Baltia Arline is targeting to become the top U.S. airline in the Trans-Atlantic market that will provide excellent three-class passenger service, dependable cargo and mail transportation. This goal has been a dream for the airline for twenty seven years. Established in 1989, did you know that the airline has never operated a single commercial flight since its fruition?
It was tagged as "the world's oldest start-up airline." In its website, the promise in bringing a world-class flight is still in progress. There are no reservation details, flight status cannot be clicked and promotions are "coming soon." In a report by Michigan Radio, "Twenty seven years later, even though the company is still extant and still raising capital, it has never flown a flight, has never earned any revenue, and has recently given up on its only airplane."
The reason behind the stagnant operation is that the airline is said to have failed the evaluation from the Federal Aviation Administration seven times. According to report, "There was a problem with the deployment of the slides. (FAA does not make the records of the evaluation public.) Baltia appealed the decision, to no avail. The stock price fell below $.001. All the while it issued more and more stock, raised more and more capital."
Covered in white paint with golden rooster on its tail, the Boeing 747 is the only plane the airline has. In March this year, they announced that they will be abandoning it and will look for more efficient one. "The airline added it would be looking to lease newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft in a bid to facilitate its air operator certification process. The company said it hoped the newer aircraft would lead to the issuance of an operating certificate in the shortest amount of time," said in the report of Traveller.
Rubbing salt to the wound, Barry Clare, Baltia Executive Vice President and Director, was accused by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He was charged for acting as an unregistered broker for sales of the company's common stock to investors. According to report, "Between 2011 and 2015, the SEC alleged, Clare raised over $26 million, and "received transaction-based compensation of up to 20 percent of the proceeds."
The accusation was rejected by the airline. But just this August, Clare settled with a payment of over $US1 million. Despite the series of unfortunate events, they still have high hopes that their plan will materialize. They are still tapping various investment groups to raise needed capital to operate. "Launching Baltia has been a long and tedious process; I want all of our shareholders to be assured that the team at Baltia is working diligently to accomplish our goal of launching Baltia," Russell Thal, the airline president said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
