Evergreen Shutting Down

bc2209

Well-Known Member
http://www.nycaviation.com/2014/01/evergreen-says-rumors-death-greatly-exaggerated/#.UsXIHekcyP8

UPDATE 1/2/14: On January 1st, Evergreen filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The petition is expected to lead to the liquidation of the company. It follows an involuntary petition filed by the airline’s creditors by about 2 weeks.

UPDATE: It is confirmed that Evergreen Airlines did shut down on November 30, 2013. We would like to express our condolences to their staff.

FROM THE EDITOR: Though some of management from Evergreen seem to be denying it, we contacted them directly and received confirmation from a member of their team that they have effectively shut down operations.

It’s no secret that the last few years haven’t been easy for Evergreen International Airlines. The global financial crisis coupled with the loss of major military and industrial contracts hit the Oregon-based cargo carrier hard. In March of this year, parent company Evergreen International Aviation sold its helicopter operations to fellow Oregon operator Erickson Air-Crane, Inc. That deal was valued at a quarter billion dollars and was intended to provide Evergreen with the cash needed to maintain operations. Yet the money problems have continued for the airline; its revolutionary 747-based Supertanker — after receiving approval to join the airborne firefighting fleet earlier this year — currently sits in the desert awaiting a major maintenance check. Another 747 formerly belonging to Korean Air currently sits at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in need of a new paint job. Two additional Korean aircraft were never delivered earlier this year after Evergreen couldn’t take on the debt load. In addition to its financial woes, Evergreen faces legal challenges as well. Evergreen has been under investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice over its relationship with the non-profit Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum across Highway 18 from Evergreen Aviation’s corporate headquarters at the McMinnville Airport.

The Evergreen 747 Supertanker literally "bites the dust" at Rammstein Air Base in Germany. Photo by Phil Derner Jr.
The Evergreen 747 Supertanker literally “bites the dust” at Rammstein Air Base in Germany. Photo by Phil Derner, Jr.

Late in the evening of November 7, the Yamhill Valley (Ore.) News-Register reported that Evergreen had sent all of its employees a voicemail announcing the airline would be shutting down its air cargo operations at the end of that month. If so, this move would mark the cessation of the bulk of Evergreen’s current operations. However, the agricultural and ground services operations were reported to continue, at least for now. The status of Evergreen’s Supertanker aerial firefighting program is unknown at this time. At the close of business Friday, Evergreen International Aviation issued a statement denying the rumored closing of the air cargo operation. While acknowledging the company’s dire financial situation, CEO Delford M. Smith insisted that efforts were focused on restructuring and not on liquidation.

This public statement was directly and almost immediately contradicted by an internal company memo required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) and obtained by the Portland Business Journal. The memo announced the layoffs of 131 employees over the final three weeks of November. Those 131 employees are believed to be the entire workforce currently employed by Evergreen. According to the memo, layoffs of all employees began on Thursday, November 7th and will continue through November 30th. A small number of employees necessary for the completion of the shutdown will work into the month of December and the date of the shutdown itself may also be pushed into December. In addition to employees, the memo was also filed with the State of Oregon and others as required by a law which mandates that 60 days notice be given for layoffs of this magnitude, yet in this case fewer than 30 were given.
 
I've always wondered if the museum was subsidized at all by the airline. I hope the museum can continue to operate or maybe move it somewhere else.
 
That...sucks. I wonder if Southern Air is doing any better now and can absorb some of those pilots?
 
That...sucks. I wonder if Southern Air is doing any better now and can absorb some of those pilots?

I think Southern and Kalitta both have folks on furlough.

Southern supposedly has a contract for flying domestic converted 737s.
 
A couple years back, Evergreen sold off the heavy maintenance and storage operations here at KMZJ. Now, all their airplanes they had in storage....their 747-100/200s and DC-9-15s, are all in the north forty awaiting scrapping. One of those 747s is 470EV, which was the original Evergreen Supertanker #947. The second Supertanker, 479EV #979, also appears that it will be getting scrapped, as its quickly losing parts. As for Evergreen's other fleet aircraft here, their 727-100s and DC-8-62s have all finally been scrapped; the only DC-8s remaining here are a few from ATI, as well as a BAX Global and a DHL bird.

Regarding the Supertanker, it was a very revolutionary concept, just as the DC -10s of 10 Tanker Air Carrier were. Evergreen's Supertankers did do work in their time, in Spain as well as California, but never secured USFS full approval or a full contract, and keeping them on a Call When Needed status turned out to not be economically viable. I got to see some of the testing that was done on these birds here at MZJ when they were being designed. They laid out "drop zone" full of cups in order to measure exactly the spread of the retardant when the first water drop tests were being done prior to the drops of real retardant. A very cool bird.

KMZJ......creepy airfield, with a very storied and interesting past.....

Tanker 979 in action:

[please overlook the CNN narrator at 0:05 where he says "turboprops", and the video shows a radial engine-powered P-2 Neptune. But at 0:40, there's file footage of the drop tests with the cups that were done at KMZJ that I was talking about]

 
I think Southern and Kalitta both have folks on furlough.

Southern supposedly has a contract for flying domestic converted 737s.

