American West Jets (Las Vegas Harry Reid) is a start-up looking to secure the Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and other other assets belonging to the now defunct Ryan International Airlines (Wichita Eisenhower). The airline's parent, aircraft sales and leasing firm American West Aircraft, purchased Ryan International Airlines’ assets and brand for USD800'000 according to official documents seen by online resource, Airchive.
The start-up is petitioning the US Department of Transportation to obtain Ryan International Airlines’ operating certificate without having to pay the fee, as the certificate had been dormant for over a year. Fellow start-up PEOPLExpress (Newport News) has also attempted to secure Ryan's AOC only to be denied by the DoT.
Outlining its plans, the airline says it will commence domestic operations in May 2014 using an MD-83. It also plans to serve the south-western US to Central America market out of its Las Vegas Harry Reid hub before launching flights to West and Central Africa from Orlando Sanford.
American West Jets will add four L-1011-500s to its fleet for use on routes to Central America. In June, it will claims to be taking delivery of its first high-density B747-400 to operate flights to Pago Pago, American Samoa and Brisbane International, Australia. Among the interesting choice of routes listed thus far include: from Las Vegas to Sanford, San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin, San José Cabo, Pago Pago and Brisbane. From San Bernardino to Las Vegas, Sanford, Belize City International, San José Cabo, Christchurch, Kingston Norman Manley, and Aruba. From Sanford to: Conakry, Accra, Lagos and Kinshasa N'Djili.
