Resort Commuter Airlines (2) is established at Los Angeles (LAX) in late 1985, beginning scheduled services with a pair of Cessna 402s on
December 2 over an Orange County routing to Palm Springs, Los Angeles (LAX), and Mexican destinations. Jack Furry is chairman with Mark Morro as vice chairman/president.
Operations continue apace in 1986 and in December the carrier becomes a code-sharing partner of Trans World Airlines (TWA). “TWExpress” flights commence in January 1987 with three de Havil-land DHC-6-300 Twin Otters feeding Los Angeles (LAX) from Oxnard, Orange County, Santa Barbara, Palomar/Carlsbad, Bakersfield, Inyok-ern, and Palmdale.
In January 1988, stockholder Jim Slemens acquires 70% interest in the cash-starved regional, becoming chairman; former AirCal Vice President William Bell is named president. The company becomes a “Pan Am Express” partner of Pan American World Airways (1) on November 1. Operations continue apace in 1989 and the regional encounters additional financial difficulties and must file for Chapter XI bankruptcy on November 22, the day of the last flight.
With assets of only $525,000 and liabilities of $17.1 million, RCA cannot recover and in February 1990 converts to Chapter VII liquidation.
RESORT COMMUTER AIRLINES (3): United States (19881994). Following their purchase of the St. Louis-based “TWExpress” code-sharing partner Resort Air in early 1988, majority shareholders Jim Slemens and William Bell oversee the reorganization of the carrier into two divisions: “TWExpress” and Resort Commuter Airlines (3). Employing five Convair CV-580s wet-leased from Air Resorts, the new RCA-3 subsidiary commences services to Phoenix and Baja California via Los Angeles and San Diego. Traffic figures are not released.
Operations continue apace during the remainder of the decade and into the 1990s. In 1993, the fleet includes 3 leased CV-580s and 1 Super CV-580. Unable to maintain viability in a time of general airline recession, the company disappears in 1994.
RESORTS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES: United States (19841988). A subsidiary of casino, hotel, and real estate conglomerate Resorts International, Inc., RIA is created during the summer of 1984 to provide helicopter flights from New York City’s West 30th St. Heliport (NYC) and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Back in 1982, Resorts International had briefly operated a DC-9-10 to Atlantic City from New York (LGA), but the service was too lightly employed to be sustained.
Columbus O’Donnell, special assistant to Resorts Chairman James Crosby, is given the job of setting up this convenient transport mode for casino gamblers. Initially, a contract is signed with West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Keystone Helicopters to operate a pair of Sikorsky S-76s purchased by Resorts in 1983. Late in that year, Crosby elects to establish his own airline and O’Donnell employs Matthew Zuccaro as general manager.
Following negotiations, three of Greenlandair/Gronlandsfly, A. S.’s eight Sikorsky S-61Ns are purchased for $1.5 million each. These are repainted in a rainbow color scheme consisting of colored bands of indigo blue, fire engine red, sky blue, and psychedelic lime green. With interiors designed by Valerian Rybas, the S-61Ns begin a scheduled New York City to Atlantic City shuttle on September 1. One Sikorsky is employed to fly the shuttle, one for backup, and one for charters.
During the first six months of 1985, a service is offered from NYC to Brainard Field at Hartford, Connecticut, but lack of traffic leads the company to abandon the service. A second new offering, from NYC’s Battery Park heliport, must also be abandoned for the same reason. Twice-daily and sustained flights are inaugurated from Teterboro Airport on September 6.
Charter flights are undertaken for football fans, “flight-seeing” tours over NYC for wealthy customers celebrating birthdays and, on behalf of the U. S. Department of the Interior, for foreign dignitaries and UN officials needing NYC-area lift.
Operations continue apace in 1986-1987 and during these years, the airports at Morristown, New Jersey, and Westchester County, New York, join the route network. New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump now enters the picture, becoming chairman of Resorts International in 1988. The carrier is at first renamed Trump’s Resort Air; however, that title is quickly changed to the simple Trump Air.
REUNION AIR SERVICES, S. A.: Reunion (1975-1989). This subsidiary of Air France is established at St. Denis on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean on January 1, 1975. Actual start-up operations are delayed until August 8, 1977. With Gerard Etheve as general manager and a workforce of 20, the airline inaugurates scheduled passenger flights linking Aerodrome de Gillot with the Comoro Islands destination of Mayotte.
Charter flights are also undertaken to the Comoros, as well as to Madagascar and Mauritius. Within 3 years, the fleet grows to include 1 Hawker Siddeley HS 748, 1 Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, 1 Piper PA-31-310 Navajo, and 1 Aerospatiale SA.315B Lama helicopter. Operations continue apace and by 1981 enplanements total 30,400.
The employee population is increased by 10.5% in 1982 to 42 as another Chieftain joins the fleet. Passenger boardings jump 35.4% to
13,000. During the 1980s, the French rotary-wing operator Heli-Union obtains shareholding and outfits the company with four helicopters: two Aerospatiale Lamas and two Aerospatiale Alouettes.
In 1989, the company is reformed as Air Reunion, S. A.
