AIR ALSACE, S. A.: France (1962-1980). Organized at Aerodrome de Colmar-Houssen by local businessmen and their chamber of commerce in 1962, Air Alsace undertakes 12 years of air taxi services. Scheduled services begin in June 1974 and over the next four years grow over a significant route network. In addition to domestic destinations, aircraft also fly regional services from Colmar, Strasbourg, Belfort, and Mulhouse. Replacement services are also offered on behalf of Air France and are initiated from Strasbourg to Rome, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne, as well as from Lille to Strasbourg, Milan, and London (LHR).
In January 1975, the commuter Air Vosges, S. A. is purchased and merged. President Jean Risser now has a workforce of 117 in 1976-1977 and his fleet comprises 3 VFW 614s, 1 Nord 262, 4 Aerospatiale SN-601 Corvettes, 1 Piper PA-31-310 Navajo, 4 Piper Aztecs, and 1 Cessna 310. Enplanements in the latter year total 85,960.
Airline employment grows by 9.6% in 1978 to 126. A Fokker F.28 is acquired in early spring and employed in April to inaugurate replacement flights for Air France from Strasbourg to London (LHW) and Milan. Passenger boardings jump 38.6% to 140,000.
The number of workers is increased by 5% in 1979 to 127. Orders are placed for two more F.28s and two F.27s. Summer service is inaugurated to Toulon, on the Cote d’Azur. Customer bookings decline 6.4% to 132,000. The first F.27 is delivered in April 1980, and later in the year the company is taken over by the large independent TAT (Touraine Air Transport, S. A.).
AIR AMBULANCE CARE: St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport Clearwater, Florida 33762, United States; Phone (813) 530-7972; Fax (813) 530-9136; Year Founded 1983. AAC is established at St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport in 1983 to provide fixed-wing international transport for critically ill patients. Under the leadership of its medical director, Dr. Kenneth Kreye, this unique operator continues to make life-saving flights into 2000, employing during one each specially-equipped Learjet 24, Learjet 25, and Cessna 414 Chancellor.
AIR AMERICA (1): United States (1979-1990). Air Specialties is formed at Dearborn, Michigan, in 1979 to offer charter passenger flights to various destinations from Detroit (DTT). Permission is sought from the CAB.
Although worldwide charter authority is received from the government in early 1982, the company remains a concept for a number of years to come. During the first several years of the 1980s, company officials propose to operate scheduled flights. Startup plans are announced and discussions of destinations to be served with Boeing 727s or McDonnell Douglas DC-10s range from Orlando and New York to Mexico and the Bahamas.
Early in 1984, the CAB charges Air Specialities with the promotion of scheduled services for which it holds no authority. Later in the year, the regulatory body, in one of its last actions, recommends that the paper airline not receive scheduled rights. In addition, it urges cancellation of its unexercised charter rights.
During the changeover of responsibility for U. S. commercial aviation from the CAB to the DOT, the Air America controversy temporarily disappears. Plans continue to be announced and postponed and company headquarters are transferred to Los Angeles (Marina de Rey). There the corporate identity is changed to Total Air. It is suggested that operations might begin during the fourth quarter.
With two chartered Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1s, Total Air inaugurates passenger tour flights in October to destinations throughout the
U. S., Canada, and the Caribbean, carrying a total of 49,000 passengers. The flying life of the company is considerably shorter than the startup period; financially unable to continue, it shuts down in early 1985.
Having failed to start and continue for better than seven years, the carrier becomes target in early 1986 of a DOT effort to revoke its certificate. However, before that move can be realized, Total Air is purchased by an investment group headed by Zev Melamid and is again renamed. Intentionally or not taking the name of the onetime CIA proprietary airline, this Air America, which has since acquired three leased Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1s from International Air Leases, finally begins flying charters from U. S. mainland cities to Hawaii. A total of 398,610 passengers are transported on the year.
With services to world destinations as well as Mexico and Las Vegas now operated regularly, the large regional enplanes a total of 515,000 travelers in 1987, a 22.6% increase. Freight, which is also flown, increases 182.6% to 1.75 million FTKs. Revenues advance to $57.2 million, but expenses are higher. As a result, Air America suffers losses of $3.5 million (operating) and $24,000 (net).
Passenger boardings are down 20.6% in 1988 to 409,000, even though the company has added a fourth TriStar and inaugurated scheduled services from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Revenues, too, are down, by 0.5%, to $56.91 million. Expenses decline 2.6% to $59.12 million and produce an operating loss of $2.23 million. The net loss is $2.78 million.
In January 1989, the company is purchased by a newly formed California holding company, Aerion Transport Services. The Los Angeles-based carrier now begins weekly scheduled through-plane L-1011 service from California to Hawaii and American Samoa. The company again seeks Chapter XI protection in October. Customer bookings fall another 13.4% to 354,152. The new owners, unwilling to take a financial bath, close the carrier down at the end of December, with the last flights completed on January 9, 1990.
Yet another investment group, this one headed by Rosenbaum Aviation founder William Rosenbaum, steps forward to purchase the carrier in February. Before the transaction can be completed, the FAA’s enforcement division reports the company guilty of various maintenance and safety violations. Consequently, its certificate is retired in March.
World History
