Reports on at least one forum as well as the JournalNow.com state that PACE Airlines has had trouble with payroll for at least a month. Multiple post state that payroll was missed in July prior to July 4th along with several pay periods since then. This past week CEO William Rodgers apparently told employees they were working on financing and debt issues but couldn’t confirm anything specific as to expected cash flow.

William Rodgers took ownership of PACE Airlines back in June of this year after services such as Hooters Air closed up shop. Soon after PACE Airlines registered the trade name of Allstar Airlines as is clearly aiming to provide further services to sports teams much like it did back in the day for the Charlotte Hornets with special all First Class seating 737’s. Paperwork shows in July they notified D.O.T. of the name change and the de-registration of Hooters Air and prior information shows Rodgers has a history with wanting to provide services to professional sports.

From the postings found in various forums it appears services are still going on along with flights however one has to wonder how long that can last with employees not getting paid. As one poster said, “I have been in this industry for over 11 years and have never worked for free.”� If this is the case and wages continue to be delayed it could spell more trouble as both State and Federal officials will get involved. I am told that as cash flow becomes a problem the FAA can require payment on demand for ramp fees along with fueling companies going COD both of which make day to day operations more difficult.

Searches for data on William Rodgers as well as PACE Airlines resulted in several disconcerting findings such as the website PaceAirline is parked or doesn’t exist and FlyPACE.com is now redirected to an under construction site at AllStar Airlines.� As one poster pointed out court records show a troubled past for a William C. Rodgers in the Missouri Court System but some of those records are clearly not related to the same person. I also located a response from the New Orleans Lakefront Airport dated October 23, 2008� in response to a proposal from Mr. Rodgers for a “United Fan Complex”, a charter business with hotel and VIP services.

Hoping all goes well for the employees at PACE as I myself know the problems that can result from slow payroll from an employer.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Business News, Triad News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.