GROMOV FLIGHT TEST INSTITUTE/GROMOV AIR: Flight Research, Zhukovski-2, Moscow, 140160, Russia; Phone 7 (095) 556-2217; Fax 7 (095) 556-5334; Code LII; Year Founded 1994.
Based at Zhukovski in the Moscow Region, Gromov is the former Soviet aviation research institution which, beginning in 1994, is allowed to fly international charters in order to earn hard currency. K. K. Vasilchenko is appointed general director and begins operations with a pair of Ilyushin Il-62s.
Flights continue in 1995-2000, during which years Leonid Lobas becomes CEO and the fleet is altered to include 2 each Yakovlev Yak-40s, Tupolev Tu-154As, Ilyushin Il-76TDs, and Antonov An-12s, plus 1 Il-18.
GRONLANDSFLY, A. S./GREENLANDAIR, A. S.: Nuuk Airport, P. O. Box 1012, Nuuk, DK-3900, Greenland; Phone 299 288 88; Fax 299 272 88; Http://www. greenland-guide. dk/gla/default. htm; Code GL; Year Founded 1960. This carrier is formed at Nuuk on November 7, 1960 by a consortium that includes SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) (25%), Royal Greenland Trading Co., A. S. (25%), Cryolite Mining Company Oeresund, A. S. (25%), and the Greenland Provincial Council (25%). With a mission to develop necessary aerial communications between the main communities on the island, the company is given the sole concession to operate domestic scheduled services, together with international and domestic charter and contract service flights.
Following a year of establishment in 1961, passenger, freight, and mail service is launched to six points on the island on May 1, 1962, employing a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina and a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter leased from Eastern Provincial Airlines, Ltd. The destinations served include the west coast communities of Nanortalik, Narssaq, Narssarssuaq, Julianehab, Groennedal, and Frederikshab.
In 1963-1966, three Douglas DC-4s are acquired and for support of services to remote areas, the fleet is expanded by two Sikorsky S-61N helicopters and an Aerospatiale Alouette III. Resupply flights are initiated, under contract to the USAF, to Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line points on Greenland and in eastern Canada. Ice patrol, search and rescue, and geological survey missions are also undertaken.
Airline employment is 65 and a total of 16,500 passengers are transported in 1967. In 1968-1969, a DC-6B is added for longer segments and two additional S-61Ns enter service. Bookings in the latter year total 36,163 and the workforce is 94.
In 1970, the employee population increases to 102 and passenger boardings jump 23% to 46,965. Enplanements total 52,800 in 1971 and the fleet remains static with 4 S-61Ns, 1 A-43, and 2 DC-4s.
In 1972, a second DC-6B is acquired, along with the fifth and sixth S-61Ns. Airline employment grows to 150 and passenger boardings jump 20% to 66,000.
Fifteen new employees are hired in 1973. Customer bookings accelerate 17% to 77,000 and cargo traffic is up by 9%.
The fleet is modernized in 1974-1977 as the DC-4s are replaced by three de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and a Sikorsky S-58T is also purchased.
The Douglas transports operate services from Sondrestromfjord to Thule USAF base, Narssarssuaq in southern Greenland, and Kulusuk on the east coast. S-61N helicopters operate scheduled flights from Godthab and Sondrestromfjord to 15 west coast destinations while S-58Ts fly out of the east coast city of Angmagssalik.
Chairman Erik Hesselbjerg and President Jorgen Hoy oversee 250 workers in 1978 and possess a fleet comprising 2 DC-6Bs, 3 DHC-6s, 8 Sikorsky S-61Ns, 4 S-58Ts, 5 Bell 205B, and 3 Bell 206 JetRangers. Orders are outstanding for a DHC-7.
Airline employment rises during the early 1980s to reach 360 in 1983-1984. A total of 19 Greenland destinations are now served along with the USAF contract service flights. The fleet by now has received two DHC-7-103s Papikkaaq (Big Tail) and Nipiki (Silent), allowing the DC-6Bs to be retired.
During the spring of the latter year, three S-61Ns are sold to Resorts International Airlines for use on shuttle flights between New York City and Atlantic City. Paid for with funding from the EEC, a new airport is opened at Ilulissat, above the Arctic Circle, in August 1984. Enplanements in that year total 93,366.
Employment grows by 9.6% in 1985 to 338 and the fleet now comprises 2 DHC-7s, 3 DHC-6s, 1 Piper PA-31T Cheyenne, 1 Beech King Air, 4 S-61Ns, 3 Bell 206B JetRangers, and 6 Bell 212s. The carrier’s twenty-fifth anniversary is celebrated. Passenger boardings rise 18.5%, up to 114,559.
A Piper PA-31-310 Navajo is acquired in early 1986 and, in cooperation with Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (2)/Icelandair, a route is opened from Godthab to Reykjavik.
In November, the carrier, again in partnership with Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (2)/Icelandair, begins service to Copenhagen from Narsarsuag via Keflavik.
Enplanements total 122,745 and, on revenues of $40.4 million, a $3.3-million operating profit is earned. The net profit is $2.4 million.
Airline employment grows 8.6% in 1987 as Jan Rasmussen succeeds Claes Piper as president. The company’s helicopter operation adds a Bell 212 and an Aerospatiale AS-350B-1, as plans are made to replace the five Bell 206Bs. On September 11, a Sikorsky S-61N crashes during an external-load mission.
Passenger boardings jump 26.5% to 167,000 and freight increases 59.6% to 1.69 million FTKs. Revenues ascend 50.1% to $60.4 million and with costs kept low, the operating profit is $8.3 million with net gain reaching $5.6 million.