I looked through Southern's Career's section and nothing is listed at all for pilots. I also didn't know they had 73's until you mentioned it. Looking at their website it looks like they are operating the 73's for TNT Air?? I'm guessing that's 135 as I've never heard of them or seen any of their fleet.
 
I looked through Southern's Career's section and nothing is listed at all for pilots. I also didn't know they had 73's until you mentioned it. Looking at their website it looks like they are operating the 73's for TNT Air?? I'm guessing that's 135 as I've never heard of them or seen any of their fleet.

You can't operate 73s under 135. I'm not sure of the status, but I think it's for DHL.
 
"KMZJ......creepy airfield, with a very storied and interesting past....."

@MikeD Do tell.....

Drove passed the cluster of large jets while on the way to the Pima Air Museum with the flight school. My ground instructor, who's been around a while, led on to something fishy and interesting about KMZJ but didn't quite tell us what. Something with a code name and with the CIA???
 
You can't operate 73s under 135. I'm not sure of the status, but I think it's for DHL.

It's for DHL out of CVG. A friend of mine who is an FO on the 777 for them was trying to bid to the 737 left seat so he could be home every night (day?) instead of being gone for 2 weeks at a time. Not sure what happened with that though.
 
I used to love taking my students to MZJ, such a neat airport. Sad to see Evergreen being shut down.
 
"KMZJ......creepy airfield, with a very storied and interesting past....."

@MikeD Do tell.....

Drove passed the cluster of large jets while on the way to the Pima Air Museum with the flight school. My ground instructor, who's been around a while, led on to something fishy and interesting about KMZJ but didn't quite tell us what. Something with a code name and with the CIA???

Place always has a creepy feel to it when I'm here. Used to have a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center here, still has the old quarters, shooting range, driving track, and the like. Covert jump activities here. Lots of old CIA presence, as this was a former CIA installation with their proprietary company Intermountain Aviation, of which the operations Evergreen apparently took over. Intermountain (who's owner now owns Sierra Pacific Airlines with their two 737-200s based here at TUS), used to provide aerial resupply, firefighting, and transport of smokejumpers to forest fires.......as well as resupplying "forest fires" of combat in other countries, namely central and South America. Their brochure sported the motto "Total Air Support for Remote Operations"; nice double entendre there...

The place just has a feel to it that things are going on when you're there. Things that are not too obvious, but not too secret neither.

Here's the link you'll be interested in:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/evergreen-air-center-at-kmzj-sold.124399/#post-1723192
 
It's for DHL out of CVG. A friend of mine who is an FO on the 777 for them was trying to bid to the 737 left seat so he could be home every night (day?) instead of being gone for 2 weeks at a time. Not sure what happened with that though.

I was a dispatcher for them. 777s do DHL work via BAH/LEJ and HKG (primarily). They are getting 737s and I have heard they are considering going 121 Flag/Domestic for that operation.


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Place always has a creepy feel to it when I'm here. Used to have a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center here, still has the old quarters, shooting range, driving track, and the like. Covert jump activities here. Lots of old CIA presence, as this was a former CIA installation with their proprietary company Intermountain Aviation, of which the operations Evergreen apparently took over. Intermountain (who's owner now owns Sierra Pacific Airlines with their two 737-200s based here at TUS), used to provide aerial resupply, firefighting, and transport of smokejumpers to forest fires.......as well as resupplying "forest fires" of combat in other countries, namely central and South America. Their brochure sported the motto "Total Air Support for Remote Operations"; nice double entendre there...

The place just has a feel to it that things are going on when you're there. Things that are not too obvious, but not too secret neither.

Here's the link you'll be interested in:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/evergreen-air-center-at-kmzj-sold.124399/#post-1723192


Well, you weren't kidding. That was a very interesting read. Lot's of history there
 
Well, you weren't kidding. That was a very interesting read. Lot's of history there

Oh yeah. The place still has " that feel" to it. I love in the long story how everything was hidden in plain sight, and true statements were made to the press and the like, just not in the meaning or way intended. :)
 
I've always wondered if the museum was subsidized at all by the airline. I hope the museum can continue to operate or maybe move it somewhere else.

It's beginning to seem more like the airline was subsidized by the museum. :)
 
Oh yeah. The place still has " that feel" to it. I love in the long story how everything was hidden in plain sight, and true statements were made to the press and the like, just not in the meaning or way intended. :)

Haha that is exactly what I almost posted..."hidden in plain sight" Crazy.

That is a great piece of history. Thank you for sharing. So is the place still guarded and leased out to Federal Agencies for training?
 
Haha that is exactly what I almost posted..."hidden in plain sight" Crazy.

That is a great piece of history. Thank you for sharing. So is the place still guarded and leased out to Federal Agencies for training?

Yes. Still a guarded gate out front; access to employees only or to those headed to the Silverbell AHP. Same operations.....storage, scrapping, maintenance, and the military operations.
 
Was thinking of
Yes. Still a guarded gate out front; access to employees only or to those headed to the Silverbell AHP. Same operations.....storage, scrapping, maintenance, and the military operations.

Ha was thinking of paying them a visit and checking it out. Sounds like a bad idea, given then guarded gate and all. Eh oh well.
 
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