Ecuatoriana de Aviación
Encyclopedia
Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación, more commonly known as simply Ecuatoriana, was the national airline of Ecuador
. The carrier had an operational hiatus in September 1993, but was reactivated in August 1995, resuming operations on , after VASP
became the controlling shareholder. The airline folded definitely in 2006.
n and several Ecuador
ian investors decided to set up the airline. At first, 50% of the airline was owned by Americans. Operations started in August 1957. Serving a relatively small country, the airline had a varied fleet that consisted of Curtiss C-46, Douglas DC-4
, Douglas DC-6
and one Junkers K 16 aircraft. The Junkers airplane was a rarity, as Junkers airliners were already considered to be classics at the time.
Ecuatoriana began serving domestic as well as international destinations immediately after it started flying. International routes proved to be rather long trips: there were jets already in operation when Ecuatoriana began flying (that is, before the Boeing 707
made its first flight), but these were predominantly used by Europe
an airlines, and Ecuatoriana's equipment's technology made it a requirement for Ecuatoriana's first international route, from Quito
to Miami
, to include a stopover in Panama City
. Likewise, routes from Quito and Guayaquil
to Santiago de Chile included stopovers in Lima
, Peru
. The airline's livery featured a tailfin logo of alternating blue and white diagonal stripes.
, prompting the creation of a new company. Hence, Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación, a state-owned company that took over the routes, liabilities, and assets of CEA, was established in July 1974, becoming the flag carrier
of Ecuador. By this time, the airline had modernized its fleet to include jets like the Boeing 707, and a new, colorful "rainbow" livery attracted airplane spotters at new destinations such as New York
's John F. Kennedy International Airport
and Buenos Aires
' Ezeiza International Airport. Some of Ecuatoriana's aircraft became "flying canvases" for abstract artwork. These distinctively-painted aircraft were seen as a response to Braniff's Alexander Calder
-painted aircraft because, during the late 1970s and early 1980s
, Braniff was Ecuatoriana's main competitor on many routes, including Miami-Quito/Guayaquil.
In the 1970s, it was a common practice that most South America
n national airlines were operated by national Air Force departments. Through the Defence Ministry
, the Ecuadorian Air Force
, in charge of running the airline, bought two refurbished Boeing 707s from Israeli Aircraft Industries in a deal worth million. To reinforce its fleet, Ecuatoriana also acquired a Douglas DC-10 from Swissair
, and it opened non-stop routes to Canada
as well. For Ecuatoriana de Aviación, having jet equipment also meant that the old, long flights with stopovers were not necessary anymore, and non-stop routes were opened all over South America and to other North America
n cities.
Ecuatoriana also opened flights to such other destinations as Mexico City
and Madrid
, Spain
. The Quito and Guayaquil to Madrid routes in particular proved extremely competitive, as Iberia
proved to be a popular airline among travelers who flew those two routes.
During the 1980s, Ecuatoriana de Aviación began to make business with the European Airbus
consortium, buying their Airbus A310
jetliners. Ecuatoriana debuted a pair of Airbus A-310s in the early 1990s.
, Ecuatoriana had also developed a reputation as being an unreliable airline; lengthy flight delays and cancellations were commonplace. Faced with these problems, as well as competition from other carriers such as privately owned Ecuadorian carrier SAETA
, American Airlines
(which had assumed Eastern Air Lines
' Latin America routes in 1990}, and Continental Airlines
, which began serving Ecuador from its Houston hub in 1991, Ecuatoriana ceased operations.
Brazil
ian airline VASP
soon came to save the airline, buying over 50% of it in 1995, and letting the Ecuadorian government retain the other 50%. Ecuatoriana received some Boeing 727
s, which were repainted in Miami and at Tucson International Airport
in Tucson, Arizona
, and, by 1996, short domestic and international services were re-started, with a livery that resembled that of VASP's. A single DC-10, also borrowed from VASP, allowed the airline to re-introduce services to Madrid's Barajas International Airport.
