The Tallahassee Democrat
February 20, 2001 Tuesday TD EDITION
FLORIDA AIR
CANCELS FIRST FLIGHTS
There were some surprises for Florida Air
on its first day of service in Tallahassee.
The airline, which was scheduled to begin service at Tallahassee Regional Airport on Monday, said it was told by the airport that it could not begin operating until it provided airport officials a copy of its workers' compensation policy.
As Florida Air worked to get that
ironed out Monday, the airline canceled its first two flights, which had no
passengers, and used Aero Associates, based at the old municipal airport
terminal, for its later flights.
Florida Air CEO Rudy Dekkers said he anticipated the problem would be worked out by today.
Tallahassee Regional is the only airport in Florida that has asked the airline for a copy of its workers' compensation policy, Dekkers said. He said he was frustrated by the delay.
Tallahassee Regional business services manager Betty Rivers said the airport requires all airlines to provide a copy of their workers' compensation policy. That requirement is spelled out in documents Florida Air received from the city of Tallahassee months ago, Rivers said.
"We're just waiting for them to provide us with (the policy)," Rivers said. "Then we'll be ready to go . . . We've been working with them around the clock to get them ready. We're excited about their service."
Florida Air will fly from Tallahassee to Sarasota four times a day. The airline temporarily will fly leased 11-seat Cessna Grand Caravans and plans to begin using its own 19-seat Jet Stream aircraft May 1.
The airline is also introducing service to Jacksonville, Orlando, Marathon, Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale/Miami from its hub at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida)
April 26, 2001, Thursday, ALL EDITIONS
Pilot walkout cripples Venice-based airline;
Pilots for Sarasota-Bradenton's new
commuter airline may return if their Seattle boss pays them.
A pilots' strike is grounding Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport's new commuter airline.
Venice-based Florida Air Inc. halted in-state service Tuesday after the pilots it was using stopped working for their Seattle employer.
Those pilots may return if they're paid as their boss promised Wednesday, Florida Air executive Rudi Dekkers said.
If that doesn't happen, Florida Air
hopes to return to the skies in June with its own pilots and planes.
The airline had been paying to use five pilots and planes from Harbor Air Inc., the financially troubled Seattle carrier.
But Harbor hasn't paid those pilots in weeks, and they refused to fly any more, Dekkers said.
"This is a terrible situation," he said. "I can't do anything about this because we're not in control right now."
It's another blow to Sarasota-Bradenton. The airport recently saw airlines scale back flights or pull out completely. Passenger counts have dropped the past three years.
Florida Air's in-state service was especially welcome because it provided the only direct flights to Tallahassee and promised to replace the service to Miami that was dropped by American Eagle on Sunday.
"It's frustrating because we've got passengers that want to travel intrastate, and we're not able to provide that level of service," said Jim Naiman, the airport's public relations manager.
Florida Air, which launched service Feb. 15, was flying 11-seat Cessna Grand Caravan turboprops. It offered two round-trips daily to Tallahassee, Orlando-Jacksonville, and Fort Myers-Marathon.
Passenger counts weren't high. The airline carried 514 passengers in March, an average of 17 a day. Business was picking up until Florida Air's flights were dropped from the travel agents booking network linked through Harbor Air.
"We learned that being in the system with travel agents is a must," he said.
The Tallahassee and Orlando-Jacksonville routes did well, but the company was ready to drop the Fort Myers-Marathon service.
An estimated 100 passengers who paid for tickets will be owed refunds if Harbor Air doesn't bring back the flights, Dekkers said. If Harbor doesn't refund their money, Florida Air will make it up with tickets on the flights it hopes to offer in June.
Florida Air paid Harbor $ 500,000 for the pilots and planes, but the pilots told Dekkers they hadn't been paid in more than a month, he said.
Sunrise Airlines, a Las Vegas company doing business as Florida Air, is awaiting final certification by federal agencies to operate as an airline.
Dekkers, one of Sunrise's owners, said 32 pilots are being trained to fly the six 19-passenger Jetstream J31 turboprops in its fleet.
Florida Air is headquartered in Venice, where Dekkers is co-owner of Huffman Aviation, a flight school and aircraft maintenance service at Venice Municipal Airport. The airline decided to begin with leased pilots and planes to take advantage of the busier tourist season and to learn which routes were popular, he said.
