Aeroamerica, Inc. was founded as an uncertificated carrier. It was headquartered at Seattle Boeing Field,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. In 1975 the airline established an overseas base at Tegel Airport in what used to be

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

prior to

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. Berlin Tegel was the main operating base from 1975 until 1979. Aeroamerica ceased operations in 1982.

History

Club International

Joel Eisenberg, owner of a travel agency, International Travel, founded Club International as a nonprofit corporation under Oregon law in February 1971 as an air travel club. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

certificated the club under Part 123 of the

Federal Aviation Regulations The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). A wide var ...

in May 1971 and Eisenberg acquired the first aircraft, a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

, from TWA in March 1971, which he leased to the club. By the end of 1972, the club had purchased the 707 from Eisenberg and also acquired a DC-7 and Boeing 720. The club operated effectively a weekly shuttle between Seattle and Honolulu and Seattle and Anchorage. It advertised as having 40,000 members. The

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services (including scheduled passe ...

(CAB) ordered Club International shut in September 1974. The CAB was the now defunct federal agency that, at the time, tightly regulated almost all US commercial air transportation. However, the CAB allowed Club International to operate into the beginning of 1975 to allow its last tours to complete. As can be seen from the nearby picture, the aircraft livery of Club International and that of Aeroamerica was essentially identical.

Formation

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

businessman Arthur Joël Eisenberg was the founder and owner of Aeroamerica, Inc.''Airways (Zoeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful)'', pp. 44/5, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008 Aeroamerica was incorporated in August 1973.''Airways oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', p. 45, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008

Start of operations

Aeroamerica commenced commercial operations in 1974 with six-second-hand Boeing 720

jetliners A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have twinjet, two or quadjet, four jet engines; trijet, three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Air ...

. One of these was sourced from

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

while the remaining five were all ex-

Braniff Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until the cessation of air operations, was an American airline that operated from 1928 until 1982 and continues to ...

examples. (Aeroamerica's first aircraft had actually been delivered the year before, the same month the company had been incorporated.) Aeroamerica's Boeing 720s were configured in a 149-seat, single-class seating arrangement.''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 ''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', p. 46, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008 Although Aeroamerica applied similar

colour scheme In color theory, a color scheme is a combination of 2 or more colors used in aesthetic or practical design. Aesthetic color schemes are used to create style and appeal. Colors that create a harmonious feeling when viewed together are often us ...

s featuring the same basic shapes to most of its aircraft, the actual colour combination differed on each individual plane.''Berlin Airport Company, May 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports'', Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975 Aeroamerica's female

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

s wore "hot pants".Zoeller, M., aeroamerica, p. 10

Overseas expansion

Following the decision of US supplemental carrier Modern Air's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

GAC Corp to exit the West Berlin charter market in October 1974, Aeroamerica acquired that airline's West Berlin traffic rights.''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', pp. 45/6, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008

Establishment of West Berlin base

On October 23, 1974, the day of the new terminal pre-inauguration at West Berlin's Tegel Airport, Aeroamerica stationed its first Boeing 720 at Tegel for crew familiarisation flights. This aircraft was painted in a basic Braniff colour scheme modified with a white ''Air Club International'' style cheatline and a black ''Berliner Flug Ring'' inscription by the main door. By March 1975, a further two Boeing 720s arrived at the airline's new Berlin Tegel base to fulfill a five-year charter contract the company had concluded with Berliner Flugring, at the time West Berlin's leading

package tour A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the h ...

operator, to undertake a series of short- and medium-haul inclusive tour (IT)

charter flight Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

s to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

from the start of the 1975 summer season. Aeroamerica had taken over this contract from Modern Air. The decision to supply whole-plane

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

seats to West Berlin's foremost package

tour operator A tour operator is a business that typically combines and organizes lodging, accommodations, meals, sightseeing and transportation components, in order to create a package tour. They advertise and produce brochures to promote their products, holi ...

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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

– were banned from West Berlin. By 1975, all commercial operations were branded ''Aeroamerica''.this resulted in phasing out the ''Air Club'' brand used for flights operated by Aeroamerica's sister company ''Air Club International''.

Attainment of leadership in West Berlin charter market

By 1976, the size of the airline's Berlin-based fleet had doubled to six aircraft. These included four Boeing 720s as well as a Boeing 707-120B and a BAC One-Eleven 400.Zoeller, M., aeroamerica, p. 13
The latter had originally belonged to

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

. During the summer of 1976, the bulk of Aeroamerica's activities increasingly centred on Berlin Tegel, making it West Berlin's leading charter airline at the time.

