only $20 million-worth, including vehicles, equipment, and a pair of B-727s. Unhappily, the original $380-million deficit figure remains correct.

Grupo Hispano Americano de Aviacion, a mixed Mexican-U. S. investment group, steps forward on June 15 to express interest in purchasing the company and restarting it on July 1. If successful, the reborn TAESA would employ most of the previous operation’s fleet and operate over 15 domestic and international routes. Transport Secretary Sacristan reports on June 19 that Grupo Hispano Americano de Aviacion has not yet applied for a concession to operate their announced carrier and there is no longer time enough to obtain the necessary clearances before the announced July 1 start-up date. Sacristan notes that, should the group make application and comply with all legal requirements, a concession would be forthcoming.

The remaining TAESA assets are sold to a new entity, Lineas Aereas Azteca, S. A. de C. V. on October 13. The new entrant, owned by gas transportation company owner Leonardo Sanchez Davalos (75%) and U. S. interests (25%), acquires the TAESA operating permit, five aircraft, and a hangar at Toluca. Preparations now begin to get the reborn airline off the ground in early 2001.

A special commission appointed to determine a cause of the November 1999 DC-9 disaster reports on November 1 that, although several procedural mistakes have been determined, it is not possible to establish the exact reason for the crash.

During the summer and into winter, efforts have continue to revive the carrier. Eventually, it is determine that the carrier should be reborn as a new entity, Lineas Aereas Azteca, S. A. de C. V. The carrier’s 2,700 unionized members patiently await further developments. In its November issue, AVNews: Latin America and the Caribbean reports that Azteca has acquired the assets of TAESA from Banobras, including four aircraft, hangars, and airport facilities around Mexico. Gas transport magnate Davalos is known to own 75% of the new entity, with the remaining 25% allegedly held by a U. S. carrier, possibly America West Airlines or Southwest Airlines (2).

As the result of an arrangement between Banobras and TAESA workers’ union leader Angel Celorio Guevara, the labor force is finally dismissed on November 16. Under terms of the mass termination, each worker receives a severance package equivalent to eight months pay, with additional payments for seniority. Critics complain that the settlement is 50% less than one offered earlier. Still, distribution is completed by the end of the month.

On December 19, it is reported that Azteca will launch service on March 1 with a fleet of 17 B-737-300s.

TAF (LINHAS AEREAS, S. A.): Hangar: Airport Pinto Martins, Fortaleza, Brazil; Phone (085) 272-7333; Fax (085) 272-5144; Http://www. secrel. com. br/taf; Year Founded 1957. The small air taxi carrier TAF is established on the aero club grounds at Fortalesa, capital of Ceara State, Brazil, by Capt. Ariston Pessoa de Aradjo in 1957. From ad hoc passenger and cargo flights, the company, over the next 42 years develops a full program of services that include scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo flights. By 1999, the fleet includes 5 Cessna 208 Caravans, 4 Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirantes, 1 Cessna Citation I bizjet, and 1 Esquilo AS.305 charter helicopter. Scheduled frequencies are maintained from Fortaleza to Igauatu, Terezina, Fernando de Noronha, Sobral, Parnaiba, Joao Pessoa, and Juazeiro do Norte.

A Boeing 737-200 is acquired in late May 2000.

TAG (SOCIETE DES TRANSPORTS AERIENS GUYANAIS, S. A.): French Guiana (1919-1922). Headquartered in Paris but with its operating base at Saint Laurent du Maroni, TAG is founded on June 7, 1919. Employing a war surplus Levy-Lepen R flying boat, the company undertakes its first flight from Laurent to the capital of Cayenne on October 12. Additional flights are made to other coastal stops and up the Maroni River.

Flying boat mishaps cause a temporary suspension of operations in April 1920. After four new aircraft are delivered, regularly scheduled twice-weekly Saint Laurent du Maroni to Inini services commence on October 7 followed by a frequency to Cayenne started three days later.

