Making Money In Aviation

How to make money in the airplane biz has challenged generations, but one young entrepreneur in Boston has come up with a new take. The Boston Globe reports that an 18-year-old business student at Babson College started his own airline, complete with a Web site, called Mainline Airways, offering leather seats with personal TVs, affordable first class, and round trips from LA to Honolulu for under $200. The only trouble was, no such airline ever existed. Last week, the Massachusetts attorney general suggested to freshman Luke Thompson that he would be wise to cease and desist — and he should also refrain from withdrawing any money from his bank accounts. ”In effect, [Thompson] has been grounded,” Mass. Atty. Gen. Thomas Reilly told reporters last week. “Our investigation indicates that this was not a legitimate business, a legitimate airline. … It had no planes and no pilots.”