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Avianca El Salvador

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Avianca El Salvador
Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.
File:TACA Airlines logo.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign
TA TAI TACA
Founded1931
Ceased operations2013 (merged with Avianca)
Hubs
Secondary hubs
Frequent-flyer programLifeMiles
AllianceStar Alliance [1]
Subsidiaries
Fleet size40
Destinations50 destinations in 22 countries
Parent companyAvianca Holding S.A
HeadquartersSan Salvador, El Salvador
Key peopleFabio Villegas (President)
Roberto Kriete (Chairperson)
Websitewww.taca.com

Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, simply known as TACA Airlines operating as Avianca is the flag-carrier of El Salvador and was a trade name brand comprising a group of five independently IATA-coded and -owned Central American airlines, whose operations were combined to function as one and a number of other independently owned and IATA-coded regional airlines which code-share and feed the TACA Airlines brand system.

TACA Airlines, originally an acronym of Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos (Central American Air Transport), was standed for Transportes Aéreos del Continente Americano (Air Transport of the American Continent), reflecting its expansion to North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. The airline operated a fleet of 40 aircraft, mostly Airbus A320 aircraft used in most international flights and a smaller fleet of Embraer E-190 for regional flights.

On October 7, 2009, it was announced that Avianca would merge with TACA Airlines but both airlines have stated that each will maintain their own identity and operate separately for the moment.[2] TACA Airlines was the second oldest, continuously operating airline in Central America and the Caribbean, after Cubana de Aviacion.

Services

File:TACA Airlines logo (until 2008).svg
The former Grupo TACA logo before 2008

The airlines that made up TACA Airlines were:

TACA Airlines had three flight hubs or "Connection Centers", which are the following:[3]

TACA Airline's former headquarters were in San Salvador, El Salvador.[4]

*The hub in San Jose, Costa Rica has been downgraded to a base of operations following a company restructuring that was announced on May 17, 2013, due to the merger with Avianca.

History

Inauguration (1931-1980)

One of TACA Airlines DC-4

TACA was founded in 1931 by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. The airline TACA began operations with a single-engine Stinson plane. Since its beginnings heir routes covered all the national territory and its aircraft sported the XH Mexican registration (which were changed later by HR). The idea of its founder was to establish one airline in each Latin-American country, such as Aerovias Brasil in Brazil and other TACAs in Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia.[citation needed]Out of all the TACA franchise airlines created, only TACA International of El Salvador survived,

As a consequence, in 1945 Yerex left the company and moved its headquarters to the Republic of El Salvador where was modernized and expanded to these dates, the company established investment groups in other Latin American countries to then be sold to domestic airlines, which in the case of Honduras TACA was sold to SAHSA. Later TACA was organized as an international company having its headquarters in San Salvador only under the name of TACA International Airlines.

During the 1940's and 1960's, the airline began to acquire turboprops airliners (such as the Douglas DC-3 and the Vickers Viscount) in order to expand its route network around the Americas.

In 1970, TACA Airlines entered to the jet age when it acquired their first jet, A BAC One Eleven (which was frequently acquired at the time by other airlines en Latin America). The aircraft model was used between the 1970's and the early 1980's, when it was remplaced in favor of the Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

Expansion Years (1980-2009)

A TACA International Airlines Boeing 737-300 (circa 1994).

Until 1980, TACA was owned by a United States company and had its corporate headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana (due to the civil war raging in El Salvador) under the administration of the Kriete Family of El Salvador, who owned a minority stock completed buying all the shares.

The airline also made several upgrades in the fleet during the 1980s, by replacing the much older turboprops and One Eleven airliners with more efficient aircraft, such as the 737-300 and Boeing 737-400 of the Boeing 737 Classic series and its predecessor, the Boeing 737-200 Advanced.

Between 1940 and 1995, TACA bought the majority shares of the flag carrier airlines of Guatemala (AVIATECA), Costa Rica (Lacsa), and Nicaragua (NICA), consolidating operations under a new brand name, Grupo TACA.

In the 1990's, TACA Airlines became the launch customer and principal users of the Airbus A320 model in Latin American. These aircraft were the reemplacement for the aging Boeing 737-200 and the 737-300/-400 series aircraft that were on the fleet, which were gradually retired until 1999.

