Avianca El Salvador is an airline owned by the Synergy Group based in El Salvador. It was the flag-carrier of El Salvador and is a trade name brand comprising a group of five independently owned and IATA-coded regional airlines. The merger between Avianca and TACA was officially completed on May 21, 2013.
Avianca El Salvador is an airline owned by the Synergy Group based in El Salvador. It was the flag-carrier of El Salvador and is a trade name brand comprising a group of five independently owned and IATA-coded regional airlines. The merger between Avianca and TACA was officially completed on May 21, 2013.
Avianca El Salvador is an airline owned by the Synergy Group based in El Salvador. It was the flag-carrier of El Salvador and is a trade name brand comprising a group of five independently owned and IATA-coded regional airlines. The merger between Avianca and TACA was officially completed on May 21, 2013.
Avianca El Salvador, formerly Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, simply known as TACA Air- lines is an airline owned by the Synergy Group based in El Salvador. It was the ag-carrier of El Salvador and is a trade name brand comprising a group of ve indepen- dently IATA-coded and -owned Central American air- lines, whose operations were combined to function as one and a number of other independently owned and IATA- coded regional airlines which code-shared and fed the TACA Airlines brand system. TACA was originally an acronym meaning Transportes Areos Centroamericanos (Central American Air Trans- port), but this was changed to Transportes Areos del Con- tinente Americano (Air Transport of the American Con- tinent), reecting its expansion to North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. The airline has a eet of 40 aircraft, mostly Airbus A320 aircraft used in most inter- national ights and a smaller eet of Embraer E-190 for regional ights. On October 7, 2009, it was announced that Avianca would merge with TACAbut both airlines stated that each would maintain their own identity and operate separately for the moment and TACA will continue to operate. [2] The merger between Avianca and TACA was ocially completed on May 21, 2013. The brand TACA Air- lines became Avianca El Salvador. TACA Airlines was the second-oldest continuously-operating airline-brand in Central America and the Caribbean after Cubana de Aviacion. 1 Services The airlines that made up TACA Airlines were: TACA International Airlines (El Salvador) Aviateca (Guatemala) Regional - Formerly Inter, it operates under Avi- atecas code. Lacsa (LR) (Costa Rica) Islea Airlines (Honduras) TACA Per (Peru) TACA Regional The airlines hubs before Avianca merger were: TACA Airlines - Monseor scar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador TACA Per - Jorge Chvez International Airport in Lima, Peru LACSA - Juan Santamara International Airport in San Jos, Costa Rica ended in May 2013* 2 History 2.1 Inauguration (1931-1980) One of TACA Airlines DC-4 TACAwas founded in 1931 in Honduras by NewZealan- der Lowell Yerex. TACA began operations with a single- engine Stinson plane. Since its beginnings, routes cov- ered 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.Out of all the TACAfranchise airlines created, only TACA International of El Salvador survived, 1 2 2 HISTORY As a consequence, in 1945 Yerex left the company and TACA moved its headquarters to the Republic of El Sal- vador where it was modernized and expanded, the com- pany then established investment groups in other Latin American countries to be sold to domestic airlines, which in the case of Honduras TACAwas sold to SAHSA. Later TACAwas organized as an international company having its headquarters in San Salvador only under the name of TACA International Airlines. TACA Air Cargo Lockheed L-188AF freighter at Miami in 1978 During the 1940s and 1950s, the airline began to acquire larger piston engine airliners including the Douglas DC-3 and the Douglas DC-4. The Vickers Viscount turboprop passenger airliner followed in order to expand its route network around the Americas. On 28 December 1966, TACA Airlines entered the jet age when it inaugurated their rst jet, a BAC One Eleven (which was a popular airplane at the time with other air- lines in Latin America). The aircraft model was used un- til June 1, 1988, when it was phased out in favor of the Boeing 737-200 aircraft. The Lockheed L-188 Electra four engine turboprop airliner was operated from 1976 by TACA Air Cargo including freight ights to Miami, Florida. 