REX AVIATION (NZ), LTD.: P. O. Box 14107, Kilbirnie, Wellington, 36030, New Zealand; Phone 64 (4) 387-2907; Fax 64 (4) 3872414; Code N2; Year Founded 1989. Rex Aviation, Ltd. is established in 1989 as a Tranzair commuter affiliate of Ansett New Zealand, Ltd., offering connecting services across Cook Strait. General Manager John Lanham also oversees the inauguration of local flights with a fleet of Piper PA-31-250 Navajo Chieftains.
Rex Aviation begins Tranzair roundtrips in October 1991 between Wellington and Blenheim.
In the late fall of 1995, the carrier takes over the Northern Air, Ltd. Tranzair link between Whangarei and Auckland.
The Tranzair commuter brand is replaced on February 29, 1996, by a new Ansett New Zealand Regional service. Rex Aviation takes over the Whakatane to Auckland route previously flown by Bell Air, Ltd. Indeed, it now provides all Ansett New Zealand Regional flights with a fleet of 5 Embraer EMB-110P-1 Bandeirantes.
In October 1997, General Manager Lanham’s concern, operating as Ansett New Zealand Regional, ceases services to Whakatane. The Bandeirantes are relocated to the Auckland-Whangarei sector, replacing the Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains that had operated the route previously.
Service is maintained in 1998-1999. In June of the latter year, Rex becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Ansett New Zealand, Ltd. and all aircraft are repainted in modified ANZ colors.
Parent Ansett New Zealand, Ltd. is sold by News, Ltd. in March 2000 to a New Zealand investors group headed by the airline’s CEO Kevin Doddrell and Clavell Capital executive David Belcher. In early June, the carrier is renamed Tasman Pacific Airlines of New Zealand, Ltd.; shortly thereafter, the renamed entity is awarded the first ever Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. franchise and is rechristened Qantas New Zealand, Ltd. on June 26. At this point, Rex, which has been wearing ANZ colors and an ANZ banner on its Jetstream 32s, begins to use the marketing name Tasman Pacific Connection.
RFG REGIONALFLUG, GmbH. (GERMAN REGIONAL AIRLINE): Germany (1975-1993). Dr. Albrecht Knauf and Reinhard Sant-ner form RFG-Reise und Industrieflug, GmbH. (Private and Business Flying, Ltd.) at Dortmund in 1975 to provide Cessna 404 Titan charter flights for specialists of the German computer firm Nixdorf. Initial capitalization is DM 5 million and ownership is split between the two men on an 85 to15 basis, respectively, with Santner assuming the post of general manager.
The initial scheduled service, flown by the Titan, is inaugurated thrice-weekly over a route Dortmund-Munich in April 1979. In 19801981, seasonal services are introduced from Dortmund to five German North Sea resorts.
With a new airport completed and a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter newly delivered, twice-daily scheduled operations are inaugurated Paderborn-Munich and Frankfurt in the spring of 1982. Summer holiday flights are also started to five German North Sea resort islands.
The route network is extended in 1984 by twice-daily flights Dort-mund-Stuttgart in May and Paderborn-Stuttgart in September. Fairchild Metros begin to join the fleet and a three-month test (eventually unsuccessful) of the Dornier 228-100 begins in November.
Daily Paderborn-London (LGW) services begin on April 1, 1985 as do weekend Dortmund-Innsbruck operations. The services to Britain, RFG’s first foreign destination, are made as part of the British Caledonian Airways, Ltd. (BCAL) commuter network. Also in April, the company name is changed to RFG Regionalflug, GmbH. (Regional Flight, Ltd.), with the English-language subtitle German Regional Airline. An order is placed for two Avions de Transport Regional ATR42-300s and the company joins the START computerized reservations system of Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G.
On January 7, 1986, the Dortmund-Munich route is extended on a daily basis to Klagenfurt, Austria. During the summer, Dortmund-Frankfurt feeder flights begin on behalf of Deutsche Lufthansa. Managing Director Reinhard Santner’s fleet now includes 1 Beech Super King Air 200, 1 Cessna 441 Conquest, 1 Dornier 228-200, and 1 Fairchild Metro III. The first ATR42-300 is delivered in August 1987, along with a Cessna 404 Titan and five Metro Ills.
Enplanements for the year total 80,000.
The second ATR42-300 arrives in April 1988 and is placed in service to the major markets of Dortmund, Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart. During the summer, Stuttgart to Lyon service is initiated and in the fall, ATR42-300 roundtrip flights begin to Malta. As a result, enplanements in 1989 climb to 137,800. A $150,000 operating profit is generated.
Company employment swells 25.7% in 1990 to 330 and the fleet is altered; gone are the Cessnas, replaced by two additional ATR42-300s. Twice-weekly service is inaugurated in September from Dortmund to Dresden.
Passenger boardings leap upward by 33.1% to 193,000 and revenues ascend 33.3% to $32 million. Operating profit grows to $1.7 million.
Two more ATR42s join the fleet in 1991. In 1992, the Fairchilds are replaced by two more ATR42-300s and an ATR72. The carrier is merged with NFD (Nurnberger Flugdienst, GmbH.) on January 1, 1993 to form Eurowings NFD + RFG, GmbH.
World History
