KIWI International suspended flight operations on 15 October after failing to gain a cash infusion from investors. The US airline had filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks before, and cut services, blaming high debts and the fall-out on other low-cost start-ups from the ValuJet crash.
Kiwi has struggled to survive since its launch in 1992, but had appeared to be turning the corner before the ValuJet crash and its own run-in with the US Federal Aviation Administration over pilot training earlier this year. That led to the grounding of part of its Boeing 727 fleet
Recovery Equity Investors, a California investment concern which paid $4 million in mid-1995 for a one-third stake in Kiwi, backed out of a plan to invest an additional $1.8 million in the US air carrier.
A bail-out by Victor Kiam, owner of Remington Products, also fell through. Kiwi says that it is talking to a third investor, whom it does not identify. The airline still hopes that an investor will step forward before it is forced to dispose of its assets.
Source: Flight International