By 2000, Ecuatoriana was caught up in an overall collapse of Ecuador's economy and once again found itself in financial trouble, and VASP decided to sell its part of the airline, with both Aero Continente and Lan Chile being bidders at that time. Despite it was claimed Lan Chile was not interested in Ecuatoriana, it was operating its own aircraft on behalf of Ecuatoriana on the lucrative routes to the USA, after Ecuatoriana's aircraft were repossessed by the lessors in late 2000. Following the rejection of Aero Continente's bid and the suspension of Ecuatoriana's air operator certificate, Ecuador's civil aviation authority cleared Lan Chile to start up a subsidiary named Lan Ecuador
, set to fly many international routes previously operated by Ecuatoriana.
Lan Chile owned fifty percent of the airline, wet-leasing two Boeing 767
's to the company, but in 2004 they sold their part to Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano
. By early 2005 LAN had taken over their routes and fleet.
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. The carrier had an operational hiatus in September 1993, but was reactivated in August 1995, resuming operations on , after VASP
VASP
Viação Aérea São Paulo S/A, or VASP, was an airline with its head office in the VASP Building on the grounds of Congonhas-São Paulo Airport in São Paulo, Brazil...
became the controlling shareholder. The airline folded definitely in 2006.
Compañía Ecuatoriana de Aviación
Compañia Ecuatoriana de Aviación (CEA) (Ecuadorian Aviation Company) was established in May 1957, after a group of AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n and several Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ian investors decided to set up the airline. At first, 50% of the airline was owned by Americans. Operations started in August 1957. Serving a relatively small country, the airline had a varied fleet that consisted of Curtiss C-46, Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
, Douglas DC-6
Douglas DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
and one Junkers K 16 aircraft. The Junkers airplane was a rarity, as Junkers airliners were already considered to be classics at the time.
Ecuatoriana began serving domestic as well as international destinations immediately after it started flying. International routes proved to be rather long trips: there were jets already in operation when Ecuatoriana began flying (that is, before the Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
made its first flight), but these were predominantly used by Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an airlines, and Ecuatoriana's equipment's technology made it a requirement for Ecuatoriana's first international route, from Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
to Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, to include a stopover in Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
. Likewise, routes from Quito and Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...
to Santiago de Chile included stopovers in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. The airline's livery featured a tailfin logo of alternating blue and white diagonal stripes.
Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación
American investors pulled out of the company during the early 1970s1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, prompting the creation of a new company. Hence, Empresa Ecuatoriana de Aviación, a state-owned company that took over the routes, liabilities, and assets of CEA, was established in July 1974, becoming the flag carrier
Flag carrier
A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...
of Ecuador. By this time, the airline had modernized its fleet to include jets like the Boeing 707, and a new, colorful "rainbow" livery attracted airplane spotters at new destinations such as New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
' Ezeiza International Airport. Some of Ecuatoriana's aircraft became "flying canvases" for abstract artwork. These distinctively-painted aircraft were seen as a response to Braniff's Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
-painted aircraft because, during the late 1970s and early 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, Braniff was Ecuatoriana's main competitor on many routes, including Miami-Quito/Guayaquil.
In the 1970s, it was a common practice that most South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n national airlines were operated by national Air Force departments. Through the Defence Ministry
Ministry of National Defence (Ecuador)
The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of Ecuador is the ministry responsible for national defense and is responsible for controlling all three branches of the Military of Ecuador....
, the Ecuadorian Air Force
Ecuadorian Air Force
The Ecuadorian Air Force is the Air arm of the Military of Ecuador and responsible for the protection of the Ecuadorian airspace.-Mission:To develop the military air wing, in order to execute institutional objectives which guarantee sovereignty and contribute towards the nation's security and...
, in charge of running the airline, bought two refurbished Boeing 707s from Israeli Aircraft Industries in a deal worth million. To reinforce its fleet, Ecuatoriana also acquired a Douglas DC-10 from Swissair
Swissair
Swissair AG was the former national airline of Switzerland.It was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero , in 1931...
, and it opened non-stop routes to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as well. For Ecuatoriana de Aviación, having jet equipment also meant that the old, long flights with stopovers were not necessary anymore, and non-stop routes were opened all over South America and to other North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n cities.
Ecuatoriana also opened flights to such other destinations as Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The Quito and Guayaquil to Madrid routes in particular proved extremely competitive, as Iberia
Iberia Airlines
Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., commonly known as Iberia, is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main bases of Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport....
proved to be a popular airline among travelers who flew those two routes.
