Company Files Application to Enter Private Charter Arena

WASHINGTON -- The owners of Apple Vacations filed an application at the Transportation Depart-ment to start a charter airline, to be named Brendan Airways.

The filing indicates the fall of 2001 as the projected delivery date for two leased Airbus A-320 aircraft configured for 174 seats.

Plans call for the charter carrier to serve destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, primarily from Philadelphia, Chicago and Newark.

The documents also reveal that the airline was incorporated last March by Apple's principal owner and chief executive officer John Mullen.

All the stock is owned by individual members of the Mullen family; John and his wife Joan each own 20%.

Airline investments are not new to the Mullens.

John and Joan own 15% of Canada 3000 Airlines, a Canadian charter airline, and they also own a fractional stake in Transmeridian Airlines.

Several years ago, they also held a substantial stake in Private Jet Expeditions, a U.S. charter line that is now defunct.

The company told the DOT it is starting its own airline because of "the inability of the existing charter carriers to satisfy Apple's charter requirements."

Apple is one of the biggest charter operators in the U.S., claiming to have operated 175 charter flights a week during the winter 1999-2000 season.

It expects to operate 210 during the 2000-2001 season.

This is in addition to the scheduled airline service that it uses.

The DOT papers show that Brendan Airways has retained some key personnel to begin the process for obtaining operating authority from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The president of the airline is James Kenney, a former FAA safety inspector who was president of the charter airline Laker Airways from 1996-98.

He was most recently vice president of maintenance at Miami Air International, another charter airline.

Apple Vacations executive vice president Ray Daley said the plans are in an early "exploratory" phase and that the company may not go through with them.

Mullen, said Daley, is "thinking forward to cover all contingencies," but that "a firm, hard decision has not been made."

Daley said the name Brendan Airways is an "inside name" and probably would not be marketed as a brand name.

DOT FILING

DESTINATIONS

U.S., Mexico, Caribbean

GATEWAYS

Philadelphia, Chicago, Newark

AIRCRAFT

A-320