A1FlyBoy
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An investor is offering $25,000 to keep alive a regional carrier owned by ATA Airlines that serves Midwest cities from Midway Airport.
Jack E. Robinson III, who ran a Stamford, Conn.-based wireless company, was an airline executive and unsuccessfully challenged Ted Kennedy in a U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts in 2000, wants to take over Chicago Express. The airline flies to 4 cities, including South Bend, Ind., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Robinson said he envisions basing the airline's offices and maintenance at the Aurora Municipal Airport.
"We would base our hub at Chicago Midway, bring in 30 airplanes and serve roughly 25 cities within a 500-, 600-mile radius of Chicago," he said.
The amount Robinson is offering through his investment firm, NatTel LLC, is small, but the carrier has few assets. It leases all its aircraft and its gate at Midway. The value to Robinson is the Chicago Express name and immediate access to the Federal Aviation Administration certificate that allows the airline's owner to offer passenger service.
In addition to the $25,000 payment, Chicago Express would forgive about $15 million in debt it is owed by its parent, ATA. That should make the deal enticing for a carrier struggling to leave the protection of bankruptcy court, Robinson said.
ATA received another boost in that effort Friday when its pilots union's master executive council approved a tentative plan that could cut $12 million in expenses over four months. The proposal will be submitted to membership for a ratification vote. Voting will end Feb. 14. The carrier's pilots rejected a $6 million cost-cutting effort last month.
ATA announced this week that it would accept bids for the assets of Chicago Express. Indianapolis-based ATA, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last year, has radically changed its business plan in recent weeks, eliminating nearly all operations in Indianapolis and concentrating its efforts at Midway, where it is the second-largest carrier, after Southwest Airlines.
The bid from Robinson was the lone one submitted as of Friday, said an ATA spokeswoman. The airline has not set a deadline for bids, but it has announced it will stop offering Chicago Express service in March.
Chicago Express has 600 employees, 400 in Chicago, and it's an important link for medium-size cities within a few hundred miles of Chicago, Robinson said. Chicago Express workers are not unionized.
The airline flies Saab 340 aircraft--34-seat airplanes large enough to include first-class seating and flight-attendant service. Robinson said his plan includes continuing to fly those aircraft and add some Saab 2000s, which are 50-seat aircraft.
He envisions flying as far west as Des Moines and east to Toledo, Ohio. An hourly shuttle from Springfield to Midway would run between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., he said.
"All the cities we'd be serving, these are people who have a need to get to Chicago for business meetings, entertainment, whatever," he said. "They'd be able to fly out in the morning and get back in the evening."
Robinson is a former Eastern Airlines executive who moved into politics briefly and the wireless communication business. In 2000, he was trounced when he tried to unseat Kennedy in the general election, winning 13 percent of the vote. He said he recently sold his wireless communications operations and has been looking for investment opportunities.
This is his second bid for Chicago Express. In December, he submitted a $37,700 offer when ATA was accepting bids for all or part of the airline. At that time, ATA accepted a $117 million bailout offer from Southwest. That agreement gave Southwest six of ATA's gates at Midway but no part of Chicago Express.
Robinson said the airline industry's economic troubles are not evidence that passenger airlines are a bad investment.
"Big airlines are having a tough time, but commuters are actually doing pretty well," he said. "Small airlines don't have the huge overhead and legacy costs that they have to cover."
Several small cities could be hit hard by ATA's recent announcement that it would shut down Chicago Express if the airline is not sold.
The airline flies into the South Bend Regional Airport, used mostly by passengers who were catching ATA flights to somewhere else, said John Schalliol, the airport's executive director.
Jack E. Robinson III, who ran a Stamford, Conn.-based wireless company, was an airline executive and unsuccessfully challenged Ted Kennedy in a U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts in 2000, wants to take over Chicago Express. The airline flies to 4 cities, including South Bend, Ind., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Robinson said he envisions basing the airline's offices and maintenance at the Aurora Municipal Airport.
"We would base our hub at Chicago Midway, bring in 30 airplanes and serve roughly 25 cities within a 500-, 600-mile radius of Chicago," he said.
The amount Robinson is offering through his investment firm, NatTel LLC, is small, but the carrier has few assets. It leases all its aircraft and its gate at Midway. The value to Robinson is the Chicago Express name and immediate access to the Federal Aviation Administration certificate that allows the airline's owner to offer passenger service.
In addition to the $25,000 payment, Chicago Express would forgive about $15 million in debt it is owed by its parent, ATA. That should make the deal enticing for a carrier struggling to leave the protection of bankruptcy court, Robinson said.
ATA received another boost in that effort Friday when its pilots union's master executive council approved a tentative plan that could cut $12 million in expenses over four months. The proposal will be submitted to membership for a ratification vote. Voting will end Feb. 14. The carrier's pilots rejected a $6 million cost-cutting effort last month.
ATA announced this week that it would accept bids for the assets of Chicago Express. Indianapolis-based ATA, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last year, has radically changed its business plan in recent weeks, eliminating nearly all operations in Indianapolis and concentrating its efforts at Midway, where it is the second-largest carrier, after Southwest Airlines.
The bid from Robinson was the lone one submitted as of Friday, said an ATA spokeswoman. The airline has not set a deadline for bids, but it has announced it will stop offering Chicago Express service in March.
Chicago Express has 600 employees, 400 in Chicago, and it's an important link for medium-size cities within a few hundred miles of Chicago, Robinson said. Chicago Express workers are not unionized.
The airline flies Saab 340 aircraft--34-seat airplanes large enough to include first-class seating and flight-attendant service. Robinson said his plan includes continuing to fly those aircraft and add some Saab 2000s, which are 50-seat aircraft.
He envisions flying as far west as Des Moines and east to Toledo, Ohio. An hourly shuttle from Springfield to Midway would run between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., he said.
"All the cities we'd be serving, these are people who have a need to get to Chicago for business meetings, entertainment, whatever," he said. "They'd be able to fly out in the morning and get back in the evening."
Robinson is a former Eastern Airlines executive who moved into politics briefly and the wireless communication business. In 2000, he was trounced when he tried to unseat Kennedy in the general election, winning 13 percent of the vote. He said he recently sold his wireless communications operations and has been looking for investment opportunities.
This is his second bid for Chicago Express. In December, he submitted a $37,700 offer when ATA was accepting bids for all or part of the airline. At that time, ATA accepted a $117 million bailout offer from Southwest. That agreement gave Southwest six of ATA's gates at Midway but no part of Chicago Express.
Robinson said the airline industry's economic troubles are not evidence that passenger airlines are a bad investment.
"Big airlines are having a tough time, but commuters are actually doing pretty well," he said. "Small airlines don't have the huge overhead and legacy costs that they have to cover."
Several small cities could be hit hard by ATA's recent announcement that it would shut down Chicago Express if the airline is not sold.
The airline flies into the South Bend Regional Airport, used mostly by passengers who were catching ATA flights to somewhere else, said John Schalliol, the airport's executive director.
