Another 5 bite the dust Aloha,Champion,ATA,Kittyhawk, Skybus

[N2]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/30/news/co ... tm?cnn=yes

[avcanada]

I have a friend who recently got back on with Aloha, that is to bad.

[What Flaps?]

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... =5&t=41183

[TG]

What Flaps? I'm gonna let you explain to my young daughters who sometime comes up on top of my shoulders when I'm lurking Avcanada the "nature" of your freak!ng avatar.




his/her avatar--->Two lesbos having a tongue fest!

[carholme]

TG;

I agree with you, so much for "professionals". It is no wonder the site has sunk to the level it has.


carholme

[mantogasrsrwy]

[What Flaps?]

I guess two guys shining their "balls" is much more appropriate?

[Meatservo]

Carholme, I believe that another reason the site has sunk to its current level is the terrible spelling. Especially when people get upset at one another. If people took the time to proof-read, they might also have a chance to think twice about what they just wrote. If you look at message boards that have good spelling, you will also notice more politeness. Your spelling, by the way, is excellent.

[TG]

I guess two guys shining their "balls" is much more appropriate?

Morron!

[Blakey]

You misspelled "moron". Meatservo's gonna get ya!

[TG]

I know.

Fancy a look into my profile ?

[Meatservo]

No excuse!!!!

Good work, Blakey.

[What Flaps?]

I guess two guys shining their "balls" is much more appropriate?

Morron!

Wow takes a big man to insult people. You must be a great example to your daughter. I'm sure she looks up to you on how to resolve issues properly. Let me know if you have any parenting advice you would like to share.

[Stoptheworld]

Returning to the Topic at hand: Unfortunately, yet another one bites the dust

Champion Air to Cease Flight Operations May 31st

Bloomington, MN – (March 31, 2008) – Champion Air announced today that it will cease flight operations May 31, 2008.

“This is a sad day for the entire Champion family,” said Champion President and CEO Lee Steele. “The men and women of this airline have poured themselves into providing safe, reliable and pleasing service to millions of customers over our 11 years in business. Unfortunately, however, our business model is no longer viable in a world of $110 oil, a struggling economy and rapidly changing demand for our services. Those factors also have impeded our efforts to attract new capital and new investors. Accordingly, the management team and our board of directors have decided that the best course of action is to cease flying and to wind up our operations in a responsible, deliberate manner.”

Steele noted that the run-up in fuel prices strongly impacted Champion’s fleet of three-engine Boeing 727s and that both the overall economic slowdown and the tight credit markets had a strong, negative impact on the airline’s business prospects and its efforts to attract investors. Compounding the challenges facing the airline was a growing trend in the marketplace away from charter carriers for certain types of flying.

“Champion really has experienced a ‘perfect storm’ that has simultaneously affected our cost structure, our ability to generate revenue and our ability to restructure ourselves,” Steele said. “Any one of those factors would be difficult; collectively they are insurmountable…even with the tremendous employees we have and the best efforts of everyone involved.

“The people of this airline can take a very justifiable pride in what they have created,” Steele continued. “This situation is in no way a reflection of their talents, their commitment or their passion for our customers.”

Champion will fulfill all outstanding service commitments and will remain fully in compliance with all regulatory, operational and labor contract requirements. The company has adequate funds to continue operations and to settle all outstanding financial obligations.

The airline’s current 550 employees will continue to receive their pay and benefits through May 31. Notification of the impending shutdown as mandated by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and any similar state and local regulations is underway.

[THEICEMAN]

Old news!

The Hawaiian market was already super saturated. With the introduction of Go-Jet, it was only a matter of time before one of them was going down.

[chief]

On their last day of operation we took a flight from Kona to Honolulu. Too bad they went under. Seemed like nice operation. Those 737-200's even looked pretty new. But you can only run those for so long against RJ's or B717's. We were wondering why all the flags on the island were running half mast and it was because of Aloha going under.

