Tower Air
Template:Short description Template:Infobox airline Tower Air was a certificated FAR 121 U.S. charter airline that also operated scheduled passenger service from 1983 until 2000 when the company declared bankruptcy and was liquidated. Scheduled flights were initially offered over a New York – Brussels – Tel Aviv route in addition to charter flights to Athens, Frankfurt, Rome, and Zurich. Short-lived New York – Los Angeles flights were introduced with the addition of an ex-Avianca Boeing 747-100 in 1984. The airline was headquartered in Building 178 and later in Hangar 17 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens, New York City.<ref>"How to Contact Us." Tower Air. Retrieved on May 28, 2009. "Corporate Headquarters Hangar #17 JFK International Airport Jamaica, NY 11430'</ref><ref>"World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 30, 1985. 127." Retrieved on June 17, 2009. "Head Office: Building 178, JFK International Airport, New York 10430, USA" (continued from page 124)</ref>
HistoryEdit
Tower Air was co-founded, majority-owned, and managed by Morris K. Nachtomi, an Israeli citizen who had emigrated to the United States.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> After a 30-year career with El Al, he moved to New York to start a passenger operation for Flying Tiger Line, Metro International Airways. After this airline shut down, Nachtomi acquired the "Tower" brand from a packaged tour agency called Tower Travel Corporation. Tower Air began charter service in 1983 and served a number of international destinations, with a focus on charter flights to Israel. Nachtomi eventually bought out his partners to control about three-quarters of the stock.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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Arthur Fondlier, son of Sam Fondlier and the former Chief Financial Officer of Tower Air, was a passenger in the first-class section of Pan Am flight 103. His untimely death gave Morris Nachtomi much more freedom in management and cost-cutting.
The company won many contracts from the United States Department of Defense to transport armed forces personnel to overseas locations, and from the United Nations to transport troops to their peacekeeping missions all over the world. Tower often flew charters for groups of Muslim pilgrims to Mecca.<ref name=":1" />
Tower Air's main base of scheduled operations was John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> In the mid-1980s, the airline operated from the British Airways terminal at JFK (now Terminal 7).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the early 1990s, it operated from the former Eastern terminal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1993, Tower Air renovated and expanded Building 213, a former Pan Am hangar, to serve as its dedicated JFK terminal, adding three finger gates in 1995.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
During the 1990-91 Gulf War, Tower Air evacuated US citizens from Tel Aviv using the otherwise empty return legs of military charter flights to the region.<ref name=":1" /> It eventually became the only US carrier providing scheduled service to Israel in 1991, using special war risk insurance provided by the Federal Aviation Administration.<ref name=":0" /> It opened a special departure terminal at Ben Gurion Airport in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The airline began running into financial and operational difficulties in the late 1990s. The airline lost $20 million in 1996.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The 1997 Zagat Survey ranked Tower Air 59th out of 61 ranked carriers in terms of maintenance, ahead of only Valujet and Aeroflot,<ref>Air Travel – Trans-Pacific Carriers Tops In Airline Poll Template:Webarchive, Seattle Times News Services, May 4, 1997.</ref> and in February 1998, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed two civil penalties totaling $276,000 for continuing to fly aircraft that required maintenance.<ref>FAA Proposes Two Fines For Tower Air, Federal Aviation Administration press release, February 3, 1998.</ref> The airline had attempted to cut costs by cannibalizing its own engines for spare parts, but was forced to borrow money to acquire new engines in 1998.<ref name=":3" />
In January 1998 the FAA successfully sought to have the airline remove Guy Nachtomi, son of the Chairman and CEO, 24 years old at that time, from the position of Vice President-Operations. This was done in part because of the airline's maintenance problems, as well as his lack of airline experience (he worked at Twentieth Century Fox until 1994).<ref name="sec.edgar-online.com">TOWER AIR INC – TOWRQ Proxy Statement (definitive) (DEF 14A) COMPENSATION OF DIRECTORS Template:Webarchive</ref> The junior Mr. Nachtomi continued service with the company in a capacity unrelated to maintenance as Vice President-Office of the Chairman.<ref name="sec.edgar-online.com" />
The Department of Defense Commercial Airlift Review Board suspended Tower Air military charters from January 27 to February 12, 1999, pending an on-site review of its operations. At the same time, the airline lost an arbitration brought by the Association of Flight Attendants, claiming that Tower Air was lodging their flight attendants in dirty Tel Aviv hotels with poor security and bed bugs.Template:Citation needed
By 2000, a majority of Tower Air's fleet (11 out of 19 aircraft) was out of service.<ref name=":3" /> Tower Air filed for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 29, 2000, ceased all scheduled service on May 1, 2000<ref>"TOWER AIR SUSPENDS ALL SCHEDULED FLIGHT OPERATIONS EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2000.." Tower Air.</ref> and surrendered their FAA air operator's certificate on November 28, 2000.<ref>Information for Consumers Regarding the Cessation of Service by Tower Air Template:Webarchive, Aviation Consumer Protection Division, Department of Transportation.</ref> The airline's bankruptcy trustee, Charles Stanziale, subsequently sued the airline's directors and officers for "driving the company into insolvency by indifference and egregious decision-making."<ref name=":3" />
In 1997, a Boeing 747-200 US registration N618FF operated by Tower Air appeared in the movie Liar Liar. Its aircraft also appeared in the movie Turbulence (1997 film) the same year in their own livery and as the fictional Trans-Continental Airlines.