A TACA Airbus A320 in the airline's final livery (2008-2013) at Los Angeles.

In 1992, TACA signed a strategic alliance with Panama-based Copa Airlines, and the airline began flying to Tocumen International Airport, making it the first flight connection center in Latin America. As a consequence, Tocumen airport became the "Hub of the Americas" and the integration of several Latin American airlines to the alliance, such as LACSA, Aviateca, and NICA. The alliance ended in 1998 after the six-year period established in the agreement expired.

Then in 2001, having its main hubs in San Salvador, El Salvador, and San Jose, Costa Rica, the airlines sets its operations at Lima, Peru, as equivalent to South America, causing as a consequence the founding of TACA Peru, which had 49% of shares of the subsidiary. With this new aggregation, Grupo TACA began to offer a comprehensive network of routes throughout the Americas.

In 2005, TACA Airlines was one of the founding members of the Mexican airline Volaris. In the same year, TACA became the first airline of Latin America to operate the largest version of the A320: the Airbus A321.

The year 2008 was the year of big expansion for TACA Airlines, since Roberto Kriete and the board of directors decided to revert to the original name, TACA International Airlines (since the consolidation of the acquired airlines was completed), and the airline' headquarters returned to San Salvador, El Salvador to a new building which was inaugurated shortly afterwards. Also, it revealed a renovation in its corporate image.

At the same year, it became the second user of the brazilian Embraer E-190 in Latin America.

AviancaTaca and Modernization (2009-2012)

Two Airbus A320 aircraft from TACA Airlines at the Juan Santamaria International Airport. The airline operated at Costa Rica one of its three major hubs until May 2013, when the routes were subsequently modified as a result of the merger.

In October 2009, it was announced that TACA Airlines would merge its assets in a strategic alliance with Colombian airline Avianca, in which case each will maintain its own trademark and operations. Avianca and TACA Airlines currently operate a combined fleet of 129 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations in several countries in America and Europe.[5] In December 2009 approval for the merger was given by the Colombian Civil Aeronautical Agency.[6] The merger of Colombia's Avianca and El Salvador-based TACA is the latest sign that consolidation in the Latin American airline sector is picking up.

In November 2009, the airline's Chief Executive Fabio Villegas announced that the airline is looking to replace its Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft with newer aircraft of 100 seats or less. The 10 Fokker 50s and 15 Fokker 100s were operated on flights shorter than one and a half hours. Aircraft manufactured by it is the best airline

Brazil's Embraer, Canada's Bombardier Aerospace, and the Airbus A318 were being considered for the replacement.[7]

In December 2010, the airline made the decision to retire the Fokker 100 aircraft in 2011 and replace them with 10 Airbus A318 leased from GECAS from 2011-2018. The aircraft were delivered during January to February 2011.

In December 2012, the airline made an firm order to ATR for 15 ATR 72-600 aircraft with a total value of 700 million dollars and the deliveries will start on June 2013. [8] The purpose of this purchase is to remplace the aging Fokker 50 aircraft.

Star Alliance (2010-2012)

On November 10, 2010, Star Alliance announced that Avianca and its subsidiary TACA Airlines were to become full members in mid-2012. Because of Avianca's entry into Star Alliance, it stopped its codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines in March 2011 and began a new codeshare agreement with United Airlines.

On June 2012, TACA Airlines, Avianca, and Copa Airlines were the first Latin American airlines to enter to the Star Alliance.

Merger and Controversy in Costa Rica (2012-2013)

A TACA Airbus A319 aircraft taking off from the city of Medellin, Colombia (2010).
TACA Airlines A321 landing in Los Angeles from San Salvador (SAL).