[CD]

And yet another one:

ATA AIRLINES DISCONTINUES ALL OPERATIONS

After filing for Chapter 11 on April 2, 2008 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis, IN, ATA Airlines has discontinued all operations and cancelled all current and future flights. Following the loss of a key contract for our military charter business, it became impossible for ATA to continue operations. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice.

We apologize for the disruption caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA and regret the impact on passengers, employees, suppliers, and other parties. ATA customers should seek alternative arrangements for current and future travel. A list of other airlines serving ATA’s destinations is available here.

ATA customers who purchased tickets using a credit card should contact their credit card company or travel agency directly for information about how to obtain a refund for unused tickets.

ATA currently is unable to provide refunds to customers who purchased tickets directly from ATA with cash or a check. These customers may be able to obtain a full or partial refund for their unused tickets by submitting a claim in ATA’s Chapter 11 proceedings. Information about submitting a claim will be available at the following website: http://www.bmcgroup.com/ataairlines.

Customers who purchased tickets from Southwest Airlines for flights operated by ATA under the codeshare agreement should contact Southwest Airlines directly at (800) 308-5037.

ATA: 1973-2008

[carholme]

That's three airlines this past week, Champion, Aloha and ATA.

carholme

[. ._]

I think it was all caused by the pilot shortage.

[Kosiw]

And so the downward spiral begins.....wonder how long it will last this time

[THEICEMAN]

Those 737-200's even looked pretty new.

Ya but too bad you can't compete with those aircraft in that market. The island market is super saturated and fares are really cheap. The only high volume aircraft that really works is the Q400....I think Island air has them?

And so the downward spiral begins.....wonder how long it will last this time

Ok now...let's not get irrational. ATA and Aloha were already in a downward spiral. I'm surprised that ATA has lasted this long, since they've been bleeding cash for a while. Aloha also had the same problem. All three companies were operating super old gas guzzling airplanes.
If anything, the industry is correcting itself.

2001 was extra special since many people were afraid of flying. If the industry slows down, I highly doubt that the job market will go south. Unless there is another terrorist attack?

[yycflyguy]

Those 737-200's even looked pretty new.

Ya but too bad you can't compete with those aircraft in that market. The island market is super saturated and fares are really cheap. The only high volume aircraft that really works is the Q400....I think Island air has them?

And so the downward spiral begins.....wonder how long it will last this time

Ok now...let's not get irrational. ATA and Aloha were already in a downward spiral. I'm surprised that ATA has lasted this long, since they've been bleeding cash for a while. Aloha also had the same problem. All three companies were operating super old gas guzzling airplanes.
If anything, the industry is correcting itself.

2001 was extra special since many people were afraid of flying. If the industry slows down, I highly doubt that the job market will go south. Unless there is another terrorist attack?

Not sure that I would call ATA's 737-800's and 757-200's and 300's super old, gas guzzling.

You can add Kittyhawk Cargo to the list of Tango Uniform companies as they ceased operations late last year.

Isn't Island Air a wholly owned subsiduary of Aloha?

[ScudRunner]

Whats all this crazy talk about shining bowling Balls being bad??? My avatar is a tribute to The Big Labowski, ah the years being stuck in the middle of nowhere drinking beers and watching the Dude! Who doesn't like bowling anyways??

If you have a problem with it please PM me and voice your concern, I am a reasonable guy and have never had an issue with moderators or constructive critisism.

Said it before and I will say it again there are too many Nerds in Aviation!

[lilfssister]

Add Skybus

http://www.skybus.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skybus_Airlines

[THEICEMAN]

I thought Skybus would go by 2010???? But there you have it!

Tomorrow mourning, all the regionals are going to be getting a lot of CVs from pilots with some heavy Airbus/Boeing time!
Well.......I guess many of them just might go to Emirates, Etihad, Gulf air, Qatar, etc....??????? They are in need of people with Airbus/Boeing type ratings!

Is this going to affect us in Canada? Unless many of these pilots have Canadian work permits, don't think they're coming over the border???

If anything, this is great news for the legacy carriers! Less capacity = higher price tickets???? United is probably celebrating tonight??