Baltia Air Lines Inc. (fka BLTA)

[deepspringer]

They had a curious business model. Here's a quote from the "About Us" page on their website:

"Direct Air is an indirect air carrier ... providing public charter air flights....The company began providing scheduled Public Charter flights March 7, 2007."

Interesting contradiction in that first phrase! It seems that the "indirect" part of their operation was that their routes were actually flown by subcontractor airlines.

Besides fuel costs, the article says they went belly up due to heavy competition in their markets from several discount carriers - something Baltia won't face for quite a while because of the bilateral agreement between US & Russia.