DestinationsEdit
Destinations at time of closureEdit
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- Tel Aviv - Ben Gurion Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations">"Destinations" as of April 29, 1999. Tower Air.</ref><ref name="March62000Destinations">"Destinations" as of March 6, 2000. Tower Air.</ref>
- Template:USA
- Miami - Miami International Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="March62000Destinations"/>
- New York City - John F. Kennedy International Airport Hub<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="March62000Destinations"/>
- San Juan - Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="March62000Destinations"/>
Destinations before closureEdit
- Template:BRA
- {{#invoke:flag||Belgium}}
- Template:DEN
- Copenhagen - Copenhagen Airport (flights between New York and Copenhagen operated either nonstop or via Cologne)
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- Santo Domingo - Las Américas International Airport<ref name="KosovoRefugees"/>
- {{#invoke:flag||France}}
- Paris - Orly Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="KosovoRefugees">"Tower Air Brings First Kosovo Refugees to U.S.;Airline to Perform 40 Mercy Missions Over the Next Month Under ContractWith...." Business Wire.</ref><ref name="News1998">"Tower Air News July 1, 1998 – 12:50 PM." Tower Air.</ref>
- {{#invoke:flag||Finland}}
- Template:GER
- Template:GRE
- Athens - Ellinikon International Airport<ref name="KosovoRefugees"/><ref name="News1998"/>
- {{#invoke:flag||India}}
- {{#invoke:flag||Ireland}}
- Template:ISR
- Tel Aviv - Ben Gurion Airport (flights between New York and Tel Aviv operated via Brussels)
- Template:NED
- {{#invoke:flag||Norway}}
- {{#invoke:flag||Sweden}}
- REDIRECT Template:GBR
- Template:USA
- Baltimore - Baltimore-Washington International Airport
- Fort Lauderdale - Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport<ref name="KosovoRefugees"/>
- Las Vegas - McCarran International Airport<ref name="KosovoRefugees"/><ref name="News1998"/>
- Los Angeles - Los Angeles International Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="KosovoRefugees"/><ref name="News1998"/>
- Oakland - Oakland International Airport
- San Francisco - San Francisco International Airport<ref name="April291999Destinations"/><ref name="KosovoRefugees"/><ref name="News1998"/>
According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in early 1989 Tower Air was operating transatlantic flights from both New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Miami (MIA) with nonstops between New York and Brussels, Copenhagen and Oslo with direct one stop service to and from Tel Aviv, and nonstops between Miami and Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm.<ref>http://www.departedflights.com, Jan. 15, 1989 Official Airline Guide (OAG), New York JFK & Miami flight schedules</ref>
AircraftEdit
Tower Air's fleet consisted of Boeing 747s in both the −100 and −200 series, including both passenger and cargo aircraft.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The airline operated a total of thirty 747s (fifteen −100 and fifteen −200 series) over its history. Several were converted to freighters following Tower's bankruptcy.Template:Cn One former Tower Air 747-200 was converted to a hotel, the Jumbo Stay at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Incidents and accidentsEdit
On December 20, 1995, Tower Air Flight 41 from New York Kennedy to Miami veered off the runway during takeoff in a snowstorm resulting in one flight attendant receiving serious injuries and 24 passengers receiving minor injuries. The aircraft sustained heavy damage and was written off. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of this accident was the captain's failure to reject the takeoff in a timely manner when excessive nosewheel steering tiller inputs resulted in a loss of directional control on a slippery runway.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Tower Air website (defunct)
- 1997 interview with co-founder
- Tower Air Collapse Will Bring Higher N.Y. Air Fares.
- Travel agency advertising Tower Air service to Athens
- Tower Air Debrief
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