On October 10, 2012, it was reported in a press conference that the trade name TACA Airlines was going to disappear from the public eye and the promotion and marketing strategies were going to be owned by Avianca, according to representatives of the group that controls the brand. The Avianca-Taca's CEO, Fabio Villegas, explained that the use of the single brand for the group would occur in the first half of 2013. [9]

On May 18, 2013, the Avianca-Taca Holding group downgraded the Juan Santamaría International Airport Hub in San José, Costa Rica to a base of operations following a company restructuring due to the merger. This includes the discontinuation of more than five non-stops flights made by the airline to and from San Jose, including flights to all cities in the United States. As consequence, more than 200 employees lost their jobs (equivalent to 20% of the work force of the airline). This has led to a controversy in Costa Rica, and a extensive investigation by the civil aviation authorities of that country against the holding company, which is actually in progress. [10][11][12]

Corporate Affairs

At one time TACA Airlines had its headquarters in the Edificio Caribe.[13]

Destinations

Main articles: TACA destinations, TACA Costa Rica destinations, and TACA Perú destinations

TACA Airlines served a total of 50 destinations around the world in its 82 years of operation around North and Latin American countries.

Fleet

As of May 2013, the TACA Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft with an average age of 5.4 years:[14][15][16]

Aircraft In Service Orders Options Passengers Notes
C Y Total
Airbus A319-100 9 2 — 12 108 120
Airbus A320-200 19 24 — 12 138 150
Airbus A320neo[17] — 33 —
TBA
The orders were transferred to Avianca.
Airbus A321-200 5 — — 12 182 194
Airbus A330-200 1 1 — 30 222 252 N279AV in Star Alliance livery. Transferred to Avianca.
Embraer 190 12 1 15 8 88 96
Total 45 61 15

Historic Fleet

TACA Airlines has operated the following types: Template:Multicol

Template:Multicol-break

Template:Multicol-end

Reciprocal Frequent-Flyer Agreements

LifeMiles was TACA Airline's frequent-flyer program from 2009 to 2013, because of the merger with Avianca. It replaced the old "Distancia" program.[23]

In addition to earning miles on TACA Airlines and TACA Airlines Regional flights, TACA Airlines had partnerships with the following airlines:

Accidents and incidents

TACA Flight 510 crash in Guatemala City, April 6, 1993

References

  1. ^ Aviation Week
  2. ^ "Avianca confirms 'strategic merger' with TACA Airlines". Flightglobal. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
  3. ^ Map of routes - TACA.COM
  4. ^ World Airline Directory. Flight International. March 20, 1975. 504.
  5. ^ "Latin American airlines to merge". BBC Online. BBC. 2009-10-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  6. ^ "Poder 360° - Page One Daily News - Avianca and Taca Merger Approved". Poder360.com. 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  7. ^ "Avianca looking to replace Fokkers". 2009-11-30.
  8. ^ "Avianca-Taca encargan 15 aviones regionales ATR por $700 millones". Terra.com. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  9. ^ "Nombre TACA desaparece del fuselaje de los aviones - ECONOMÍA - La Nación". Nacion.com. 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  10. ^ juuber (2013-05-18). "AviancaTaca reorganiza vuelos y elimina 261 empleos en Costa Rica - Revista Estrategia & Negocios". Estrategiaynegocios.net. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  11. ^ "Aviación Civil afirma que Avianca suspendió vuelos sin avisar - EL PAÍS - La Nación". Nacion.com. 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  12. ^ "Costa Rica: Reestructuración de Avianca afecta mercado aéreo". Aeronoticias.com.pe. 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  13. ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 24-30, 1993. 125. "Head office: Edificio Caribe, 2 Piso, San Salvador, El Salvador"
  14. ^ TACA Official Fleet page
  15. ^ TACA fleet at Planespotters.net
  16. ^ TACA Fleet
  17. ^ "AviancaTaca plans to buy 51 A320s from Airbus". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  18. ^ The Smithsonian keeps a photo of TACA's Bellanca
  19. ^ Smithsonian
  20. ^ Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society
  21. ^ Airliners.net
  22. ^ Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society & Museum Shows a photo inside the Metal Aircraft Factory in Cincinnati
  23. ^ Hola. "LifeMiles – El programa de viajero frecuente de Avianca, TACA y AeroGal". Lifemiles.com. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  24. ^ http://www.avianca.com/NR/rdonlyres/3BE56129-7154-4982-995A-35B8EDCF47B6/36509/N23codigocompartidoAM060312.pdf
  25. ^ [1][dead link]
  26. ^ "Chilean Colombian Airlines Reach Codeshare Agreement". Bogotá DC (Colombia). {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |separator= ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  28. ^ NTSB Report
  29. ^ "Plane skids off runway in Honduras, 5 dead". Reuters. May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grupo TACA.
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