Company records for March 1921 show that 40 scheduled flights have been made, carrying 64 passengers and assorted cargo and mail over 13,754 kilometers. Additional accidents to the thin-skinned Levy-Lepens results in the introduction of four Breguet 14Tbis Limousines later in the year. When TAG ceases operations on October 30, 1922, it enters the record books as the first regularly scheduled airline in the Americas to operate nonseasonal sustained services.

TAG AIRLINES: United States (1955-1978). Taxi Air Group is organized by William Knight at Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955 and for the next two years offers on-demand floatplane air taxi flights to Toledo, Akron, and other local destinations with one de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter and two DHC-2 Beavers. Financial losses are incurred as services cannot be offered during the winter, when Lake Erie freezes.

E. Ross Miller, owner of the Toledo-based Miller Oil Company, and

W. C. Brookmeyer, of Cleveland, approach Knight seeking to purchase a Beaver. When negotiations are over, the two have bought out Knight in July 1957 for $200,000.

Two de Havilland DH 104 Doves are acquired and are employed by the new Miller Oil Company subsidiary to inaugurate four-times-a-day roundtrips between Cleveland’s Lakefront Airport and Detroit City Airport. Taxi Air Group takes over and merges Rockford, Illinois-based Illini Airlines in December.

Early in 1958, a third Dove is acquired and TAG begins to operate year-round passenger and cargo flights from Rockford to Detroit City Airport via Chicago (Meigs Field). Chicago is dropped on April 1 in order that the Rockford-Detroit route may be flown direct. Service is inaugurated between Cleveland and Akron on April 28 and from Akron to Detroit on May 5.

Miller’s company is transferred to Detroit in July and in the fall the organization is reformed into a scheduled carrier and renamed TAG Airlines. Employing its DH-104 Doves, the new airline begins daily roundtrip revenue services from Burke Lakefront Airport to Detroit City Airport on October 1.

Flights from Rockford to Detroit and from Detroit and Cleveland to Akron cease in 1959 in order that TAG might turn its single route service into a shuttle, “every hour, on the hour.”

Enplanements for the year total 20,767.

TAG applies to the CAB on February 1, 1960 for certification as a scheduled airline; initially rejected, the company goes through the application process again on February 8, 1961.

Throughout 1962, Miller and his colleagues await action by the regulatory body, but in the end, have no success.

Chairman Miller and his attorney, Merrill Armour, establish the Association of Commuter Airlines in 1963. Passenger boardings for the year total 44,324.

A third filing is made with the CAB on August 7, 1964. North Central Airlines opposes TAG’s request and no action is taken. The company files for the fourth time on September 24 and again NCA stands in opposition. Dove flights link Cleveland with Cincinnati via Columbus beginning on March 15, 1965.

On May 3, the first of 15 newly received Piper PA-23 Aztecs inaugurate daily frequencies from the 2 new Buckeye destinations to Detroit. During the year, the Cleveland terminus is transferred to Hopkins Airport while that at Detroit is moved to Metropolitan Airport.

Enplanements for the year are 83,873.

Service to Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Airport begins in 1966, the same year in which unionized company pilots strike the commuter. Significant competition begins on May 18, 1967 when former TAG official Gerald E. Wheeler’s Wright Airlines begins Cleveland-Detroit frequencies.

Miller seeks permission to begin employment of 40-seat Fokker

F.27s as replacements for his aging Doves. Instead, the regulators require the company to suspend services on all of its routes except the “grandfathered” Cleveland-Detroit run. Much of 1968 is occupied in an unsuccessful attempt to become a member of the “Allegheny Commuter” network.

On March 8, 1969, the CAB grants TAG permission to begin operating F.27s over its Cleveland-Detroit route. The move immediately brings a protest from Wright; as a result of the CAB hearing that follows, the government approval is withdrawn.

On June 28, TAG is incorporated as a freestanding airline and an entity separate from its former Miller Oil Company parent. After a decade of petitions, TAG finally receives a temporary CAB Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity the next day.

Customer bookings reach 58,222.

