Indianapolis airline founder and leader J. George Mikelsons dies at 87

J. George Mikelsons, a longtime Indianapolis aviation executive who founded and operated the nation’s largest charter airline service and one of the country’s largest airlines, died Wednesday at age 87.

Crown Hill Cemetery reported his death Thursday in an online obituary from his family.

Mikelsons, who was born Juris George Mikelsons in Latvia two years before World War II began, fled with his family to Germany during the mid-1940s to escape the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. He later lived in Australia and Canada before arriving in Indiana in the 1950s when his father took a job as a violinist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

A pilot with commercial, multi-engine and instructor certificates, Mikelsons mortgaged his home to start the Ambassadair travel club in Indianapolis in 1973. The club began with one Boeing 720 named “Miss Indy” and 100 members before growing into the largest private travel club in the nation, with more than 41,000 member families. By the early 1980s, the club had 12 Boeing 737-800s as well as several other aircraft and offered travel to vacation destinations around the world.

After airline deregulation in the lates 1970s, Mikelsons launched commercial airline American Trans Air in 1981 with a fleet of eight Boeing 707s. Within five years, it become the largest charter airline in the United States.

ATA grew beyond charter services and started its first scheduled flights in 1986 between Indianapolis International Airport and Fort Myers, Florida.

During the Gulf War, the Department of Defense relied heavily on ATA to transport thousands of soldiers. ATA flew more flights to the Middle East during the Gulf War than any other airline, with Mikelsons piloting some of the flights himself.

ATA eventually grew into one of the nation’s top airline carriers, with annual revenue at parent company Amtram Inc. topping $1 billion and employment exceeding 7,000 people, including 2,300 in Indianapolis.

Amtram went public in 1993 and two years later, ATA carried more than 5 million passengers on its 25 jets. But the company began struggling in the 2000s during the economic upheaval that hit the airline industry in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

In 2005, Ambassadair was sold to to Grueninger Cruises and Tours and Mikelsons retired as president and CEO of ATA. ATA declared bankruptcy in 2008 and ceased all operations.

In 2001, Mikelsons was inducted into the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame.

On his induction, the organization wrote, “The impact of a great airline and its pilot-founder are firmly entrenched in Indiana aviation history. George Mikelsons’ inspiring life story exemplifies the American dream. His legacy of creating an ‘airline family’ that impacted the lives of so many employees, military personnel, and travelers everywhere make him model of bold entrepreneurship and an inspiration to thousands which will endure for decades to come. For his vision, inspiration, entrepreneurship, and his contribution to the history of aviation in Indiana, George Mikelsons is inducted into the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame.”

Mikelsons is survived by his wife of 47 years, Muriel, two sons and a grandson.