Did Southwest Airlines really have an airplane reposessed?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Did Southwest Airlines really have an airplane reposessed?
I just saw a rerun (first time for me) called Airplane Repo. It was about a firm called Sage Popovich that repos airplanes. On the show they were repo-ing Gulfstreams, Lears and the like.
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
#2
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: SWA RR, CO One Pass, TAM Fidelidade, HA Miles, DL Skymiles, KLM Flying Blue
Posts: 1,165
I just saw a rerun (first time for me) called Airplane Repo. It was about a firm called Sage Popovich that repos airplanes. On the show they were repo-ing Gulfstreams, Lears and the like.
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
Maybe he is repossessing the planes that Southwest already sold to other airlines like their old 737-200 series. ???
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: LAS-DEN
Programs: WN CP & B-list. Disillusioned fmr UA-1P/2P,F9-Ascent; Fmr AA-Plat,CO-Gold,NW-Silver,TWA-Elite
Posts: 1,630
The main security over the corporate planes was the fence line. Once they got past the fence line, these $20m+ airplanes are not locked. Not even sure they have a lock. There is no "key" in the cockpit. If you are in, flip the right switches and up come the engines.
Further searching for Sage Popovich say that they repo-ed commerical airplanes right from CDG (Paris) and other major airports. They showed up at the airport, showed their paperwork and took an MD-80. They have a Power of Attorney from the lender. In the case of CDG, they flew it to Iceland, added more fuel, then onward to their home base in Gary, Indiana (GYY).
Other searching says that they have been shot at on departure. As you can imagine, taking a plane from a third world country can be a bit tricky.
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,098
The line says "Swiping CORPORATE airliners from Southwest and American"...I wonder if they mean corporate jets from the executives, like Lears and Citations etc. I would love to see them try to swipe an airliner in circulation!! Unless it was grounded it would be mighty hard to keep up with it. I suppose they could try swiping it in the wee hours.
#8
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,028
I just saw a rerun (first time for me) called Airplane Repo. It was about a firm called Sage Popovich that repos airplanes. On the show they were repo-ing Gulfstreams, Lears and the like.
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
As I looked a bit more about the company on the Internet I found this web site from the Discovery Channel
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/...airplane-repo/
The above web site says that Sage Popovich repo-Ed airplanes from Southwest and American Airlines. Is that true and if it is true, what were the circumstances of the repo?
What I suspect this guy and his outfit are actually doing (in addition to their actual repo work) is providing the non-SWA pilots to ferry newly-retired SWA aircraft (-300s and -500s, owned, or coming off-lease) from SWA airports to various airports out west where the aircraft will wait to find new owners/lessees, get parted-out, or be broken up for scrap. If that's the case, characterizing these types of flights as "repo" flights is disingenuous at best.
I know that AAL has ferried many of their retired aircraft to Roswell, NM (ROW, check out a Google satellite photo to count them all), and SWA has sent some there as well, plus other desert airports.
Last edited by OPNLguy; Jul 10, 2012 at 1:05 pm
#9
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#10
Join Date: Oct 2007
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interesting. i recall being told that a very small judegement creditor had a JAL 747 latched up in Alaska on a re-fuel since JAL failed to pay on the judgement the person had...it might not have been JAL but the point is, there are many types of creditors out there than can resort to this type of action to seize assets by order in cases with entities fail to pay. i recall the judgement need not be huge to take some rather extrodinary enforcement proceedings.
#11
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,028
interesting. i recall being told that a very small judegement creditor had a JAL 747 latched up in Alaska on a re-fuel since JAL failed to pay on the judgement the person had...it might not have been JAL but the point is, there are many types of creditors out there than can resort to this type of action to seize assets by order in cases with entities fail to pay. i recall the judgement need not be huge to take some rather extrodinary enforcement proceedings.
http://www.salon.com/2009/06/06/lear_jet_repo_man/
#12
Join Date: May 2006
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Posts: 5,798
What I suspect this guy and his outfit are actually doing (in addition to their actual repo work) is providing the non-SWA pilots to ferry newly-retired SWA aircraft (-300s and -500s, owned, or coming off-lease) from SWA airports to various airports out west where the aircraft will wait to find new owners/lessees, get parted-out, or be broken up for scrap.
#13
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,028
They may have at one point in our history, but in more recent years I seem to vaguely recall them being flown by others, i.e. pilots who retired at (then) age 60, etc. I'd have to double check, so don't quote me on that.
#14
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,098
It may well be that WN had assets seized...not for late payments on the aircraft itself, but in judgement or other debts..perhaps the 13 milliion they owed in fines for FAA violations awhile back..who knows. This I know for sure: the wouldn't publish the fact. It may well be true, but "proprietary information"
#15
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