Now, he says, he wishes he had waited until Sunrise and Florida Air received their certification so they didn't have to deal with Harbor Air's financial problems.
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL)
July 14, 2001 Saturday, City Edition
An aborted take-off Local flights halted,
Sarasota-based airline's future in limbo
BYLINE: Mark Gordon, Times-Union business writer
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. D-1
LENGTH: 522 words
The future of a statewide airline is in limbo, as money and ownership questions
linger for the service that bills itself as an air taxi for Florida.
The Sarasota-based airline, Florida Air, had flown two flights a day into Jacksonville International Airport for a few weeks in March and April. But sometime in April, the airline stopped flying into JIA, airport officials said yesterday. The service had flown between JIA to Orlando and Sarasota.
Among the problems facing the airline is that it no longer has an operating
license from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The DOT said it was unclear
when, or even if, the airline will get clearance to fly again.
Officials for the airline, including founder Rudi Dekkers, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. A woman who answered the phone at the airline's Sarasota headquarters said no information on the future of the company will be released until Tuesday.
'If they can put it all together, we'd love to have them back,' JIA spokeswoman Lauren Carson said. 'We think service like that is really needed.'
While Dekkers came up with the idea to start the airline, he also is part of the current problem: Dekkers is a Dutch citizen, and non-American citizens cannot be involved in the day-to-day operations of an American airline. Dekkers does own a stake in a holding company that oversees the airline, but officials said it's unclear how much input he has with that organization, leading to the ownership questions.
In an March interview, Dekkers said he was aware of that rule, and he planned only to have a limited role in the airline. Dekkers also acknowledged the turmoil facing his start-up operation.
'I'm going to give it three months,' Dekkers said at the time. 'If in that time, it's not making it the way I think it could make it, I'm going to have a problem.'
Besides questions about ownership, there are other logistical problems with the airline. Originally, Florida Air used pilots and planes belonging to Seattle-based Harbor Air Lines. Start-up airlines commonly use other companies' pilots and planes while waiting for federal approval.
But Harbor Air had its own financial troubles, and it shut down in May. That left Florida Air with no pilots or planes.
Dekkers founded Florida Air late last year, and it officially opened in Feb. 15. But almost right from the beginning, the airline fended off problems. First there were paperwork snafus that delayed the start in Tallahassee for a few days. And in Jacksonville, flights were delayed for a few weeks, as Dekkers worked out agreements with Midway Airlines to use its JIA gates and baggage workers.
Florida Air also blamed a Feb. 28 earthquake in Seattle for part of the problems, because the tremor shook up Harbor Air's communication system, which Dekkers was using to handle ticket reservations.
Airline experts said short-route airlines are difficult businesses to make last, mostly because there is not only competition from other airlines but from buses and cars, too. This report contains information from wire services.
The Bradenton Herald
April 27, 2001, Friday
Florida Air
Cuts Ties with Troubled Partner
MANATEE, Fla.--Florida Air officials
vowed the airline will fly again despite being grounded because of another
airline's financial problems.
Florida Air severed ties with Harbor Air on Thursday, two days after Harbor Air's pilots refused to fly because they have not been paid. The strike has grounded Florida Air since Tuesday because the airline it was using Harbor Air's planes -- and pilots -- while awaiting federal approval to operate on its own.
"Once we're approved, we're going to do whatever we can for our customers who
have been screwed by Harbor Air," said Rudi
Dekkers, Florida Air's founder and marketing director.
Officials of Harbor Air, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., did not return telephone messages Thursday.
The pilots' strike forced Florida Air to cancel its schedule at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, which consisted of two daily flights each to Fort Myers/Marathon, Orlando/Jacksonville and Tallahassee. Dekkers said the airline hopes to resume service in June.
Florida Air paid Harbor Air about $ 300,000 up front to use the Washington airline's planes and pilots, Dekkers said. Florida Air later paid another $ 200,000 upon Harbor Air's request.
The practice, called "wet leasing," is legal under Federal Aviation Administration regulations. It's commonly used by startup airlines who want to build their business while waiting for necessary federal approvals to fly.
Dekkers said a friend in Ohio suggested the Florida Air-Harbor Air arrangement. Florida Air did a background check of Harbor Air before signing the agreement, and everything appeared fine, he said.
The first sign of trouble was in mid-March, when one of Harbor Air's planes was repossessed as it sat at Sarasota-Bradenton, Dekkers said.
