Lesson plan

MarkAir

in 1992 MarkAir was an Alaska jet carrier operating from 1984 to 1995 that started after World War II as Interior Airways (later Alaska International Air (AIA)). Interior Airways grew from founder Jim Magoffin's bush pilot activities to pioneering flying freight to Alaska's North Slope (facing the Arctic Ocean), first in the 1950s for the military and then later, as an intrastate airline, playing a key role in supporting oil exploration in the 1960s (that resulted in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field), including flying Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft into gravel strips laid down on tundra (or in the case of AIA, onto icebergs). In the 1970s, after the airline was renamed AIA, leadership shifted to Neil Bergt, who ultimately ended up with complete ownership. Bergt oversaw AIA's support of the construction of the Alaska pipeline and engineered the abortive consolidation of AIA plus Wien Air Alaska with Western Airlines soon after US airline deregulation in the early 1980s. In 1984, Bergt changed AIA's identity again to MarkAir to pursue passenger service. MarkAir dominated much of the intra-Alaska market and demonstrated consistently high profitability, despite which the mercurial Bergt at one time said he hated the airline. In 1991, MarkAir shifted from cooperating to competing with Alaska Airlines, leading to two bankruptcies.…

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Article summary

in 1992 MarkAir was an Alaska jet carrier operating from 1984 to 1995 that started after World War II as Interior Airways (later Alaska International Air (AIA)). Interior Airways grew from founder Jim Magoffin's bush pilot activities to pioneering flying freight to Alaska's North Slope (facing the Arctic Ocean), first in the 1950s for the military and then later, as an intrastate airline, playing a key role in supporting oil exploration in the 1960s (that resulted in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field), including flying Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft into gravel strips laid down on tundra (or in the case of AIA, onto icebergs). In the 1970s, after the airline was renamed AIA, leadership shifted to Neil Bergt, who ultimately ended up with complete ownership. Bergt oversaw AIA's support of the construction of the Alaska pipeline and engineered the abortive consolidation of AIA plus Wien Air Alaska with Western Airlines soon after US airline deregulation in the early 1980s. In 1984, Bergt changed AIA's identity again to MarkAir to pursue passenger service. MarkAir dominated much of the intra-Alaska market and demonstrated consistently high profitability, despite which the mercurial Bergt at one time said he hated the airline. In 1991, MarkAir shifted from cooperating to competing with Alaska Airlines, leading to two bankruptcies.…

Key claims

  1. employees: 65 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the employees is "65 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1376232702

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.