During the 1980s, Ecuatoriana de Aviación began to make business with the European Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
consortium, buying their Airbus A310
Airbus A310
The Airbus A310 is a medium- to long-range twin-engine widebody jet airliner. Launched in July 1978, it was the second aircraft created by Airbus Industrie,a consortium of European aerospace companies, Airbus is now fully owned by EADS and since 2001 has been known as Airbus SAS. the consortium of...
jetliners. Ecuatoriana debuted a pair of Airbus A-310s in the early 1990s.
Collapse
Affected by the general economic crisis in South America during the 1990s, Ecuatoriana was met with deep financial problems. This was met with surprise by many airline experts and enthusiasts, as the airline was generally thought to be in good financial condition because Ecuatoriana's management usually kept quiet about the company's finances. But, in reality, the airline stopped flying in 1993, as some of their leased airplanes, including the A-310s, were taken back by the leasing companies since Ecuatoriana was not able to meet the lease payment requirements. Rumors that government officials flew their family members for free on Ecuatoriana flights hurt the airline's reputation. During the late 1980s1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, Ecuatoriana had also developed a reputation as being an unreliable airline; lengthy flight delays and cancellations were commonplace. Faced with these problems, as well as competition from other carriers such as privately owned Ecuadorian carrier SAETA
SAETA
SAETA was a privately held airline of Ecuador, which began operations in the 1960s and during its heyday in the 1990s flew to numerous destinations in North and South America from its base in Guayaquil...
, American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
(which had assumed Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines was a major United States airline that existed from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida.-History:...
' Latin America routes in 1990}, and Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines
Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
, which began serving Ecuador from its Houston hub in 1991, Ecuatoriana ceased operations.
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian airline VASP
VASP
Viação Aérea São Paulo S/A, or VASP, was an airline with its head office in the VASP Building on the grounds of Congonhas-São Paulo Airport in São Paulo, Brazil...
soon came to save the airline, buying over 50% of it in 1995, and letting the Ecuadorian government retain the other 50%. Ecuatoriana received some Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
s, which were repainted in Miami and at Tucson International Airport
Tucson International Airport
Tucson International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located six miles south of the central business district of Tucson, in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and is the second largest and busiest airport in Arizona, after Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.- Overview...
in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, and, by 1996, short domestic and international services were re-started, with a livery that resembled that of VASP's. A single DC-10, also borrowed from VASP, allowed the airline to re-introduce services to Madrid's Barajas International Airport.
By 2000, Ecuatoriana was caught up in an overall collapse of Ecuador's economy and once again found itself in financial trouble, and VASP decided to sell its part of the airline, with both Aero Continente and Lan Chile being bidders at that time. Despite it was claimed Lan Chile was not interested in Ecuatoriana, it was operating its own aircraft on behalf of Ecuatoriana on the lucrative routes to the USA, after Ecuatoriana's aircraft were repossessed by the lessors in late 2000. Following the rejection of Aero Continente's bid and the suspension of Ecuatoriana's air operator certificate, Ecuador's civil aviation authority cleared Lan Chile to start up a subsidiary named Lan Ecuador
LAN Ecuador
LAN Ecuador is a subsidiary of LAN Airlines, based in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It operates scheduled passenger services out of Guayaquil and to a lesser extent Quito using leased LAN aircraft.-History:LAN Ecuador was established in July 2002 and started operations on 28 April 2003...
, set to fly many international routes previously operated by Ecuatoriana.
Lan Chile owned fifty percent of the airline, wet-leasing two Boeing 767
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
's to the company, but in 2004 they sold their part to Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano
Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano S.A. was an airline serving as flag carrier of Bolivia. It operated domestic and international flights, aiming at passenger as well as cargo transport. LAB was active for more than 80 years, having been based in Cochabamba most of the time, with Cochabamba Airport being an...
. By early 2005 LAN had taken over their routes and fleet.
