MGM GRAND, THE US hotel and casino operator, has sold its luxury charter airline, to Michigan based American International Airways (AIA).
Despite the relaunch in 1994 of scheduled routes to Las Vegas, MGM Grand Air had been losing money.
The deal includes the fleet of three Boeing 727-100s and three Douglas DC-8s as well as the airline's charter contracts. AIA says that it will use the DC-8-62s for charter operations, but plans to sell or convert the Boeing airliners for cargo work.
AIA, which is owned by Conrad Kalitta, will also abandon the scheduled routes from New York and Los Angeles to Las Vegas, which MGM Grand resurrected in September 1994, having stopped them in the late 1980s. MGM Grand represented 3% of the parent company's revenues.
Source: Flight International