But the pilots' refusal to work is just the latest blow to Harbor Air, which is struggling financially.
The airline was evicted from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month after failing to pay more than $ 100,000 in rent, airport spokesman Bob Parker said. The airline, which has not paid its debt, has transferred its operations to Boeing Field near Seattle.
The Port of Friday Harbor in Friday Harbor, Wash., has given the airline until Monday to pay an estimated $ 9,500 in late rent, landing fees and passenger fees or face eviction from the airport, said Steve Simpson, ports director. The airline also must re-establish service to Seattle-Tacoma to continue operating at Friday Harbor, he said.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries threatened to revoke Harbor Air's ability to employ people because the airline owed more than $ 29,000 in workers compensation fees from 2000, spokeswoman Tammy Firkins said. However, the department has stayed the revocation while it negotiates a repayment schedule with the airline, she said.
The IRS has filed almost $ 850,000 in liens against Harbor Air since Jan. 1, 2000, for unpaid back taxes, according to records at the Pierce County (Wash.) Auditor's Office. Harbor Air also owes the Washington Employment Security Department more than $ 80,000 in employment insurance premiums, as well as more than $ 450,000 to a fuel supplier, records show.
"If we had known that Harbor Air was in that kind of shape, we would not have dealt with them," Dekkers said.
The Miami Herald
May 4, 2001, Friday
Sarasota, Fla.-Based Airline May Halt Service to
Florida Keys Airport
BYLINE: By Jennifer Babson
LENGTH: 627 words
MARATHON, Fla.--The only regularly scheduled commercial air service to be
offered this year out of Florida Keys Marathon Airport started in February,
stopped last month and now is in limbo.
In mid-February, Sarasota-based Florida Air -- FLAIR -- began offering four round-trip daily flights from Marathon to Fort Myers and on to Sarasota/Bradenton and Tallahassee.
FLAIR partnered with Harbor Air of Washington state to fly 11-seat Cessnas under the FLAIR banner until the company could obtain federal approval to offer its own service.
But financial troubles at Harbor Air last month apparently grounded that
company's pilots -- including those who serviced Marathon. A spokesman for FLAIR
said the company now regrets its decision to offer flights during the region's
winter high season -- albeit through a contractor -- because now it's sporting a
"big, black eye."
"What happened is that our future airline was not ready yet with the [Federal Aviation Administration] and [the Department of Transportation], and we wanted to give service to the public," said Rudi Dekkers, who said Thursday that he is a board member of Florida Air Holding Inc., which, Dekkers said, is "actually Sunrise Airlines doing business as FLAIR."
Dekkers has previously described himself as FLAIR's chief executive officer, but said his title has changed. "Because I am a Dutch citizen, I cannot be CEO until [the] DOT approves this," he explained.
FLAIR, he said, will soon begin its own flights, using the company's 19-seat Jetstream planes. Direct flights will be scheduled from Marathon to Miami, Orlando, and on to Sarasota, according to Dekkers, and customers who had tickets for Harbor Air-piloted routes will soon be able to exchange them for FLAIR flights.
"We are now in the last stage," Dekkers said. "We expect that we can fly if they approve this all the first week of June -- with our own equipment, with our own pilots, with our own everything." It's not clear, however, whether or when the DOT will give Sunrise/FLAIR the green light, though the FAA has already signed off. A DOT spokesman in Washington said the agency is still reviewing Sunrise's application to offer Florida service and "restart" other routes the company ran in three western states prior to its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last November -- about six weeks before Sunrise's owners signed an agreement to buy the company.
Before it filed for Chapter 11, Sunrise was collecting more than $ 3.3 million a year in federal subsidies under the DOT's Essential Air Service program for flights it offered in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, DOT documents show. The program doesn't cover Florida. With future service out of Marathon still a possibility, Dekkers said he's upset county tourism officials didn't give the earlier flights more publicity.
"They told us billboards, they told us half a million dollars, they said, 'We are going to advertise for Florida Air in all the airports where you are going to be,' " Dekkers said. "They had an ad about Marathon, and it said, in very small letters, 'You could call FLAIR to get there.' "
Harold Wheeler, director of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, says the TDC did try to promote the new airline.
"We did market them in all the destinations they have flown into, mainly through the newspaper, and we sent out releases to travel agents for them to be aware of the airline," Wheeler says. "The biggest thing we did was put them on our homepage of our website."