Destinations
Ecuatoriana served the following destinations throughout its history:| City | Airport Code | Airport Name | Refs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IATA | ICAO | ||||
| Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent... |
EZE | SAEZ | Ministro Pistarini International Airport Ministro Pistarini International Airport Ministro Pistarini International Airport , more commonly known as Ezeiza International Airport owing to its location within the Ezeiza Partido in the Greater Buenos Aires, is an international airport located south-southwest of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina... |
||
| Nassau Nassau, Bahamas Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas... |
NAS | MYNN | Lynden Pindling International Airport Lynden Pindling International Airport - Trivia :During World War II,it was known as Windsor Field used by the Royal Air Force Transferring Fighter and Bomber aircraft such as the B-17, B-24, and the P-40 from New Providence to Italian, North African and European Theatres of War and as a station for Consolidated Liberator I and North... |
||
| La Paz La Paz Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra... |
LPB | SLLP | El Alto International Airport El Alto International Airport El Alto International Airport is an international airport located south west of La Paz, La Paz Department, Bolivia.The airport is located in the city of El Alto and has served since the first half of the 20th century, but was modernized in the late 1960s, when its runway was lengthened and a new... |
||
| Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia and the largest city in the country... |
VVI | SLVR | Viru Viru International Airport Viru Viru International Airport Viru Viru International Airport is an aviation facility located in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.The idea to build a new, modern airport in Santa Cruz was conceived in 1976, in view of the obsolence of the old airport known as El Trompillo. Soon after, construction of the airport began... |
||
| Manaus Manaus Manaus is a city in Brazil, the capital of the state of Amazonas. It is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. It is the most populous city of Amazonas, according to the statistics of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and is a popular ecotourist destination.... |
MAO | SBEG | Eduardo Gomes International Airport Eduardo Gomes International Airport Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes-Manaus International Airport , is the main airport serving Manaus, Brazil. It is named after the Brazilian politician and military figure Air Marshall Eduardo Gomes .... |
||
| Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th... |
GIG | SBGL | Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport | ||
| São Paulo São Paulo São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among... |
GRU | SBGR | São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport | ||
| Montreal Montreal Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America... |
YUL | CYUL | Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located on the Island of Montreal, from Montreal's downtown core. The airport terminals are located entirely in Dorval, while the Air Canada headquarters complex... |
||
| Toronto Toronto Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from... |
YYZ | CYYZ | Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population... |
||
| Antofagasta Antofagasta Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905... |
ANF | SCFA | Cerro Moreno International Airport Cerro Moreno International Airport Cerro Moreno International Airport is an airport in Antofagasta, Chile. It is located north of Antofagasta.- Destinations :... |
||
| Santiago Santiago, Chile Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level... |
SCL | SCEL | Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport , also known as Pudahuel Airport and Santiago International Airport, located in Pudahuel, north-west of downtown Santiago, is Chile's largest aviation facility and the busiest international air passenger gateway to the country... |
||
| Bogotá Bogotá Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district... |
BOG | SKBO | El Dorado International Airport El Dorado International Airport El Dorado International Airport is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin America airport in terms of cargo movements with 593,946 tons and the third in terms of passenger traffic, only behind São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport and Mexico City's... |
||
| Cali Calì Calì, also written in English as Cali, is an Italian surname, widespread mainly in the Ionian side of Sicily.For the surname Calì is assumed the origin of the Greek word kalos , or from its Sanskrit root kali, "time."The surname refers to:... |
CLO | SKCL | Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport -Cargo airlines:-Accidents and incidents :*On 3 May, Douglas C-47B FAC-1126 of SATENA was damaged beyond repair in an accident at Palmaseca Airport.*On 21 January 1974, a Vickers Viscount of Aeropesca Colombia was hijacked and diverted to Cali.... |
||
| San José San José, Costa Rica San José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San... |
SJO | MROC | Juan Santamaría International Airport Juan Santamaría International Airport Juan Santamaría International Airport is located in Alajuela Province, about from downtown San José, Costa Rica. It is a hub airport for TACA/Lacsa, and focus city airport for Copa Airlines. It is named after Costa Rica's national hero Juan Santamaría, a courageous drummer boy who died in 1856... |
||
| Guayaquil Guayaquil Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port... |
GYE | SEGU | José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport is an airport serving Guayaquil, a city in the province of Guayas in Ecuador. The airport was named after José Joaquín de Olmedo, a notable Ecuadorian poet, first mayor of the city of Guayaquil and former president of Ecuador. It was formerly known as... |
||
| Quito Quito San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains... |
