U.S. ultra-low-cost carrier Avatar Airlines gears up to acquire 10 Boeing 747-400

At the time of your flight, , , , ask the pilots if they have been paid recently.

They come and they go, they come and they go...ad infinitum. You're a wise investor.

"...has this guy spent any time in jail yet...)

As I pointed out in a previous post " In June 1996 ....the SEC filed a suit against Michaels and his wife, Holly, for fraudulently offering unregistered stock for the airline. A federal judge in California ordered the couple to return $363,306 to the investors and pay $181,000 per person in civil penalties. Then the government lowered the boom on Michaels and he spent 21 months in federal prison on securities fraud and tax charges.

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That link is pretty damning.

Yes, I worked on their application for an Air Carrier Operating Certificate. In mid-1992 Barry Michaels CEO of Family came to Washington DC along with his entourage of technical staff to apply for their ACOC. They wanted tp obtain it asap. Their plan was to lease the aircraft, lease the pilots, lease out the maintenance, lease the dispatch system, etc. We said sorry it doesn't quite work that way. Here are the rules, the guidance material, etc. you may want to hire people who know what they're doing for your startup airline. He was not happy.

In March 1993 the FAA said that it would no longer process Family's application to begin service, they were wasting our time. A month later in April 1993, after the U.S. DOT reviewed lawsuits and judgments against Michaels and, based on what the DOT found, asked him to relinquish control of the proposed airline. A week later Michaels agreed to do so. Then in June 1996, about three years later, the SEC filed a suit against Michaels and his wife, Holly, for fraudulently offering unregistered stock for the airline. A federal judge in California ordered the couple to return $363,306 to the investors and pay $181,000 per person in civil penalties. Then the government lowered the boom on Michaels and he spent 21 months in federal prison on securities fraud and tax charges

Then in early 2008, Family Airlines reappeared with a new application again with Michaels as CEO. Same kind of operation was proposed. I.e. to operate up to twelve Boeing 747-400 aircraft in its first year of operation with initial service be between Los Angeles, New York, and Miami. Everything to be leased or contracted for. The FAA, DOT and SEC noted there were no significant changes from the airline's 1993 business plan, and a year later the FAA denied Family's application. .

In 2010, the airline, with Michaels at the helm, filed again, this time under the name Avatar Airlines, however the application did not proceed.

The name Michaels and Avatar rang a bell so I went back and reviewed some aviation publications and see where Michaels came back in 2019 again using the name Avatar and is proposing yet another low cost airline using old 747s. His lawyer said that he served his time, is a smart businessman and should be given another chance. Of course that was pre-Covid19. I suppose society could give Bernie Madoff another chance too. And Charles Ponzi and Jeffery Epstein too. Oops, wait, they're dead. Well, so it goes.

Family Airlines? Avatar? Old 747s? Good for a laugh but not much else.

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J Buck
aviator

History never repeats itself. Man always does.

True. What could possibly go wrong? :)

https://thepointsguy.co.uk/guide/use-miles-boeing-747/

"The airline currently uses its 747s on high-traffic short-haul routes within Asia, though given the limited number of aircraft in the airline’s fleet, you should double check that a 747 is in service on these flight numbers the day you’re traveling."

This by Asiana Airlines, though this data is a year old. And there is this about the 747-400D made for Japanese airlines.

https://simpleflying.com/the-short-haul-jumbo-jet-meet-the-boeing-747d/

With the right routes, using such would be quite profitable for the airline. The question is, would there be any routes in the US that could use such that it would be profitable?