BEIJING, Jan. 6(Xinhuanet)-- America's Independence Air put up everything for sale yesterday in Washington Dulles International Airport's Concourse A because the seller has gone out business.

Caps, T-shirts, pillows, blankets, mouse pads and model airplanes were among the items being sold.

Independence Air employees stood in line for a chance to grab some mementos.

"This is sort of sad," said pilot Bill Brown, clutching a clump of shirts with the Independence Air logo."It would have been better if the boys who ran this airline had a better plan so we wouldn't all be here today, buying this stuff."

The airline's final day began in a fog, with many of its flights delayed for an hour or longer. It ended shortly before 9 p.m. as one of its relatively new Airbus A319 jets pulled into Dulles International Airport from Tampa.

Independence Air evolved from Dulles-based Flyi Inc., which had begun life in 1989 as Atlantic Coast Airlines, a regional commuter carrier for United Airlines. It later broke away from United Airlines to become Independence Air.

This Washington area's homegrown low-cost airline, a company that carried more than 8 million passengers over 18 months, has not been doing well financially. The carrier announced in a written statement on Monday, Jan. 2, 2006, that it will shut down at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006.

The shutdown came two months after Flyi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing record fuel prices and an unrelenting response by competitors.

Two airlines, United and Mesa Air Group Inc., had showed interest in bidding for some Flyi assets, but neither wanted to operate Independence as a stand-alone carrier.Enditem

(Agencies)