Making a Difference; The Money Man at Baltia

By AGIS SALPUKAS

About a year ago, Harold J. Pareti, the president of Airline Economics Inc., a Washington-based consulting firm, was asked to help arrange financing for a group that wanted to start an airline.

Mr. Pareti, who had helped to get People Express and Presidential Airways off the ground, quickly raised a small amount while the owners of the nascent Baltia Air Lines mobilized for hearings at the Department of Transportation.

Earlier this month, the group, headed by Igor Dmitrowsky, a Latvian immigrant, hit the jackpot: Baltia won the right to fly from New York to Riga, Latvia, to become only the fourth American carrier with routes between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Now, Mr. Pareti seems on the verge of landing enough money to buy Baltia its first planes. In recent days, he has been working with the Waterford Group, a Texas-based investment concern that has told Baltia it may soon put together a $150 million package of loans. An announcement is expected this week.

Mr. Pareti left People Express in January 1985 as it was being taken over by Texas Air and helped start Presidential Air that year. Because of a major buildup by United and Continental airlines at Presidential's hub, Dulles International Airport outside Washington, the carrier was forced to liquidate.

Mr. Pareti, 43, has been named vice chairman and acting vice president of finance for Baltia. But he does not plan to stay with the carrier for long; instead, he said, he would remain at Airline Economics, where he is a principal investor. Baltia has given the firm 4.8 percent of its stock in return for his help.

Photo: Harold J. Pareti.