Pace Airlines - Hooters Air

Hooters Air

Robert H. Brooks began looking for an airline to buy in 2002. He first approached bankrupt Vanguard Airlines of Kansas City, MO. They rebuffed his offer to buy their assets, so he turned his eye toward Winston-Salem and Pace Airlines. He purchased the company in late December 2002, and began laying the groundwork to bring a new airline to Myrtle Beach, SC. With a former executive of Vanguard, he formed Hooters Air, using the Hooters identity as the draw to attract passengers. Hooters Air offices were headquartered in Myrtle Beach, while the operations/maintenance/flight personnel directly controlled by Pace Airlines remained largely based in Winston-Salem in the former Piedmont/USAirways Tom Davis Training Center.

Hooters Air began service in April 2003 with daily flights between ATL-MYR and BWI-MYR utilizing B737-200s. Gradually EWR, LCK, GYY, PIT, RSW, and NAS (Nassau) were added. Service to Gary, IN (GYY) operated as direct service from MYR with a stopover in Columbus, OH (LCK). Gary was marketed as service to Chicago, as the drive time to downtown Chicago was quicker than from ORD. The aircraft utilized for Hooters were N250TR (B732), N252TR (B732), N371PA (B733), N370WL (B733), N380WL (B733), and N750WL (B752).

In 2003, Vacation Express was acquired by a parent company that at the same time acquired SunTrips, a vacation package operator out of the Bay Area. The fall of 2004 at Pace Airlines was spent preparing the airline for 180 minute ETOPS with the 757-200. Plans were to possibly run vacation charters to Hawaii from the West Coast for the new partner, Suntrips. Proving flights were operated between OAK-HNL. Authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration for 180min ETOPS was granted in late 2004, but this expensive exemption was never utilized, as there were never flights operated between the West Coast and Hawaii for the rest of Pace's existence.

In February 2005, a decision was made to inaugurate Hooters Air service from Rockford, IL (RFD) to Denver (DEN) and Las Vegas (LAS). The flights from RFD were guaranteed to operate at a profit from the local Airport Authority by way of route subsidies. Non-stop service between Myrtle-Las Vegas utilizing the 737-300 was studied several times, but never started. For a period of time in 2005, there were also RFD-ATL nonstop flights. The summer of 2005 saw a huge spike in oil prices, a direct result of speculation in the run-up and aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This upward surge in jet fuel prices, combined with competition from United Airlines (also given subsidies) resulted in the termination of service to Rockford in December 2005.

In August 2005, Hooters Air also began non-stop service between Allentown (ABE) and St Petersburg/Clearwater, FL (PIE), and also Ft. Lauderdale (FLL). These flights only lasted a few months as the carrier ran into difficult times.

Once a promising concept, Hooters Air succumbed to the fate of most start up airlines since deregulation and ceased operations in the spring of 2006. The certificate holder Pace Airlines fell back to their core business of providing sports and vacation charter flights.

Bill Rodgers bought the company in May 2009. In September 2009, Pace Airlines ceased operations and has been caught up in court proceedings ever since.