The story
Air21, named through its slogan "Your Low-Cost Carrier and Low-Cost Airline for the Twenty-First Century", was founded by David Miller in January 1994. Miller, a management pilot and executive, partnered with David J. VanderLugt, treasurer of a small startup airline in Visalia, California. In October 1994, Miller and VanderLugt filed necessary paperwork for the certification of operations with the United States Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. The next year, in March 1995, Miller and VanderLugt along with Mark Morro and Joe Levy, CEO of Gottschalks Department Stores, released their IPO prospectus for the airline. Air21 commenced passenger operations in December 1995.
The crash of ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 in 1996 refocused public attention on the operations of low-cost carriers. With a negative public perception increasing, passenger numbers declined. Air21 ceased operations in January 1997, whereupon it entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Two months later in March 1997 a buyout of the company by investment banker David Walsh converted the airline's filing to a Chapter 7 status.
From Wikipedia’s article on Air21, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3