1977, the CAB granted Seattle-based real estate developer Eugene Horbach permission to acquire the remaining assets of bankrupt Modern Air (including the rights to the name). Horbach proceeded to transfer these to a new company named Modern Airways, Inc.. However, this company never became operational. Causes of demise While higher fuel consumption of Modern Air's all-CV-990 mainline fleet (compared with most other contemporary jet aircraft types operated by rival airlines) was the primary cause that led to its demise in the post-1973 oil crisis environment of high fuel prices, there were other important, longer term underlying factors that predated this era and which contributed to the airline's downfall. The most important amongst these included the regulatory environment and the owners' attitude towards their airline. As far as the former was concerned, compliance with contemporary regulatory restrictions on its operations in both the US and West Berlin, which were aimed at protecting bigger, established rival airlines, denied Modern Air access to potentially lucrative business opportunities that could have helped it to grow its presence in these markets as well as its economies of scale to enable it to spread its overheads over a greater level of activity. Regarding the latter, GAC's owners' view of their airline subsidiary as an adjunct to their property business rather than a profit centre in its own right resulted in failure to invest in the airline adequately. This in turn prevented the mainline fleet to grow beyond eight aircraft and left Modern Air a subscale business compared with rivals. It is important to note in this context that, in the pre-1973 oil crisis era of low fuel prices, Mort Beyer always regarded Modern Air's CV-990s more capable than some rival US supplementals' early model DC-8s or the elderly Comets that still formed a major part of some British rivals' fleets and which competed with Modern's 990s out of West Berlin. But in order for Modern Air to fully leverage the cost advantage of operating a single type fleet comprising CV-990s or later model DC-8s vis-à-vis its competitors and to achieve sustained profitability, it would have needed a homogeneous fleet of approximately 20 aircraft. Memorable one-offs Bosom Bird The operation of a special, one-off Busenvogel charter excursion from Tegel to Paris to celebrate Father's Day in June 1970, during which topless showgirls from West Berlin's Daily Girl Club assisted four flight attendants in serving champagne to a