Dallas Entrepreneur Seeks to Buy Braniff

A Dallas entrepreneur who tried last year to establish an airline for smokers now wants to purchase Braniff Inc., a newspaper reported today.

Kay Cohlmia was to meet with representatives of the troubled carrier today, he told the Orlando Sentinel in a telephone interview. He said he has arranged financing but would not give details.

Orlando-based Braniff filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 28 and has been short of cash since.

Lawyers for the carrier’s unsecured creditors said they have not been approached by Cohlmia.

In October, Braniff hired Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, an investment banking company, to find sources of financing, including possible buyers.

Cohlmia, 54, said he worked for Braniff as a baggage handler in the 1960s.

“I love that airline,” he said. “It could be the best--and will be--if we buy it.”

Describing himself as a “hustler and an idea man,” Cohlmia said he would turn Braniff into a service-oriented airline catering to business fliers.

For 20 years, he operated Cohlmia Aviation Inc., which at its peak used a fleet of more than 60 planes to ferry checks among banks, he said. It ceased operating in December, 1987.

In 1988, Cohlmia helped set up the Great American Smokers Club, an organization based in Texas that wanted to form an airline for smokers only.