Amerijet International

Amerijet International
IATA
M6		 ICAO
AJT		 Callsign
AMERIJET
Founded 1974
Hubs
Fleet size 9
Destinations 52
Headquarters Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Website http://www.amerijet.com/

Amerijet International is an American cargo airline headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States.[1] It operates all-jet cargo services to destinations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Its main base is Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, with a hub at Miami International Airport.[2]

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1974. It was founded by David Bassett (Chairman and Chief Executive) and a partner with one leased aircraft, operating passenger and cargo services between the USA and the Bahamas. In 1976 Amerijet became a freight only carrier. In late 1978 courier contracts were taken from Purolator, FedEx, UPS, DHL and from Airborne Express in the early 1980s. In 1982 Bassett bought out his partner and created Amerijet International. It operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from 22 August 2001 until 31 December 2001, from which it emerged after financial restructuring. Amerijet International is owned by HIG Capital (66%) and David Bassett (34%) and has 577 employees.[2]

Destinations

Amerijet International operates freight services to the following international scheduled destinations (as of February 2010): Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Barcelona, Belize City, Bogota, Cancún, Ciudad del Carmen, Curaçao, Curitiba, Dominica, Fort-de-France, Freeport, Georgetown, Grenada, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Kingston, Las Piedras, Lima, Managua, Manaus, Maracaibo, Maturín, Mérida, Mexico City, Montserrat, Monterrey, Nassau, Nevis, Panama, Paramaribo, Pointe-à-Pitre, Porlamar, Port-au-Prince, Port of Spain, Puerto Plata, San Juan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago (DR), Santo Domingo, St Kitts, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten, St Vincent, Tortola.[3]

Fleet

Amerijet's Boeing 727-200 departing to MIA as AJT814 in Santiago de los Caballeros

The Amerijet International fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of 27 April 2011) :

Amerijet Fleet
Aircraft Total Orders Registration Remarks
Boeing 727-200F 1 0
 N495AJ
Boeing 767-200F 3 0
 N739AX, N741AX, N743AX
Boeing 767-300F 1 1
 N316CM, N319CM

In the early 1980s the airline operated the following aircraft: Dassault Falcon 20 (2), a Learjet 23, Cessna 401 (2), Cessna 402 (3) and a Cessna Stationair.[4]

Events

Amerijet and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) reached an agreement on September 14, 2009 on a new four-year labor contract covering flight crew employees.[5]

A Boeing 727-200 Freighter of Amerijet with opened cargo door at Miami International Airport, 1998

Controversies

Amerijet has been a target internationally of animal rights activists for their transportation of animals for experimentation purposes, particularly in conjunction with the Miami-based company Primate Products. Amerijet has been coming under increasing pressure in South Florida, with monthly demonstrations in front of its Fort Lauderdale office, and some of Amerijets upper management have even been protested at their homes. To date, two activists have been arrested in front of Amerijet's office. On Valentine's Day 2011, Amerijet ended their involvement in the primate trade with these words, "Amerijet has ceased transporting primates for any and all purposes."[6]

In the late summer of 2009, after a 5-year negotiation filibuster by airline management Amerijet pilots, represented by The Brotherhood of Teamsters, went on strike to protest some of the lowest pay-scales in the industry. In addition to 10% pay cuts, one of the more notable items of contention was that pilots are not provided with toilets aboard the aircraft. Instead of toilets they were required to defecate and urinate in heavy-duty zip-lock baggies. Amerijet management hired outside pilots, known in the industry as scabs, while the union pilots were on strike. As stated above, eventually the Amerijet pilots returned to work with a new contract having been struck.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Contact Amerijet." Amerijet. Retrieved on August 28, 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 75.
  3. ↑ Amerijet International
  4. ↑ Endres, Gunter G (1982). World Airline Fleets 1983. Feltham: The Aviation Date Centre. p. 261. ISBN 0946141029.
  5. ↑ IBT Local 769
  6. ↑ Michael J., Mooney (Feb 14, 2011). "Amerijet Says It Will Stop Shipping Monkeys". Broward County New Times. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  7. ↑ JOC Staff (August 28, 2009), Freight Airline Amerijet Flies Despite Pilot Strike

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amerijet International.