UIO | SEQU | Mariscal Sucre International Airport Mariscal Sucre International Airport Mariscal Sucre International Airport is the international airport serving Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. It is named after Venezuelan born Antonio José de Sucre, known as the "Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho" , a hero of Ecuadorian and Latin American independence... |
||
| Tel Aviv Tel Aviv Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with... |
TLV | LLBG | Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport Ben Gurion International Airport , also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag , is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel, handling 12,160,339 passengers in 2010... |
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| Cancún Cancún Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of... |
CUN | MMUN | Cancún International Airport Cancún International Airport Cancún International Airport is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, but the biggest in Mexico and Latin America for International passengers... |
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| Mexico City Mexico City Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole... |
MEX | MMMX | Mexico City International Airport Mexico City International Airport Benito Juárez International Airport , in Venustiano Carranza, one of the sixteen boroughs into which Mexico's Federal District is divided, is a commercial airport that serves Mexico City, the capital of Mexico... |
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| Panama City Panama City Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the... |
PTY | MPTO | Tocumen International Airport Tocumen International Airport Tocumen International Airport is an international airport located from Panama City, Panama. In 2006, it underwent a major expansion and renovation program in order to modernize and improve its facilities... |
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| Asuncion Asunción Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San... |
ASU | SGAS | Silvio Pettirossi International Airport Silvio Pettirossi International Airport -Incidents and accidents:*3 December 1945: an USAAF Douglas C-47B-5-DK registration 43-48602 flying from Asunción to Montevideo crashed 16km SE of Carlos Pellegrini, Argentina... |
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| Lima Lima Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima... |
LIM | SPIM | Jorge Chávez International Airport Jorge Chávez International Airport Jorge Chávez International Airport , known as Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez in Spanish, is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, 11 kilometers from the Historic Centre of Lima and 17 km from Miraflores. Callao is the port city now fully... |
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| Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... |
MAD | LEMD | Madrid-Barajas Airport | ||
| Caracas Caracas Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range... |
CCS | SVMI | Simón Bolívar International Airport Simón Bolívar International Airport (Venezuela) Simón Bolívar International Airport of Maiquetia is an international airport located in Maiquetía, Venezuela, about 13 miles from downtown Caracas.... |
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| Chicago | ORD | KORD | O'Hare International Airport O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop... |
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| Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... |
LAX | KLAX | Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually... |
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| Miami Miami, Florida Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625... |
MIA | KMIA | Miami International Airport Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area... |
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| New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
JFK | KJFK | John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North... |
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| San Francisco San Francisco, California San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland... |
SFO | KSFO | San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO... |
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| Washington D.C. | IAD | KIAD | Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport is a public airport in Dulles, Virginia, 26 miles west of downtown Washington, D.C. The airport serves the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia metropolitan area centered on the District of Columbia. It is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of... |
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| Montevideo Montevideo Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento... |
MVD | SUMU | Carrasco International Airport Carrasco International Airport Carrasco/General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport , commonly known simply by Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco in reference to the neighborhood where it is located, is the main airport serving Montevideo, Uruguay, located in the adjoining municipality of Ciudad de la Costa... |
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Historical Fleets
The airline operated the following equipment all through its history:- Airbus A310-300
- Boeing 720BBoeing 720The Boeing 720 is a four-engine narrow-body short- to medium-range passenger jet airliner. Developed by Boeing in the late 1950s from the Boeing 707, the 720 has a shorter fuselage and less range...
- Boeing 727-200
- Boeing 707-320B
- Boeing 707-320C
- Douglas C-47
- Douglas DC-4Douglas DC-4The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
- Douglas DC-6Douglas DC-6The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
- Lockheed ElectraLockheed L-188 ElectraThe Lockheed Model 188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. First flying in 1957, it was the first large turboprop airliner produced in the United States. Initial sales were good, but after two fatal crashes which prompted an expensive modification program to fix a design...
- McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Accidents and incidents
- On 14 March 1972, Douglas C-47 HC-SJE was reported to have been damaged beyond economic repair in an accident at Sangai.