Thirty-five years after its founding by Latvian immigrant Juris George Miķelsons, the U.S. carrier ATA Airlines has filed bankruptcy and suspended operations—leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at airports.

In an April 3 press release, the company blamed cancellation of a U.S. military charter contract for forcing it into bankruptcy. ATA customers should seek alternative arrangements for travel, the company said.

“We deeply regret the disruption and hardship caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA, an outcome we and our employees had worked very hard and made many sacrifices to avoid,” CEO Doug Yakola said in a prepared statement.

This is the second time the Indianapolis, Ind.-based carrier has entered bankruptcy.

Miķelsons founded ATA in 1973. The airline initially was operated as a private travel club, but in 1986 began flying general passengers as well, eventually becoming the 10th largest passenger airline in the United States. In 1990, ATA introduced a short-lived service from Kennedy Airport in New York to the international airport at Rīga.

Miķelsons first retired from the company in 1998, but came out of retirement to help lead the company through its restructuring after it went bankrupt in 2004. He retired again in 2005.

New York investment firm Matlin Patterson bought ATA in 2006 and made it part of the holding company Global Aero Logistics. The airline finished 2007 with a loss of USD 75 million, according to documents filed April 2 in U.S. Bankrupcty Court in Indianapolis. About 2,300 ATA employees are affected by the airline’s closure.

Former Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has been named one of three spring 2008 visiting fellows by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.

The two-term president, who spent much of her adult life as an exile and professor in Canada, will spend April 14 through the end of May meeting with students, leading discussions on topical issues and interacting with faculty, the institute announced in an April 2 press release.

Vīķe-Freiberga was president of Latvia from 1999-2007 and was the first woman to hold the position. Jim Leach, director of the Institute of Politics, described Vīķe-Freiberga as “one of ‘new’ Europe’s most distinguished former heads of state.”

The institute is part of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at the Cambridge, Mass.-based university.

The other two visiting fellows are author and political advocate Elizabeth Edwards and religious leader Andrew White. Edwards is the wife of former presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. John Edwards. White is president and CEO of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, vicar of St. Georges Church Baghdad, and Anglican and Episcopal chaplain of the International Zone Baghdad.