Aeroamerica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aeroamerica, Inc. was founded as a US supplemental carrier in 1974.[1] It was headquartered at Seattle Boeing Field, Washington.[1][2] In 1975 the airline established an overseas base at Tegel Airport in what used to be West Berlin, in the days prior to Germany's [re-]unification. Berlin Tegel was the main operational base from 1975 until '79.[1] Aeroamerica ceased operations in 1982.[3]
Contents |
[edit] History
Legendary Seattle businessman Joël Eisenberg was the founder and owner of Aeroamerica, Inc.[4]
Aeroamerica commenced commercial operations in 1974 with three ex-Braniff Boeing 720 jetliners.[1] Aeroamerica's Boeing 720s were configured in a 149-seat, single-class seating arrangement.[5] Although the colour scheme applied to all of these aircraft featured the same basic shapes, the actual colour combination was different for each individual plane.[6]
Aeroamerica's female flight attendants wore "hot pants".[6]
In late October 1974 the newly formed airline stationed its first Boeing 720 at West Berlin's Tegel Airport for crew familiarisation flights.[5] By March 1975 a further two Boeing 720s arrived at the airline's new Berlin Tegel base to fulfill a charter contract Aeroamerica had concluded with Berliner Flug Ring, at the time West Berlin's leading package tour operator, to undertake a series of short- to medium-haul IT charter flights to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands from the start of the 1975 summer season.[7] Aeroamerica had taken over this contract from Modern Air, another US supplemental carrier that had been based at Tegel Airport from April 1968 until October 1974.[5] The decision to supply whole-plane charter airline seats to West Berlin's foremost package tour operator enabled the airline to take advantage of the fact that all airlines other than those headquartered in the US, the UK and France - the airlines of the three Western victorious powers of World War II - were banned from operating at West Berlin.
By 1976 the size of the airline's fleet had doubled to six aircraft through the acquisition of another three second-hand jets. These included an additional Boeing 720 as well as a Boeing 707-120B and a BAC One-Eleven 400. The latter two aircraft had originally belonged to American Airlines. During the summer of 1976 Aeroamerica's entire fleet was based at Berlin Tegel, making it West Berlin's leading charter airline at the time.[8]
From 1977 the airline's presence at Berlin gradually declined.[9]
During that period the airline had also faced isolated incidents of labour unrest from a small but vocal minority among its local German flight attendants who opposed the American management's strict non-union policy for its Berlin operation.[10]
A short-term wet lease Aeroamerica had concluded with Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları (KTHY), the Northern Cyprus flag carrier, in 1977, whereby a fully crewed Boeing 720 was stationed at Ercan for several months to operate the Turkish carrier's scheduled route to Istanbul, partially compensated for the loss of business at its Berlin base.[11]
Aeroamerica closed its Berlin base following the end of the 1979 summer season.[12][2]
Aeroamerica ceased operations during 1982.[3][4]
[edit] Aircraft operated
Aeroamerica operated the following aircraft types:
- BAC One-Eleven
- Boeing 707
- Boeing 720.
Aeroamerica and its sister company Airclub International claimed to be the world's largest operators of Boeing "executive aircraft".[4]
[edit] Accidents and incidents
There are no recorded accidents or incidents involving Aeroamerica aircraft.
[edit] Code data
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d "World Airline Directory 1975", Flight International, March 1975.
- ^ a b "World Airline Directory 1980", Flight International, March 1980.
- ^ a b "World Airline Directory 1983", Flight International, March 1983.
- ^ a b c [http://www.itltd.net/mission.html ITL International Telecom Ltd. (International Telecoms and Tradition of Innovation)]
- ^ a b c Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1974 Annual Report, February 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975
- ^ a b Berlin Airport Company, May 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975
- ^ Berlin Airport Company, April 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975
- ^ Berlin Airport Company, August 1976 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1976
- ^ Berlin Airport Company, May 1977 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1977
- ^ Berlin Airport Company, May 1977 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1977
- ^ "World Airline Directory 1978", Flight International, March 1978.
- ^ Berlin Airport Company, April 1979 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports, Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1979
[edit] References
- Berlin Airport Company - Monthly Timetable Booklets for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports (German language edition only), several editions, 1974-1979. Berlin Airport Company.
- "Flight International" . Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710. (various backdated issues relating to Aeroamerica, 1974-1982)
