TWO FLEDGLING US carriers - USAfrica Airways and Leisure Air - have suspended operations and a third airline - Kiwi International Air Lines - has drastically revamped its top management.
Atlanta-based Valujet, however, reports strong profits for 1994 and is expanding services aggressively, at the expense of USAir.
Leisure Air suspended operations two weeks after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It is unclear whether it plans to resume flying its Airbus A320 fleet.
USAfrica Airways, the only US carrier serving South Africa under its own name, suspended operations on 3 February because of a severe cashflow problem. It missed lease payments for two McDonnell Douglas MD-11s, which were promptly repossessed by American Airlines. American code-shares with South African Airlines on the New York-Johannesburg route.
Seven month-old, Washington DC-based USAfrica is considering a Chapter 11 filing in order to reorganise. It says that services could resume shortly, but World Airways is already requesting approval to replace it on South African services.
Kiwi's founder and chairman, Robert Iverson, and three other high-level managers, including chief operating officer Ron Cardwell, have left the airline, declining to comment, in a management shakeup.
Retired FedEx executive Byron Hogue replaces Iverson as chairman, and aviation consultant Danny Wright has been named as the new president.
Kiwi says that the move has been designed "...to further grow the company's scheduled service and strengthen its management structure".
Although recording some profitable quarters, the airline lost $14 million in 1994. It hopes to turn a profit this year.
Valujet, in contrast, reported a $21 million net profit for 1994, which was its first full year of operation.
It began flying in October 1993 and operates 164 daily departures on peak travel days, with a fleet of 24 McDonnell Douglas DC-9s.
Valujet has forced USAir reluctantly to match its low fares to Florida cities and to Hartford, Connecticut. Valujet is expanding northward and is seeking a Washington-Montreal route.
Source: Flight International