A crack in a wing fitting causes a DH-104 en route from Cleveland to Detroit to crash into frozen Lake Erie, 15 mi. offshore from Cleveland, on January 28, 1970 (9 dead). The attendant legal and public relations difficulties surrounding the crash and salvage operations drive passengers away. In May, only 881 commuters are flown and only 2 Doves are required to fly the company’s schedule of 10 daily roundtrips, down two-thirds in just one year.

Miller and Wright officials agree to a merger in June, but the plan is vetoed by the CAB in July. Out of options and with its bookings for the year to date being only 9,489, TAG goes out of business on August 7.

TAGP (TRANSPORTES AEREOS DA GUINE PORTUGUSA, S. A.): Portuguese Guinea (1960-1974). TAGP is set up at Bissau in 1960 to offer scheduled services to Dakar, Praia, and Ilha do Sal. Revenue flights commence with a single de Havilland DH 114 Heron 1B. The Heron is supplemented in 1961-1964 by a pair of DH 89A Dragon Rapides.

The fleet is revamped in 1964-1968. The Dragon Rapides are retired and replaced with another Heron 1B, three Dornier Do-28s, and one each Cessna 206 and C-172H.

At this point, some of the longer route segments are taken over by TAP-Air Portugal, S. A., including the service to Bissau from Ilha do Sal. This arrangement continues until 1974 when Portugal agrees to the colony’s independence, unilaterally declared the previous September 24. TAGP is now renamed LIA (Linhas Aereos da Guine-Bissau, S. A.).

TAGUA COLOMBIA (TAXI AEREO DEL GUAVIARE, S. A.): Calle 40, No. 29-103, Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia; Phone 57 (86) 644106; Fax 57 (86) 623475; Year Founded 1990. With a base at Villavicencio, TAGUA is formed in 1990 to offer scheduled, third-level passenger and cargo flights throughout the local region. In 1993-2000, General Manager Hernando Villamizar’s fleet comprises 3 Cessna 206s and 1 Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander.

TAH (TRANSPORTES AEREOS HONDURENOS, S. A.): Honduras (1931-1932). Dr. T. C. Pounds, who had started the first air transport service in Central America in 1923 and who had been involved with the unsuccessful Central American Air Lines of 1927-1928, returns to the Honduran air scene in 1931.

After receiving government permission, he brings a Stinson Detroiter into the country from the U. S. on August 26 and in September, joining with other partners, forms TAH. A mail contract is briefly flown; however, a dispute between the partners leads to a company shutdown on December 30.

Pounds’ mail contract is renewed in early 1932 and he makes a few, sporadic flights before giving up his enterprise on February 20.

TAHITI CONQUEST AIRLINES, S. A.: BP 6109, Faa’a, Tahiti, French Polynesia; Phone 689 85 55 54; Fax 689 85 55 56; Code TQ8; Year Founded 1990. Tahiti Conquest is formed in 1990 at Aeroport de Tahiti, Papeete, to provide interisland commuter flights. President Michel Thion’s initial fleet comprises 1 Beech B-58 Baron, 2 Cessna 441s, and 1 new Dornier 228-212. A Cessna 55 is acquired in 1991 and in 1992 the Baron and one 441 are withdrawn.

Operations continueduring the remainder of the decade, during which years one 228-212 is replaced with a Fairchild Dornier 328-110.

TAHOE AIR: United States (1996-2000). Tahoe Air Corporation is founded by Bruce Wetzel and Mark Sando during September 1996 with the goal of providing scheduled direct jet service from Lake Tahoe. During the next 24 months, preparations proceed slowly for the initiation of the new flights. An application is filed with the DOT for certification and a management contract is signed with Elko, Nevada-based TEM, Inc., whose CEO, George Warde, now becomes Tahoe Air’s chairman. In addition to Wetzel as president/CEO and major investor Sando as executive vice president, other appointments, all from the Lake Tahoe area, include Vice Presidents Gale Davis, Jack Keady, and Gail Sutton.

