FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1997                        (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
      JUSTICE DEPARTMENT APPROVES PALM BEACH, FLORIDA FLIGHT
                     SUPPORT SERVICES MERGER
                                 
          Divestiture Required as Condition of Approval

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Signature Flight Support Corporation
will be allowed to acquire International Aviation Palm Beach
Inc., as long as certain assets and leaseholds of Signature's
flight support business at Palm Beach International Airport are
sold to a third party, the Department of Justice announced today. 
Flight support services include such things as fueling, and ramp
and hanger space rentals. 
 
     Without the divestiture, the deal likely would have resulted
in higher prices to charter, private and corporate aircraft
operators who use fixed base operations at Palm Beach
International airport, the Justice Department said. 
 
     Fixed base operations are facilities located at airports
that provide flight support services.  Last year, aircraft
operators purchased around $1 billion of jet fuel from fixed base
operators nationwide.

     Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Department's Antitrust Division, said, "Signature's merger 
with International Aviation would have lead to higher prices by
creating a duopoly in the sale of jet fuel to aviation customers
using the Palm Beach airport.  Through this divestiture,
consumers will continue to obtain the benefits of competition in
the form of lower fuel prices at Palm Beach."

     The Department's Antitrust Division filed a civil suit in
U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to block Signature's
original deal to acquire International Aviation.  At the same
time, a proposed settlement was filed that, if entered by the
court, will settle the suit.

     The complaint alleges that the merger, without the proposed
divestiture, would have reduced competition in the already
concentrated market for the provision of fixed base operation
services at Palm Beach International airport.  Based on sales of
jet fuel, International Aviation accounts for about 40 percent of
the market and Signature accounts for about 25 percent. 
Combining both fixed base operations would have resulted in the
merged firm having about 65 percent of the market.

     The proposed settlement requires the sale of certain assets
and leaseholds of Signature's fixed base operations business at
Palm Beach within 180 days to an entity capable of operating the
fixed base assets as a long-term, viable competitor.  The
divestiture will prevent general aviation customers at Palm Beach
from paying higher jet fuel prices.  Until the sale is complete,
the assets to be divested must be maintained and operated as they
are today.

     Signature is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and owns the
nation's largest network of fixed base operations, which consists
of 34 locations nationwide.  Signature's 1995 revenues were $233
million.

     International Aviation is a subsidiary of IAS Holdings, Inc.
of White Plains New York, which, in addition to its fixed base
operations at Palm Beach, also runs similar operations in White
Plains, New York and Teterboro, NJ.

     As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed settlement
agreement will be published in the Federal Register, along with
the Department's competitive impact statement.  Any person may
submit comments concerning the proposed settlement agreement
during the 60-day comment period to Roger W. Fones, Chief,
Transportation, Energy and Agriculture Section, Antitrust
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 325 Seventh Street, N.W.,
Suite 500, Washington, D.C.  20530. 

     At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the court
may enter the consent decree upon finding that it serves the
public interest.  
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97-055