Wheeler contends that FLAIR's dry run was hampered by not having more direct flights from Marathon to larger cities.
Tallahassee Democrat
May 8, 2001, Tuesday
Florida Commuter Airline's Flights Cease Pending
Regulatory Approval
Florida Air is up in the air these
days. But its planes aren't.
The new commuter airline began service from Tallahassee to its Sarasota hub in February. But flights stopped about two weeks ago.
The reason?
Florida Air, or FLAIR, entered a partnership with Harbor Air of Washington state to serve Florida passengers until FLAIR received regulatory approval. Harbor Air served FLAIR's routes, flying its planes under the FLAIR name. FLAIR did that because it wanted to provide service to Florida passengers during the legislative session and spring travel season, officials said.
But FLAIR's Rudi Dekkers said Harbor Air defaulted on the agreement. The company did not pay pilots and pilots walked off the job, he said, leaving FLAIR in the lurch. Harbor Air officials could not be reached for comment late Monday.
No FLAIR flights are currently operating. FLAIR still hopes to get regulatory approval by June and then begin operations with its own pilots and equipment. The company will actually be Sunrise Airlines, doing business as FLAIR, Dekkers said.
FLAIR plans to offer two or three daily round-trip flights from Tallahassee to Sarasota on 19-seat Jet Stream aircraft, Dekkers said. He said customers with tickets for FLAIR routes operated by Harbor Air will be able to exchange them for tickets on FLAIR flights.
The Tallahassee route was a busy one, Dekkers said, and airline officials were disappointed the service was not available during the last two weeks of the legislative session.
Officials at Tallahassee Regional Airport said they look forward to the restart of FLAIR's service under the company's own staff and equipment.
"We're still working with them and hope everything will work out so we can bring that service online," said Betty Rivers, the airport's business services manager. "We're anxiously awaiting them to get everything worked out and start the new service with Sunrise."
The Bradenton Herald
March 7, 2002 Thursday BRADENTON EDITION
AWAITING DOT APPROVAL - AIRLINE MIGHT RETURN TO
SRQ
Despite having some misgivings, the federal government is poised to allow a
commuter airline based at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport to resume
flying.
The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to approve Sunrise Airlines' return to the skies as soon as the airline provides some financial information and proof of insurance, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Airline officials did not return phone calls Wednesday, but Fred Piccolo, the airport's executive director, said he's optimistic the airline will start flying within a month.
According to its application for DOT approval, the airline plans to start with
two daily round-trips between Sarasota-Bradenton and Miami, and ultimately
expand service to Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Key West, Orlando, Naples and
Tallahassee. It plans to use a fleet of 19-seat Jetstream-31 planes.
Sunrise initially planned to resume flying as Florida Air, but dropped the name after another airline -- Air Florida -- objected. Sunrise now plans to fly as FLAIR Airlines.
But the DOT said it will only give Sunrise authority to fly for one year because of "serious concerns" about its application. The DOT said it will monitor the airline's first year of operations, then decide whether to allow it to continue flying beyond that.
Among concerns outlined in a Feb. 8 DOT order:
* While all the airline's operations and maintenance will be done in Florida, much of its management initially will be based in Las Vegas. Sunrise said it has hired a Florida-based maintenance manager, its Las Vegas managers will be in Florida often and the FAA has accepted the airline's plan.
* The airline's initial application said it planned to resume service to four small cities in Arizona, Nevada and Utah, where it previously had flown, but made no mention of its Florida plans. The lack of information initially hindered the DOT's ability to make a fully informed assessment of the carrier's proposed operations and the level of financial support needed to support those plans..
* The application said Rudi Dekkers, a Dutch citizen, would lease planes to the airline but otherwise have no role in its operations. But the DOT discovered that Dekkers was a principal in the airline, a possible violation of federal law requiring U.S. airlines to be substantially owned and controlled by U.S. citizens.
"Its initial failure to fully and accurately disclose significant information material to its fitness is a matter of serious concern to us because it raises doubts as to the carrier's future compliance disposition," the order stated.
"However, because the carrier has since corrected the record of relevant fitness information, has hired new senior executive officers, has removed Mr. Dekkers from any involvement with the carrier, and in other respects appears to have a positive compliance disposition, we are willing to allow the company to resume operations on a limited basis."