Late in this gestation period, controlling interest is sold to Pacific Sports Holidays (PSH) of Westlake Village, California. Roseville-based Capitol Bay Securities, an investment banking concern, raises the initial $5 million start-up funding. The decision is now taken to withdraw the DOT application (and file again in 2000) and to complete a block-seat arrangement with Elko-based Casino Express.

Concrete planning is acted upon for the initiation of direct frequencies to both Los Angeles and San Jose. Travel agents are briefed and community relations are undertaken. Efforts are made to coordinate airline activities with those of leading local attractions.

Arrangements are completed to obtain 85% of the seats abroad a hush-kitted Boeing 737-214A in Tahoe Air colors from Casino Express, via TEM, which also handles acquisition of flight and cabin crews.

Presided over by The Newlywed Game host Bob Eubanks, as well as PSH Chairman Lawrence Donizetti, the inaugural press and VIP flight is made to Los Angeles on June 25, 1999. Thrice-daily nonstop roundtrips to Los Angeles (LAX) are thereafter offered, with twice-daily nonstop roundtrips to San Jose beginning on July 1. At this time, it is announced that twice-daily nonstop B-737 return service will be inaugurated on December 18 from Lake Tahoe to San Diego.

The summer’s activities are very rocky. The relationship with Casino Express is terminated in a contract dispute at the end of October and Tahoe Air must largely stand down. Casino has been unwilling to let Tahoe sell cargo capacity in the belly of the Boeing and has kept all revenues earned from the in-flight sale of drinks.

A few charters are now operated on Tahoe Air’s behalf by Tucson-based Lorair, Ltd. The Arizona airline also helps Tahoe resume its pursuit of a Part 121 operating permit from the DOT and entertains CEO Wetsel’s proposals for a larger role in his company’s operations.

Meanwhile, negotiations with the larger Lake Tahoe casinos for commitments to purchase seats largely fall through. Only one gambling center is willing to go along with the idea, but only if the others also come in—and they do not.

As the result of investor frustration and a refusal by Capitol Bay Securities to pump in the $2.5 million required to keep the airline going, the decision is taken on November 19 to indefinitely suspend operations (although the message played on the public reservations recorder refers only to the upcoming holidays) and to reorganize. All of the carrier’s 65 employees, except for its CEO and three managers, are laid off. Co-founder/Executive Vice President Sando, who has not been consulted on the decision, is one of those released.

CEO Wetsel is, however, quick to inform the media that “we’re not dissolving the company. . . we’re not filing for bankruptcy.” Still, the value of shares has dropped from $5 each during the summer to $1 in early November to 250.

Over the next week, negotiations with the Lake Tahoe casinos and an unnamed airline are intensified as a way is sought to return to the air. Capitol Bay Securities CEO Stephen Kircher estimates that Tahoe Pacific Corporation will also need to find an additional $10 million in capital. These developments, reported by the Tribune Business News, lead to an increased in the company’s stock value on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board, to 37.50 a share on November 30.

On Christmas Eve, it is reported that a letter of intent had been signed the previous week for a merger between Tahoe Pacific Corporation and Dallas-based Ameri-First Financial, which would leave the Texas firm in control of the merged company. The deal had been spearheaded by Steve Kircher. Ameri-First Financial owner/CEO Jeffrey Bruteyn will be chairman/CEO with Kircher the chief financial officer. In reviewing the arrangement for the media, Bruteyn indicates that Tahoe Air will be revived employing 50-seat turboprops instead of 737s.

The good news of Christmas sours in January 2000. Former Tahoe Air Vice President-Marketing Keady files an involuntary Chapter VII bankruptcy petition claiming that the airline owes him $35,350 in back wages. With only slim cash reserves of its own, the carrier quickly files for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection so that it can reorganize its finances and pay off Keady and other creditors. It does not recover.

