Rich International Airways

Rich International Airways (airline codes|RIA|JM|RICHAIR) was a charter and cargo airline based out of Miami, Florida. The airline ceased operations in 1996, following bankruptcy.

History

Rich International Airways was founded as a cargo company in 1969. In the beginning, Rich International used Curtis C-46 Commando and Beech 18 "Twin Beech" for freight flights to the Caribbean. To increase freight capacity the Douglas DC-6 was introduced and cargo capacity was expanded even more with the introduction of the Douglas DC-8-62F. In 1982 RICH received permission to fly passenger charters and operations began to Europe and Hawaii. Losses from those operations forced the company to seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in 1983 and the company came under the scrutiny of the FAA which revoked its operating license in the Spring of 1984 because of irregularities.

It is not clear how long Rich was grounded but a new partner invested in the company and by 1991 it was out of Chapter 11 and expanding. With the new expansion the Lockheed L-1011 was introduced for service to Europe and over the next few years more 1011s came into service until 15 of them were in service. But Rich International was once again charged with maintenance problems by the FAA in 1996 and operations ceased in November. Attempts were made to restart operations but by July 1997 those were given up and the airline was liquidated. [Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing]

Historical Fleet

* 15 - Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar
* 1 - Lockheed L-1011-500 Tristar
* 2 - Douglas DC-8-55F
* 3 - Douglas DC-8-62F
* 1 - Douglas DC-8-63F
* 1 - Boeing 727-077
* Curtis C-46 Commando (number unknown)
* Beech 18 "Twin Beech" (number unknown)

External links

* [http://rzjets.net/operators/operator.php?opid=1077/ Fleet and Code data]
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Rich%20International%20Airways&distinct_entry=true/ Airliners.net photos]

References