Choice Aire (Miami) started public charter flights between Miami and Atlantic City on May 21 with the pictured ex-US Airways Boeing 737-3B7 N529AU (msn 24411) (below) operated by Swift Air (USA) (Phoenix).
The travel company is planning to operate additional public charters on the following routes:
Photo: Choice Aire.
Irelandia Aviation and Grupo IAMSA, owners of Mexico’s low-cost airline VivaAerobus (Monterrey) and the Colombian airline VivaColombia (Medellin), announced their intention to expand the Viva airline brand in Central and South America.
Grupo Viva is being established as a multinational airline holding company based in Panama City, Panama. The new company will be responsible for the further development of the Viva airline brand beyond current operations in Mexico and Colombia, maximizing cost synergies and operational efficiencies across the group and centralizing key management functions.
Grupo Viva is chaired by Roberto Alcántara Rojas, also Chairman of the Board of VivaAerobus and Grupo IAMSA. Irelandia Aviation Managing Partner Declan Ryan will be a principal investor.
Tony Davis, currently Partner and COO of Irelandia Aviation, has been appointed CEO. In addition to working with Irelandia Aviation for the past three years, Tony has an extensive track record in establishing low-cost airlines around the world, and he has been closely involved in the recent development of VivaAerobus and VivaColombia. Tony will be responsible for the creation of the Group’s corporate structure and management infrastructure over the next 12 months.
Joe Mohan, who is joining from his position as Senior VP Commercial at COPA Airlines, has been appointed President and COO. Joe has worked in Central and South America for more than 10 years and led the commercial function in one of the region’s most successful airline groups, consistently achieving impressive growth and profitability results. He also brings direct experience of helping lead a high-performing Latin American company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Joe will be responsible for the expansion of the group’s regional coverage and improving cost synergies and operational efficiencies for airlines in the group.
Commenting on the appointments, Declan Ryan said, “We are delighted that two executives of the caliber of Tony and Joe have agreed to lead the creation and development of our new low-cost airline group in Latin America. We are convinced that there are tremendous opportunities for our ultra-low-cost airline model to expand in the region. With our existing airlines already well-established in Mexico and Colombia, together with our order last year for 52 new Airbus A320 aircraft, this is the right time to establish Grupo Viva.”
Top Copyright Photo: Fernandez Imaging/AirlinersGallery.com. VivaAerobus (vivaaerobus.com) Boeing 737-3B7 XA-VIB (msn 23378) taxies at Austin, TX.
VivaAerobus: 
Bottom Copyright Photo: Greenwing/AirlinersGallery.com. Formerly operated by OLT Express, Airbus A320-214 EI-EPX (HK-4905) (msn 1454) is now with VivaColombia (VivaColombia.com).
Airwork Group (Airwork NZ Limited) (Auckland) Boeing 737-3B7 (SF) ZK-TLC (msn 23705) operated under the Toll Group brand was involved in an incident on the runway today (January 26) at Honiara International Airport (formerly Henderson Field of World War II) in the Solomon Islands. The aircraft had just landed when the right main gear collapsed on the runway on the roll-out. No one was injured in the incident according to the National. Three crew members were on board. The incident closed the single runway airport.
Airwork operates seven Boeing 737s.
The company describes itself in its prospectus:
Airwork Holdings Limited is a specialist provider of services to the aviation industry, operating through a number of companies and business divisions (together “Airwork”).
Airwork owns, operates, leases, maintains, upgrades and supports helicopters and fixed wing aircraft and provides a complete solution to clients, according to the client’s requirements.
Airwork’s operations are backed by a world class maintenance, repair and overhaul business which has extensive local and international certification and is one of only a few service centres anywhere in the world to have approved supplier status from a number of the global helicopter and engine manufacturers, including Honeywell and Eurocopter.
Read the full report from the National: CLICK HERE
Captain Alaska added these comments on the incident on Reddit:
This happened less than 12 hours ago, and not much is know about why. All that is known is the right main gear collapsed shortly after landing. You can see this, as the reversers are deployed, meaning the aircraft was safety established on the runway before being deployed, and the collapse occurred later on.
Both pilots were completely uninjured, along with the onboard engineer.
There are major problems with this accident, as as far as we know, the aircraft is sitting roughly in the middle of the only runway.
Honiara International Airport does not have a tug or anything to pull the 737 off the runway, and also does not have any equipment capable of lifting or moving/placing the 737 on something to move it. As of right now, all air traffic (exception of small aircraft/helicopter) cannot land until the 737 is cleared, as there is not enough runway.
Edit: They are now getting a bulldozer to shove the aircraft aside, to allow essential aircraft to land. (Honiara is a small island community, and relies on air traffic)
Edit 2: More photos
Top Copyright Photo: Micheil Keegan/AirlinersGallery.com. ZK-TLC is pictured before the incident arriving at Perth. The airframe was formerly a passenger aircraft operated by USAir/US Airways as N388AU and N519AU before it was converted to a freighter and sold to Airwork in 2007.
Toll Priority: 
Bottom Copyright Photo: Captain Alaska. A photo taken at the scene today at Honiara.