TAI. See COMPAGNIE DE TRANSPORTS AERIENS INTER-CONTINENTAUX, S. A. (TAI)

TAIFUN (ADJAL AVIA) (SUKHUMI UNITED AIR DETACHMENT): Babushara Airport, Sukhumi, 384962, Russia; Phone 995 (88122) 22021; Fax 995 (88122) 24103; Code GIG; Year Founded 1995. Taifun is set up at Sukhumi in 1995 to offer domestic scheduled and charter services. Zaur K. Khaindrava is CEO and he begins revenue flights with 7 Tupolev Tu-134As.

Although it is understood that this carrier continues to operate in the period after the beginning of the August 1998 Russian currency crisis, no deifinite information has been located to that effect.

TAIMYRTUR TOO (TAIMIRTUR TOO): Russia (1994-1996). TT

Is established at Norilsk in 1994 to provide rotary-wing charter passenger and cargo flights in support of energy, communications, and agriculture. A. V. Golnikov is named general director and he begins revenue flights with 3 Mil Mi-2 helicopters. Flights cease in 1996.

TAINO AIR, LTD.: P. O. Box F4006, Freeport International Airport, Freeport, Bahamas; Phone (809) 352-8885; Fax (809) 352-5175; Year Founded 1991. Based at Freeport, the longtime air taxi TAINO is upgraded during 1991 to offer scheduled, third-level passenger and cargo flights to various island destinations, including Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, and Santo Domingo. John P. Doherty is named chairman/presi-dent and by 1993 his fleet comprises 2 Piper PA-31-310 Navajos, 4 Aero Commander 690s, and 3 Embraer EMB-110P Bandeirantes. Airline employment stands at 22.

Financial difficulties force Doherty to remove all but one Bandeirante in 1994, while adding a Shorts 360-300. Services continue in 1995-1999. During the latter year, the fleet is once again changed; the turboprops are replaced by one each Rockwell Aero Commander 500 and Cessna 402.

A Convair CV-440 is added to the fleet in early September 2000.

TAIP (TRANSPORTES AEREOS DA INDIA PORTUGUESA). See TRANSPORTES AEREOS DA INDIA PORTUGUESA (TAIP)

TAISA (TRANSPORTES AEREOS DE INTEGRACION, S. A.): Costa Rica (1971-1974). TAISA is established at San Juan in 1971 to operate all-cargo charters throughout Central and South America. Revenue operations commence with 2 Douglas DC-6As and 1 Curtiss C-46 Commando and continue until the company declares bankruptcy in 1974.

TAIWAN AIRLINES, LTD.: Taiwan (1966-1998). Privately owned Taiwan Aviation Corporation is formed by Tu Fuan Lan at Taipei on April 1, 1966. After assembling a fleet of light aircraft (mostly Cessna 206s) and single Douglas DC-3, the carrier begins unscheduled revenue flights on June 26, 1967. Only a month later, the DC-3 with 18 aboard crashes near Luang Prabang, Laos; there are no survivors. C-206 flights are inaugurated from Taitung to Orchid Island on June 26, 1970.

Several Britten-Norman PBN-2A Trislanders are acquired and are employed to initiate additional services from Taitung and Kao-hsiung to Green Island and the Pescadores.

After nearly a decade of charter services, primarily within the republic, company officials elect to commence scheduled services in 1976 and change their concern’s name to reflect that decision. Within the next five years, regular and ad hoc flights are started or maintained to nearly every community of size on the outlying islands from Taitung and Koa-hsiung.

In December 1981, Chairman Jackson T. S. Ho and General Manager Allan K. S. Chan’s fleet comprises 4 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, 1 BN-2A Trislander, and 1 Cessna 206. The workforce totals 78 and the year’s enplanements are 95,526.

Traffic also grows in 1982 as boardings reach 114,127, but dips in 1983 to 113,502.

During the middle years of the decade, additional scheduled destinations are added, including Chimei, Lanyu on Orchid Island, Green Island, and Makung. A Piper PA-34 Seneca and another Trislander replace one Islander. Operations continue apace in 1984-1987.

A Trislander with 11 aboard crashes into a mountain on Orchard Island on January 20, 1988 (10 dead). Enplanements for the year reach 99,356, but losses of $1.82 million (operating) and $1.42 million (net) are suffered.