Decline

From 1977, the airline's business, which by that time focused on Berlinaccounting for 30% of all charter operations at Tegel as well as worldwide ''ad hoc''

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 ...

s and temporary

aircraft lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, as well as to provide ...

s, gradually declined.Zoeller, M., aeroamerica, p. 14

Labour troubles

On July 1, 1977, 96% of Aeroamerica's unionised German flight attendants voted in favour of strike action in a

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

held by the German Salaried Employees' Union.''Deutsche Angestellten Gewerkschaft (DAG)'' in German They demanded pay parity with their colleagues working for Pan Am's Internal German Services (IGS) division and employment contracts governed by local

labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...

to bring them in line with their unionised counterparts at other Allied airlines that employed their flight attendants locally.apart from Pan Am's local IGS flight attendants, these included local flight attendants at

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

and

Dan-Air Dan-Air (legally ''Dan Air Services Limited'') was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroker, shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, i ...

(in contrast, local Laker Airways flight attendants' employment contracts were not governed by these conditions as the company did not recognise unions in any part of its business) The company countered these demands by arguing that the nature of its business required flight attendants to be stationed anywhere, involving frequent postings to overseas stations at short notice to cover global ''ad hoc'' and

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

commitments. It furthermore argued that adopting other Allied airlines' local employment conditions and pay for its own flight attendants would restrict operational flexibility and increase costs, that this would undermine its ability to compete globally and that the worldwide nature of its operations made all flight attendants' employment conditions subject to American labour law as well as CAB and FAA regulations to comply with US legal requirements. Initially, the airline was able to maintain its full flying programme at the beginning of the busy summer holiday period despite staff not showing up for work, following the first week of unsuccessful negotiations between Aeroamerica's local management and the ''DAG'' union. However, the conflict escalated during the second week when the local management dismissed without notice two flight attendants who had picketed a Tegel-bound flight in Brussels. As the conflict was still unresolved by the end of July and threatened to disrupt the holiday plans of thousands of West Berliners during the peak month of August, management attempted to break the flight attendants' strike by temporarily reducing the number of flight attendants from four to three per aircraft as well as by hiring contract labour from an unnamed UK airline.local West Berlin media reports at the time alleged that Laker Airways was the unnamed UK airline supplying contract labour to Aeroamerica to help it break its flight attendants' strike As these developments further aggravated the already tense standoff between the airline and its flight attendants' union, the latter sought to increase pressure on the company to settle the dispute by airing its members' grievances in public. It alleged that Aeroamerica's policy of only complying with minimum FAA requirements resulted in overworking flight attendants, putting lives of crew and passengers at risk in case of an emergency. Despite the negative publicity, management refused to return to the negotiating table and the strike eventually collapsed as the peak summer season drew to a close by the end of August. Following the end of the

labour unrest A labour revolt or workers' uprising is a period of civil unrest characterised by strong labour militancy and strike activity. The history of labour revolts often provides the historical basis for many advocates of Marxism, communism, socialism, a ...

at the company, the FAA subjected Aeroamerica to an unannounced safety audit later the same year. The airline's management alleged that the FAA's move had been prompted by a dismissed flight attendant's act of revenge.

Overseas leases

The short-term wet- and subleases Aeroamerica had concluded with other airlines partially compensated for the loss of business at its Berlin base.''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', pp. 46–48, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008 Aeroamerica's wet-/sublease customers included Egyptair, Kıbrıs Türk Hava Yolları (KTHY) – the

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

, Laker Airways, Libyan Arab Airlines,

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines, commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier of Pakistan. With its primary hub at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the airline also operates from its secondary hubs at Allama Iqbal International Airport ...

and

Saudia Saudia (), formerly known as Saudi Arabian Airlines (), is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia based in Jeddah. The airline's main hubs are the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the ...

. For instance, the 1977 Kıbrıs wet lease, which ran for several years, entailed the stationing of a fully crewed Boeing 720 at Ercan to operate the Turkish carrier's scheduled route to Istanbul.

