Baltia Air Lines Inc. (fka BLTA)

[retiredflier]

I'm a retired pilot who was in management with an airline that merged with another airline. The FAA is not allowed to charge millions in "fees" There's an initial filing fee during initial certification and the carrier does have to show a fair bit of money in the bank already to get DOT authority. You might spend millions on salaries or loan payments to banks and such and maintenance but not "fees".

I have been around airplanes too long to want to buy ANY airline stock but will check some out for friends, which I did here a couple of times.

Here's the info on how one gets certified.
https://www.transportation.gov/policy/aviation-policy/licensing/US-carriers

And you can't "merge" with someone that doesn't have a certificate. You could buy their airplane if you wanted to grow your airline but according to several people on the board - Kalitta already has a lien on Baltia's only (boneyarded) airplane for the full value. Best of luck to you all.