Airline employment skyrockets 94.4% in 1989 to 175; however, the fleet is reduced to 2 Islanders and 2 Trislanders, plus the Seneca and Cessna 206.

Still, passenger boardings jump 27.1% to 136,290 and 2.77 million FTKs are operated. Orders are now placed for six Fokker 100s. Revenues ascend 19.3% to $4.6 million, but costs escalate and cause the op-crating loss to worsen to $1.82 million. The net loss deepens to $1.88 million.

Liao Min Ling becomes chairman and Harold C. “Chuck” Liu is named president in 1990 and two more Islanders are added. Two Fokker 100 jetliners are ordered. The number of passenger enplanements is reported for the first half of 1991 and show bookings down 11.8% over the same period a year earlier to 62,000.

The first two Fokker 100s are delivered in January 1992, with two more arriving in the fall. In 1993, Chairman Liu oversees a workforce of 173 and adds a third Islander for commuter flights. Plans are made to initiate flights to Kao-hsiung and Taitung from Taipei and the service is inaugurated in 1994.

Flights continue in 1995-1996. Destinations visited include Taitung, Kao-hsiung, Chimei, Green Island, Matsu, Orchid Island, and Wonan. Airline employment grows to 173.

During 1997, this regional becomes a subsidiary of EVA Air, Ltd. The fleet’s Fokkers are withdrawn and replaced with a pair of Dornier Do 228-212s and four Pilatus Britten-Norman PBN-2A Trislanders. A total of 38 daily flights are offered over 11 routes to the offshore islands. It is reported that an economic loss is suffered on the year.

The crash of a China Airlines, Ltd. (CAL) A300B4-622R on February 16, 1998 (202 dead) and a Formosa Airlines, Ltd. SAAB 340A on March 18 (13 dead), triggers a national debate over air safety. In mid-April 1998, EVAAir, Ltd. employs this debate to make a dramatic move that will also improve its balance sheet.

Effective July 1, the major no longer offers any domestic services. Its regional subsidiaries Taiwan, Great China Airlines, Ltd., and Uni Air, Ltd. are now to be merged into an enlarged Uni Air, Ltd., which provides only domestic services.

TAJ (TRANSPORTES AEREOS DE JALISCO, S. A. de C. V.): Mexico (1936-1954). On August 10, 1936, the Mexican government grants General Roberto Fierro and his brother Raul an experimental route from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast. Service is started in the fall and maintained to small destinations in Jalisco State, with minor variations, until 1943, when a major expansion is undertaken from Guadalajara to Tepic. The company briefly stops flying in mid-1945, but resumes operations with a converted Douglas B-18 and two DC-3s in November.

The Ford 5-AT-103 is purchased from TACA Nicaragua, S. A. on January 17, 1946; christened Estrella Fugaz, it is placed into service over a route from Guadalajara to Mascota via Talpa. The 5-AT-39 is acquired from the same source in March. The 5-AT-103 is sent to Los Angeles in September 1948 for extensive engine overhaul. The ship, which had originally begun service with National Air Transport in the U. S. in 1931, returns to Mexico, but is badly damaged in a landing crash at Pinotepa Nacional on October 27, 1949.

The Estrella Fugaz is sold to Lineas Aereas Guerro-Oaxaca, S. A. de C. V. in January 1950 and in February the carrier joins in a confederation with expanding ATSA (Lineas Transcontinentales de Aero-Transportes, S. A. de C. V.), known as Aero-Transportes. At this point, it begins flying a difficult DC-3 route christened La Ruta de los Porta-Aviones (Route of the Aircraft Carriers), from Guadalajara to San Martin de Bolanos.

The ATSA merger proving impossible to integrate, TAJ reverts to its independent status in September 1952. The Ford 5-AT-39 is sold to a Montana native in November 1953 and on January 7, 1954 the airline is purchased by and merged into CMA (Compania Mexicana de Avia-cion, S. A. de C. V.).