Entry into US domestic scheduled market

Aeroamerica acquired additional second-hand Boeing 720s and 707s during 1978 to enable it to exploit new business opportunities created by U.S.

airline deregulation Airline deregulation is the process of removing government-imposed entry and price restrictions on airlines affecting, in particular, the carriers permitted to serve specific routes. In the United States, the term usually applies to the Airline D ...

.''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', p. 47, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008 In August of that year, Aeroamerica commenced its first-ever fully fledged scheduled air service between Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) and

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

(GEG). Aeroamerica also operated nonstop jet service between Seattle

Boeing Field King County International Airport , commonly Boeing Field, is a public airport owned and operated by King County, Washington, King County, south of downtown Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The airport is sometimes r ...

(BFI) and Spokane in the fall of 1978 with two roundtrip nonstop flights every weekday. The company's new scheduled passenger flights were an immediate success. The following year, the firm prepared to launch additional scheduled services linking Seattle-Tacoma and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, with Honolulu. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the United States, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, ...

(OAG), in late 1979 Aeroamerica was operating nonstop

jet service four days a week between Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) and Honolulu (HNL) and was previously operating nonstop Boeing 720 jet service on the weekends between SEA and HNL.

Logistical and reliability problems

The increasingly far-flung nature of the airline's operations overstretched its small fleet. This was compounded by the fleet's advanced age. The combination of these two factors resulted in growing reliability problems.

Closure of West Berlin base

In January 1979, Berliner Flugring, Aeroamerica's main overseas

business partner A business partner is a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties. Alternatively, it may be ...

, announced that it would not be renewing the five-year contract it had signed with the airline in late 1974, citing reliability issues as the main reason for its decision. Aeroamerica closed its Berlin base in November 1979, at the end of the summer season.

Adoption of new corporate strategy

Following its decision to exit the West Berlin charter market, Aeroamerica adopted a new

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

that sought to refocus the airline as a low-fare

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

scheduled operator, beginning with a weekly service linking Miami with Berlin via Brussels or Amsterdam from the start of the following year's summer season.

Growing financial problems and suspension of operations

As a result of growing financial difficulties, Aeroamerica voluntarily surrendered its operating permit during an informal meeting with the FAA at the end of 1979.''Short hauls ...'', Air Transport, Flight International, 22 November 1980, p. 1944
/ref>''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', p. 48, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008 This action on the airline's part in turn resulted in

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the part ...

brought against it by an aircraft lessor and

over unpaid bills concerning the former Berlin operation, as well as the seizure of one of the company's aircraft at Tegel Airport.

Reorganisation under Chapter 11

The CAB's subsequent decision to revoke the firm's exempt permit effectively grounded Aeroamerica, resulting in a filing under

Chapter 11 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, w ...

of the US bankruptcy code on November 19, 1979, seeking protection from

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some propert ...

s while reorganising the business under the

bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy ...

's supervision. On June 30, 1980, the FAA suspended Aeroamerica's AOC.''Airways ( oeller, M., Aeroamerica – Deregulation Hopeful', p. 49, HPC Publishing, St Leonards on Sea, November 2008

Resumption of operations

On August 19, 1980, the FAA agreed to restore Aeroamerica's AOC following a joint representation by the airline and its official creditors' committee. However, Aeroamerica's operations continued to be plagued by financial and maintenance issues. In July 1982, Aeroamerica commenced scheduled services between Seattle and

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

with

Company closure

The airline finally ceased operations during the latter half of 1982, when the FAA grounded it for a maintenance violation regarding the operation of a non- airworthy aircraft.

Fleet

Aeroamerica operated the following aircraft types: *

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (BAC-111, BAC 1-11) is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airl ...

* Boeing 720 * Douglas DC-7 * McDonnell-Douglas DC-8 * Rockwell Aero Commander. Aeroamerica and its sister company Air Club International, which was formed in 1970 as Club International and had operated its first commercial flight across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

to Amsterdam with an ex- TWA Boeing 707 in 1971, claimed to be the world's largest operators of

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

"executive aircraft".Zoeller, M., aeroamerica, p. 3

Notes and citations

;Notes ;Citations

References

*
''Airways – A Global Review of Commercial Flight''
* * (various backdated issues relating to Aeroamerica, 1974–1982)

External links

Zoeller, M., aeroamerica

Aviation Safety Network database
{{Airlines of the United States, state=collapsed Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1973 Airlines disestablished in 1982 Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1979 1973 establishments in Washington (state) 1982 disestablishments in Washington (state) Airlines based in Washington (state)