Air Hooters?

[Kevin]

Hooters chief leads group financing bankrupt airline

By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

The chairman of the Hooters restaurant chain is getting into the airline business.

A bankruptcy court judge approved plans Wednesday for Robert H. Brooks, an Atlanta businessman and chairman of Hooters of America, to provide cash to a Kansas City, Mo., airline that shut down July 30.

An investor group led by Brooks will provide $50,000 a week to bring back key employees at Vanguard Airlines while they develop a business plan to possibly revive the low-fare airline, said Vanguard spokeswoman Elizabeth Cattell.

"It's too early to say" how much the group will invest or what size interest it may buy, she said.

Brooks is principal owner of Hooters, the chain of 315 restaurants known for their scantily clad waitresses. He also is founder of Eastern Foods, which makes the Naturally Fresh and Jackaroo brands of dressings, sauces and dips.

Vanguard Airlines laid off most of its 1,100 employees and filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on the same day it was denied a federal loan guarantee. The airline had three daily flights between Atlanta and Kansas City.

Cattell said the interim order will allow the airline to rehire 10 employees, bringing its total staff to 29, during the business study phase. The order will be reviewed again in early September, she said.