2.2 Expansion Years (1980-2009) A TACA International Airlines Boeing 737-300 (circa 1994). Until 1980, TACA was owned by a United States com- pany and had its corporate headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana (due to the civil war raging in El Salvador) un- der the administration of the Kriete Family of El Sal- vador, who owned a minority stock and ended up buying all the shares. The airline also made several upgrades in the eet dur- ing the 1980s, by substituting the much older turboprops and One Eleven airliners with more ecient 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 ag carrier airlines of Guatemala (AVI- ATECA), Costa Rica (Lacsa), and Nicaragua (NICA), consolidating operations under a new brand name, Grupo TACA. In the 1990s, TACA Airlines became the launch cus- tomer and principal users of the Airbus A320 model in Latin America. These aircraft were substitutes for the aging Boeing 737-200 and the 737-300/400 series air- craft that were on the eet, which were gradually retired until 1999. A TACA Airbus A320 in the airlines nal livery (2008-2013) at Los Angeles. In 1992, TACA signed a strategic alliance with Panama- based Copa Airlines, and the airline began ying to Tocumen International Airport, making it the rst ight 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 took place. The alliance ended in 1998 after the six-year pe- riod established in the agreement expired. Then in 2001, having its main hubs in San Salvador, El Salvador, and San Jose, Costa Rica, the airline set an op- erations base at Lima, Peru, its rst base in South Amer- ica, causing as a consequence the founding of TACA Peru, of which TACA had 49% shares at. With this new addition, Grupo TACA began to oer a comprehensive network of routes throughout the Americas. In 2005, TACA Airlines was one of the founding mem- 2.4 Star Alliance (2010-2012) 3 bers of the Mexican airline Volaris. In the same year, TACA became the rst airline of Latin America to oper- ate the largest version of the A320: the Airbus A321. In 2008 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. That same year, TACA became the second user of the Brazilian Embraer E-190 in Latin America. 2.3 AviancaTaca and Modernization (2009-2012) Two Airbus A320 aircraft fromTACAAirlines at the Juan Santa- maria International Airport. The airline operated at Costa Rica one of its three major hubs until May 2013, when the routes were subsequently modied as a result of the merger. In October 2009, it was announced that TACA Airlines would merge its assets in a strategic alliance with Colom- bian airline Avianca, in which case each will maintain its own trademark and operations. Avianca and TACA Air- lines operated a combined eet of 129 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations in several countries in America and Europe. [3] In December 2009 approval for the merger was given by the Colombian Civil Aeronautical Agency. [4] The merger of Colombias 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 airlines Chief Executive Fabio Villegas announced that the airline was 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 ights shorter than one and a half hours. Brazils Embraer, Canadas Bombardier Aerospace, and the Airbus A318 were being considered for the replacement. [5] 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 rmorder to ATR for 15 ATR 72-600 aircraft with a total value of 700 mil- lion dollars and the deliveries to start June 2013. [6] The purpose of this purchase is to replace the aging Fokker 50 aircraft. 2.4 Star Alliance (2010-2012) On November 10, 2010, Star Alliance announced that Avianca and TACA Airlines were to become full mem- bers in mid-2012. 2.5 Completion of Merger and Final Flight Avianca and TACA completed their merger on May 21, 2013 (although TACA still operates) as had been announced. On May 20, 2013, just before midnight (12:00 AM), TACA Airlines began to remove all its signs bearing the TACA logo from airports across the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. However, most of the former TACA Air- lines Airbus and Embraer jets as well as the TACA Re- gional jets still have the TACA logo painted on it. These aircraft are expected to be painted with the Avianca logo at a later date. The last ight with the TACA logo took place on May 20, 2013. The ight was TACA ight 566 fromMonseor scar Arnulfo Romero International Air- port in San Salvador to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, NY. It departed San Salvador at 7:50 pm MST and landed in New York at 2:35 am EST. The ight landed two hours and thirty-ve minutes after the ocial re-branding of the airlines; thus, the ight de- parted with the TACA logo and landed