World buys North American
World Air buys a carrier
North American Airlines, a profitable charter and cargo company, agrees to sale for $35 million
COMBINED NEWS SERVICES
April 28, 2005
North American Airlines, a charter operation best known for ferrying vacationers to Club Med and soldiers to war zones, has been sold. World Airways, another operator of charter and cargo flights, has agreed to pay $35 million for North American.
Headquartered in Jamaica, North American is profitable - a rarity in the troubled airline industry - and generated more than $200 million in revenue last year, World Airways said.
The airline's health stems from its niche in specialized flights. Instead of going head-to-head with scheduled carriers, it quietly makes regular charter runs from New York to Club Med resorts in the Caribbean, and also makes regular runs to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; Georgetown, Guyana, and Santiago, Dominican Republic. North American also operated planes for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.
The announcement did not say what would happen to North American's 600 employees. But World Airways said the two airlines will continue to be run separately and that North American will maintain its base at Kennedy Airport.
North American is run by its founder and president, Dan McKinnon, 70, a former Navy pilot whom the Reagan administration called on to be the last chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board. McKinnon's job was to oversee the board's demise to make way for an industry that would be regulated by market forces, not the government.
World Airways Holdings, based in Peachtree City, Ga., with 2,000 workers, has been profitable for the past three years, posting $25.6 million in net income on $504 million in sales last year. The acquisition will give World Airways three Boeing 767 and five Boeing 757 passenger aircraft equipped for international service, said World Airways, which has a fleet of 16 MD- 11s and DC-10s.