There's Going to be More Than One Way to Fly to Hooters' HQ

The State, Hooters' HQ hometown paper, says the Hooters CEO isn't through looking for an airline. It said, "Robert H. Brooks' bid to purchase the assets of bankrupt Vanguard Airlines was rejected last week, but he says negotiations are in the works to buy Pace Airlines."

Brooks says he spent half a million dollars setting up the infrastructure to buy Vanguard Airlines; and, just because that deal fell through last month, doesn't mean that Hooters, or Brooks, is going to simply give up. It's a buyers' market for airlines right now, and if Brooks sees a way to make money in the airline business -- who's to stop him?

Pace is based in Winston-Salem (NC), and is well-known as a charter airline. It has, according to The State, "18 jets and 300 employees, most of whom are based in Winston-Salem." Its management core is from Piedmont, bought by US Airways fourteen years ago.

Even though Brooks said he hopes to conclude negotiations this week, he also told the paper, "I don't want people to get their hopes up too soon. We don't have anything on the dotted line. There's another airline in the picture and I don't want to say too much until it's time to say something."

If not Pace, then some other airline. Brooks isn't going to stop until he has an airline...

FMI: www.hooters.com