During the first quarter of 1988, a Sikorsky S-61N is purchased from KLM Helikopters, B. V. to replace the unit destroyed the previous fall. The company’s S-61N fleet now stands at seven as additional Bell 212s are acquired. Athird DHC-7-103 Minniki (Short Lander) arrives in May and a second AS-350B-1 joins the fleet during the summer.
Operations continue apace in 1989-1990, during which years the carrier operates five S-61Ns thrice-weekly roundtrips from Kangerlussuaq on the east coast to Holsteinsborg on the east coast. Facing losses of DKr 15 million (US$2.52 million), the company, on November 15 of the latter year, sells its S-61 fleet and shuts down several scheduled services.
Three more AS-350B-1s enter service in 1991 to replace the larger helicopters that have been withdrawn. Losses of an undisclosed amount continue to be suffered.
In 1992, Jonathon Mortzfeldt becomes chairman with Oje Bjerre-gaard as the new president. The fleet now comprises 1 Beech King Air 90,5 Bell 206B JetRangers, 6 Bell 212s, 3 DHC-7-103s, 3 DHC-6-100s, 1 Cessna Citation II, 2 Aerospatiale AS-350B-1 Ecureuils, and 3 Sikorsky S-61Ns. When the Thule Air Base (closed to civil traffic) is shut down on October 1, a new civilian airport, named Pituffik, is built in its place.
Airline employment in 1993 stands at 470. Regularly scheduled services are continued within Greenland and to and from Denmark, Iceland, and Canada. On behalf of Greenlandair, First Air, Ltd. of Canada begins weekly B-727-90C services linking Pituffik with Ottawa via Kangerlussuaq, Iqaluit, and Montreal (YUL). Incoming passengers to Pituffik are shuttled to Qaanaaq, 90 miles south, by a Bell 212.
The workforce is cut to 360 in 1994; however, the fleet is increased by the addition in the fall of a fourth DHC-7, a Dash-102 from Abu Dhabi named Sapangaq (Pearl). Although the rotary wing fleet is reduced by one JetRanger and one Bell 212, it is increased by one S-61N and two AS-350B-2s.
Operations continue apace in 1995 from the nation’s eight airfields. One of the 20-year-old Twin Otters is assigned to perform thrice-weekly ice reconnaissance missions on behalf of the Danish Meteorological Institute while the other flies charters.
For three months in 1996, a Twin Otter is chartered by the U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Greenlandair and Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (2)/Icelandair collaborate with Greenland Tourism to increase the number of visitors to Greenland during the summer. Between mid-June and mid-September, a Fokker 50 honors this commitment with four weekly roundtrips between Narsar-suaq, South Greenland, and Reykjavik.
A total of 237,000 passengers are transported during the 12 months and 14.43 million FTKs are operated. Revenues of DKr 459.8 million are generated.
Peter Finch, formerly with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System), becomes president on May 1, 1997. The Icelandair/Greenland Tourism service is operated during the summer. This year, a fifth weekly frequency is provided by an Atlantic Airways Faroe Islands, A. S. British Aerospace BAe 146-200A.
Enplanements for the year total 251,000 and freight traffic grows to 16.28 million FTKs. Revenues ascend to DKr 491.2 million.
A new arrangement is entered into with Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (2)/Icelandair in June 1998. Flights previously operated from Kan-gerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq to Copenhagen flown with a B-727-90C wet-leased from First Air, Ltd. of Canada will now be operated under a wet-lease agreement with Icelandair. A B-757-208ER, painted in Green-landair livery and christened Kunuunnguaq (Little Knud) in honor of the Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen, is dedicated to the arrangement.
Passenger boardings inch up 1% to 252,000, while cargo jumps to 20.34 million FTKs. Revenues increase to DKr 572.6 million.
By the start of 1999, airline employment has been increased by 5.6% to 436. Customer bookings surge to 282,000 and freight traffic rises to 28.11 million FTKs. Operating revenues climb to DKr 610.8 million.
A total of 493 are employed by the company at the beginning of 2000. In cooperation with Flugfelag Islands, H. F. (3)/Air Iceland, twice-weekly return service is launched from Ilulissat to Kulusuk on June 12. At Kulusuk, Greenlandair customers are able to connect with the Air Iceland service to Reykjavik.
While en route from Narssarssuaq to Copenhagen on November 15, Flight 786, the B-757-208ER Kunuunnguaq with 97 aboard, is hit by lightning that burns through the fuselage skin causing smoke from partially burned insulation. An emergency landing is made at Kastrup Airport with the power plant ablaze. Firefighters quickly extinguish the fire and no injuries are reported among the passengers, who are evacuated by chute.
GROSS AVIATION: United States (1972-1973). In an arrangement similar to that between Eugene Aviation Services and West Coast Airlines, Gross Aviation, a Tacoma-based FBO, contracts with the Point Orchard commuter Cross Sound Commuter in 1972 to fly regularly scheduled passenger and cargo services to Seattle and Olympia. The arrangement lasts only a year.
GROSSMAN AIR SERVICE, GmbH.: Brunnerstrasse 170, Vienna, A-1210, Austria; Phone 43 (1) 292-3456; Fax 43 (1) 292-3456-18; Year Founded 1991. GAS is set up at Vienna Airport in 1991 to provide executive and small group passenger charters worldwide.
Within nine years, the company employs eight pilots and operates one each Learjet 35A Century III and Canadair 600 Challenger from Vienna and one each Cessna 500 Citation I and C-414 Chancellor from Salzburg.
GSC AVIATION: 120 Billy Diehl Road, Teterboro, New Jersey 07608, United States; Phone (201) 229-1988; Fax (201) 229-1 252; Year Founded 1993. GSC is founded at Teterboro in 1993 to offer executive and small group passenger charters throughout the U. S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Two pilots are employed and the small concern begins revenue operations with a single Canadair 600 Challenger.
World History
