Ryan International Airlines, Inc. was an American FAR 121 airline with domestic, flag, and supplemental authority.

Synopsis and history

Based at Chicago Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Illinois, the US Postal Service was once the airline's main customer, utilizing

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller air ...

aircraft operated by Ryan International on scheduled mail delivery flights. Ryan also flew non-scheduled

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...

passenger services for

excursion An excursion is a trip by a group of people, usually made for leisure, education, or physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes. Public transportation ...

and tour packagers, along with the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

, the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

, and others. Skyservice USA McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 Silagi-1

Boeing 757-225, Ryan International Airlines JP507065

In 1998, the airline began operating flights from California to Hawaii and Mexico, using a pair of

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 19 ...

aircraft and several

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fam ...

s on behalf of SunTrips, a vacation package operator in California. The aircraft were operated with Skyservice USA titles and wore the livery of Airtours International Airways, SunTrips' parent company. In 2000, the Skyservice USA titles were replaced with SunTrips titles on the aircraft. Later, Ryan would operate SunTrips flights using

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maid ...

aircraft in Ryan's own livery. The airline was wholly owned by Ronald Ryan

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's olde ...

12–18 April 2005 until 2005, when it was purchased by commercial real-estate firm Rubloff Development Group. Ryan operated scheduled passenger flights with

jets for

AirTran Airways AirTran Airways was a low-cost U.S. airline that was originally headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and ceased operation following its acquisition by Southwest Airlines. AirTran Airways was established in 1993 as Conquest Sun Airlines by th ...

between Atlanta and the US west coast in 2003 and 2004, after which AirTran began operating the flights themselves with newly delivered

Boeing 737-700 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...

aircraft. Since moving to Rubloff's headquarters in Rockford in 2006, Ryan held a notable number of contracts working mainly for the

and the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-ter ...

(DHS). Until summer 2008, it maintained large operations in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

St Louis and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

for Funjet and Apple Vacations. These contracts were terminated following the failure of European carrier

Futura International Airways Futura International Airways was an airline with its head office in the ''Zona Facturación'' on the property of Palma de Mallorca Airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. It operated scheduled services and charter flights for tour operators and oth ...

, from which Ryan leased several aircraft to support this operation. In November 2011, Ryan took delivery their first Airbus A330-300, leased from Virgin Atlantic. In February 2012, Ryan furloughed pilots, flight attendants, and support staff. On March 6, 2012, Ryan filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

, citing "unexpected and dramatic reductions in military flying." On April 1, 2012, Ryan lost its bid to continue flying for the DHS. The loss of the DHS contract resulted in the immediate grounding of four McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft to cut costs. On August 1, 2012, Ryan returned its A330-300 to Virgin Atlantic, ending its lease and accepting an older model

Airbus A330-200 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A3 ...

formerly operated by Atlasjet. Six days later, Jeff Potter, former CEO of

Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost U.S. airline headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It operates flights to over 100 destinations throughout the United States and 31 international destinations, and employs more than 3,000 staff. The ca ...

was hired as the "Chief Restructuring Officer" for Ryan. He is also the President and CEO of aviation consulting firm Boyd Group International. Ryan's President/COO Mike McCabe had left Ryan in May due to cancer surgery. On August 15, 2012, Ryan announced it would be furloughing approximately 30 pilots and 60 flight attendants throughout the coming weeks. Two days later, the majority of flight attendants voted "Yes" to the AFA Contract agreement. At the end of that month, 25 or more management and administrative positions were eliminated. Those positions received same-day notice as the company attempted to further cut costs. Ryan again announced it would be furloughing more pilots and approximately 18 more flight attendants. On January 11, 2013, Ryan International Airlines' CEO announced that the airline had gone into liquidation. Its staff were dismissed and it ceased operations. On January 31, 2013, charter air-tour operator AstraJet's holding company, AJET Holdings LLC, signed a purchase agreement to buy Ryan International out of bankruptcy with plans to restart the airline under the AstraJet name, operating commercial and charter flights out of Europe to Florida, the Far East, Hawaii, Nevada, and South America. The purchase was completed on March 4, 2013, with AJET taking control of Ryan's Part-121 scheduled-air-carrier license and collective-bargaining agreement with flight attendants and pilots.

Kickback fraud scheme

On August 13, 2013, a grand jury returned an indictment against Sean E. Wagner, the former owner and operator of Aviation Fuel International (AFI), and against AFI, charging them for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud Ryan International Airlines. According to the indictment, Wagner and AFI made kickback payments to Wayne Kepple, a former vice president of ground operations for Ryan, in exchange for awarding business to AFI. According to court documents, from at least as early as December 2005 through at least August 2009, Wagner and others at AFI made kickback payments to Kepple totaling more than $200,000 in the form of checks, wire transfers, cash and gift cards. Wagner pleaded guilty on March 12, 2014, to participating in a kickback scheme to defraud Ryan Airlines. The charges against AFI were dismissed on February 21, 2014.

Fleet

Ryan International operated a diverse fleet of jetliners during its existence including the following aircraft: *

* Airbus A330-300 *

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter f ...

5 * Boeing 727-200 * Boeing 737-200 * Boeing 737-300 *

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

* Boeing 737-500 * Boeing 737-800 *

Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its maide ...

* Boeing 767-300 * McDonnell Douglas DC-9-10 * McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 * McDonnell Douglas MD-82 *

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

* McDonnell Douglas MD-87

Incidents and accidents

Ryan International only had two accidents in its history, one of which was fatal. * On February 17, 1991, Ryan International Airlines Flight 590, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 (registration N565PC) crashed after takeoff from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The aircraft was on a cargo flight carrying mail. Both pilots, the aircraft's only occupants, were killed. * On October 1, 1997, A Boeing 727-51C (registration N414EX) operating as Flight 607 collided with a shuttle bus at

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport i ...

. There were no fatalities. All three crew members survived, though the captain and first officer were injured. The driver of the shuttle bus was also injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged and written off.

References

External links