Kiwi International Air Lines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the New Zealand airline of the same name operating between 1994-1996 on trans-Tasman routes, see Kiwi Travel International Airlines.

Kiwi International Air Lines (IATA: KP, ICAO: KIA, and Callsign: Kiwi Air) was a Part 121 American airline that operated from September 21, 1992, to March 23, 1999.^[1]

Founded by Eastern Air Lines pilot Robert Iverson to re-employ former Eastern and Pan Am pilots and managers using their help and capital, the airline relied on Boeing 727s for their flights. Originally, the intent was to purchase the Pan American Shuttle. When Iverson presented a Kelso and Company backed $100,000,000 offer to Pan Am, it was rejected in favor of a Delta Airlines offer. With advice from the FAA it was decided to start a new airline. Under the name Kiwi Acquisition Group, Iverson raised $2,000,000 from pilots at $50,000 apiece with promise of employment as a Captain. The former airline employees had formed a group and called themselves Kiwis because they were no longer flying, just like the flightless kiwi birds. When it came time to name the new airline, it was decided to keep the association name.

Kiwi first flew on September 21, 1992 using two refurbished 727-200s from Lufthansa on routes between Newark and Chicago and Orlando. It offered gourmet meals and expanded legroom of 36 inch pitch. Within one year Kiwi had fifteen planes and 1200 employees doing $116,000,000 in business. During its expansion Kiwi's experienced cockpit and cabin crews earned the airline numerous industry awards including Best Airline in America from Condé Nast Traveler and the first ever "President's Award of Merit" from the Inflight Catering Association for one class in-flight service. Iverson was given a Laureatte Award from Aviation Week and Space Technology and secured a passenger sharing agreement from Richard Branson to feed Kiwi into Virgin flights. Branson promoted the concept and called Kiwi his favorite US airline.

In 1993, Kiwi placed an order for 11 BAC One-Eleven aircraft and five options. The British designed aircraft were to be built in Romania. Romaero, the Romanian partner, failed to find funding to development of the variant, which would be equipped with modern Rolls Royce Tay engines, and scrapped the plan. ^[2]

Kiwi International Air Lines enjoyed a flawless safety record and near perfect dispatch reliability rate of 99.6% in its expansion. On the strength of its market reputation, Iverson secured a $25,000,000 IPO proposal co-managed by Dillon Read and Goldman Sachs in fall 1994. When the pilot investors fractured along geographic lines the offer was rejected by the board. As a result, Iverson departed in February 1995 with a great deal of acrimony.

After that Kiwi was plagued with trouble. Under new management picked by the Georgia contingent of pilots, Kiwi was unable to secure promised financing from Wasatch, and a series of problems began: in 1995, reorganization was needed, and in 1996, the FAA temporarily forced Kiwi International to suspend its flights. This was because of alleged airplane maintenance problems, but the airline was allowed to fly again soon after. It should be noted that Kiwi International never had any major incidents or accidents.

In 1996, Kiwi filed for bankruptcy and suspended scheduled operations (a limited number of charters continued).

In 1997, the airline was acquired by a medical doctor from Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Charles Edwards tried to revive the airline by receiving a 2.2-million dollar loan from Meecorp Capital Markets. In addition to investing a reported $20,000,000 of his own money, he thought of using the loan to fix the eight airplanes that still remained in Kiwi's possession; this turned out too costly, however, because he would have had to pay a 15% annual interest rate [1], and the idea of returning Kiwi International Air Lines into the air again was eventually abandoned.

In 1999, Kiwi was forced into bankruptcy again and Kiwi had to stop flying again before that year was over.

[edit] Destinations

Aguadilla (Puerto Rico), Aruba, Atlanta, Bermuda, Boston, Chicago (Midway), Las Vegas, Miami, Newark, Orlando, San Juan (Puerto Rico), St. Maarten, Tampa, and West Palm Beach.

Kiwi had three hubs: