Baltia Air Lines (New York JFK) has announced plans to acquire dormant Floridian operator Songbird Airways (Lakeland). The move is part of a greater plan for the thirty-year-old start-up to gain its FAR Part 121 certification and launch commercial operations.
In an SEC filing on Wednesday, June 28, Baltia, now rebranded as USGlobal Airways (BTL, Newburgh), said it had signed a non-binding Letter Of Intent with AerLine Holdings LLC to acquire all of the Songbird Airways' issued and outstanding shares. The transaction is valued at USD6.2 million of which USD1 million has already been paid into the account of a third party escrow agent to be refunded if the transaction fails to go through.
As part of the tentative purchase, Baltia expects Songbird to be debt free and to hold both a valid Air Carrier Certificate as well as a valid certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct interstate and foreign charter air transportation with up to ten large aircraft.
"The Company is currently in the process of conducting its due diligence review of Songbird and has already confirmed the current status of Songbird’s FAA and DOT certificates," Baltia said.
The LOI is to be firmed and consummated within ninety days i.e. by September 26, 2017.
Previously known as Sky King (Lakeland), Songbird's last known commercial services entailed running casino charter flights to and from Atlantic City using a single B737-400.