with the Avianca logo. The nal ocial TACA ight to have the TACA logo was TACA ight 520 from San Salvador to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, CA. This ight departed at 7:20 pm MST and landed at 11:50 pm PDT. The rst ight departing operated by Avianca El Salvador took place on May 21, 2013. The ight was Avianca El Salvador ight 561 from San Francisco Inter- national Airport in San Francisco, CA to San Salvador. The ight departed at 1:25 am PDT and landed at 7:55 amMST. This was followed by Avianca El Salvador ight 521 from Los Angeles to San Salvador. This ight de- parted at 1:30 am PDT and landed at 7:30 am MST. 2.6 Merger and Controversy in Costa Rica (2012-2013) On October 10, 2012, it was reported in a press con- ference 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-Tacas CEO, Fabio Villegas, ex- plained that the use of the single brand for the group would occur in the rst half of 2013. [7] Eventually the 4 7 ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS A TACA Airbus A319 aircraft taking o from the city of Medellin, Colombia (2010). TACA Airlines A321 landing in Los Angeles from San Salvador (SAL). TACAtrade name wouldn't disappear fromthe public eye TACA will continue to operate but it will operate under the Avianca El Salvador brand and it will remain a full member of Star Alliance. On May 18, 2013, the Avianca-Taca Holding group downgraded the Juan Santamara International Airport Hub in San Jos, Costa Rica to a base of operations as part of post-merger restructuring. This included the dis- continuation of more than ve non-stop ights made by the airline to and from San Jose, including ights to all cities in the United States. As a consequence, more than 200 employees lost their jobs (equivalent to 20% of the work force of the airline). This was controversial in Costa Rica and led to an extensive investigation by the civil aviation authorities of that country against the holding company. [8][9][10] 3 Corporate Aairs TACA Airlines has its headquarters in the Edicio Caribe. [11] 4 Destinations Main articles: TACA destinations, Lacsa destinations and TACA Per destinations Avianca El Salvador serves 50 destinations around the world. 5 Fleet As of May 2013, the Avianca El Salvador eet consists of the following aircraft: [12][13][14] 5.1 Historic Fleet TACA Airlines operated the following types: 6 Reciprocal Frequent-Flyer Agreements LifeMiles is the frequent-yer program of Avianca and TACA Airlines as of 2009, because of the merger with Avianca. It replaced the old Distancia program. [21] In addition to earning miles on TACA Airlines and TACA Regional ights, TACA Airlines has partnerships with the following airlines: Aeromxico [22] All Nippon Airways Avianca Iberia Lufthansa [23] Sky Airline [24] TAME United Airlines US Airways 7 Accidents and incidents On March 5, 1959, Vickers Viscount YS-09C crashed shortly after take-o from Managua Air- port, Nicaragua when both port engines failed. 15 of the 19 people on board were killed. [25] 5 TACA Flight 510 crash in Guatemala City, April 6, 1993 On May 24, 1988, a Boeing 737-300 operating as TACA Flight 110 to New Orleans, Louisiana suf- fered a double engine ame-out due to water inges- tion, a result of an in-ight encounter with an area of very heavy rain and hail. The design of the engines and FAA water ingestion certication standards did not take into account the higher water volume of strong or severe thunderstorms while operating at lower power. The plane landed without further dam- age on a grass levee at the NASA Michoud Assem- bly Facility. All 45 passengers were uninjured. [26] On April 5, 1993, a Boeing 767-200 operating as TACA Flight 510, overran the runway at Guatemala City's La Aurora International Airport due to an in- ability to brake on the ooded runway. On May 30, 2008, an Airbus A320, registration EI-TAF, operating as TACA Flight 390, from San Salvador overran a rain-soaked runway on landing at Toncontn International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There were 5 fatalities, 2 of which were on the ground. [27] 8 References [1] Aviation Week [2] [,http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/10/07/ 333194/avianca-confirms-strategic-merger-with-taca. html Avianca conrms 'strategic merger' with TACA Airlines extquotedbl]. Flightglobal. 10 July 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2009. [3] Latin American airlines to merge. BBC Online (BBC). 2009-10-09. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-10-08. [4] Poder 360 - Page One Daily News - Avianca and Taca Merger Approved. Poder360.com. 2009-12-03. Re- trieved 2013-06-04. [5] Avianca looking to replace Fokkers. 