Mark Morro(w) is an American investor and TV and radio producer. He is the co-founder of the former American regional airline, Wings West Airlines (now American Eagle). Background In 1979, Morro founded Wings West Airlines with Bill Herish, which was established as a low-cost regional airline and became a publicly traded company in 1983. In 1984, Wings West Airlines, under the American Eagle name, via an agreement with American Airlines. In the same year, a Wings West Beechcraft Model 99 collided with a private Rockwell Commander 112TC aircraft, killing 17 persons. In 1990, Morro was one of the 26 general partnership investors in the acquisition of the bankruptcy of Fairchild Aircraft for $62 million. In 1996, the company acquired the German aircraft company Dornier Luftfahrt, which manufactured regional airline jets, fuselage, and wings for Airbus jets. In 1994, Morro became the CEO of Air21, a Fresno-based start-up. In 1996, another crash in Everglades by ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 resulted in negative news coverage. A planned Air21 public offering was canceled by Wall Street when a TWA 747 crash followed the Glades crash off of Long Island shortly after that. In 1996, the Air21 board agreed to a merger with an investment banker, David Walsh, and his company Pacific Southwest Airlines. Morro stepped down in December 1996 when Walsh was appointed as the CEO as a deal requirement. Morro created two syndicated TV series, The Coastal Gardener and Garden Travels, which aired on 200 stations.
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