2009-11-30. [6] Avianca-Taca encargan 15 aviones regionales ATR por $700 millones. Terra.com. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2012-12-21. [7] Nombre TACA desaparece del fuselaje de los aviones - ECONOMA - La Nacin. Nacion.com. 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2013-06-04. [8] juuber (2013-05-18). AviancaTaca reorganiza vuelos y elimina 261 empleos en Costa Rica - Revista Estrategia & Negocios. Estrategiaynegocios.net. Retrieved 2013-06- 04. [9] Aviacin Civil arma que Avianca suspendi vuelos sin avisar - ELPAS - La Nacin. Nacion.com. 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-06-04. [10] Costa Rica: Reestructuracin de Avianca afecta mercado areo. Aeronoticias.com.pe. 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2013-06-04. [11] World Airline Directory. Flight International. March 2430, 1993. 125. Head oce: Edicio Caribe, 2 Piso, San Salvador, El Salvador [12] TACA Ocial Fleet page [13] TACA eet at Planespotters.net [14] TACA Fleet [15] AviancaTaca plans to buy 51 A320s from Airbus. Mar- ketWatch. Retrieved 2013-06-04. [16] The Smithsonian keeps a photo of TACAs Bellanca [17] Smithsonian [18] Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society [19] Airliners.net [20] Cincinnati Aviation Heritage Society & Museum Shows a photo inside the Metal Aircraft Factory in Cincinnati [21] Hola. LifeMiles El programa de viajero frecuente de Avianca, TACA y AeroGal. Lifemiles.com. Retrieved 2013-06-04. [22] http://www.avianca.com/NR/rdonlyres/ 3BE56129-7154-4982-995A-35B8EDCF47B6/36509/ N23codigocompartidoAM060312.pdf [23] [24] Chilean Colombian Airlines Reach Codeshare Agree- ment. Bogot DC (Colombia). [25] Accident description. Aviation Safety Network. Re- trieved 11 September 2009. [26] NTSB Report [27] Plane skids o runway in Honduras, 5 dead. Reuters. May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 9 External links Avianca Aeroman Tus Sentidos LifeMiles 6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 10.1 Text Avianca El Salvador Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avianca_El_Salvador?oldid=628575237 Contributors: AntonioMartin, Cherkash, Tobias Conradi, WhisperToMe, Ke4roh, Sekicho, SmilingBoy, Avala, Marine 69-71, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Alan- sohn, Yamla, XLR8TION, RJFJR, Ardfern, Tabletop, Gudeldar, Vegaswikian, XLerate, LordEnzo, FlaBot, Russavia, Guanaco152003, Hawaiian717, Drdisque, Clib, Welsh, Brbigam, RFBailey, Lockesdonkey, Cloudbound, Airodyssey, Mjroots, SmackBot, Nihonjoe, Tter- rag, Miquonranger03, Colonies Chris, Pcstico, Azumanga1, Escottf, Mbhskid520, Ju98 5, MilborneOne, Nobunaga24, Elektrik blue 82, Iridescent, Nutster, Utelprob, Birdhurst, MarsRover, Cydebot, Reywas92, Bardak, Khatru2, Thijs!bot, Mds6901, V-train, Tobibln, XyBot, OhanaUnited, PhilKnight, Benstown, Brusegadi, Wayne Miller, Jolenine, CommonsDelinker, Britodiego, The Legacy, Jablue, Paris1127, Jersonc, Largoplazo, KylieTastic, Funandtrvl, Arno1313, Signalhead, Inetpup, VolkovBot, Britcan, Kww, LaNicoya, Scoelho86, Wikihon- duras, Cpzphantom, Maksdo, Brokenwit, Fischer.sebastian, Brunoptsem, Darksparrow777, HkCaGu, Lightmouse, Kumioko (renamed), Rareeyes, Plane nerd, Seorplayero, Frapoz, ImageRemovalBot, YSSYguy, Mariordo, Sjordi, Gene93k, Piledhigheranddeeper, RuthAS, House1090, Editor652, DerBorg, Versus22, XLinkBot, SilvonenBot, Luisfege, Joey Boeing 777, Addbot, CubBC, EZ1234, Eielef, Queen- momcat, Mpr1964, Binary TSO, Gork 27, LaaknorBot, Mdnavman, Jasepl, Luckas-bot, AnomieBOT, Nicop, LilHelpa, Xqbot, Kayego, Mr.choppers, Armbrust, Nardisoero, B767-500, Gleppe, Ll1324, Carelvir, Zaps93, Danielg1987, Samuelemperor, JcHnd, Alexandre Gouger, Jirisys, Francoperuvien, Surfeit of palfreys, Wayne Riddock, Payogitano, Snoozlepet, Fry1989, EGroup, Louisg7594, Wikitanvir- Bot, Dewritech, Sumsum2010, Fedeztz96, ChokeSlamFromHell, Simano5555, Tamizi ts, ZroBot, ANG99, Mauk111, DONALDderosa, Wind of freedom, Giraldezjota, ClueBot NG, Stevenghetto257, AndRiiw, JetBlast, Lord Roem, A szu, AdAstra reloaded, BG19bot, Funlovelatino, Isa Roarte, Unitedstates1000, Candycane0406, METRO96, Ramc501294, Zujua, Khazar2, Muns94, Penguinsrule121, Jenniepierce567, Strikiman01, JMG797, Jjbernardiscool, Af Gultarp, EPA888 and Anonymous: 324 10.2 Images File:Avianca_Logo_2013.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Avianca_Logo_2013.png License: CC- BY-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: EPA888 File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? 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