TACA Airlines

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TACA International
Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.

IATA ICAO Callsign TA TAI TACA
Founded	1931
Ceased operations	2013 (merged with Avianca)
Hubs	El Salvador International Airport Jorge Chávez Int'l Airport
Secondary hubs	La Aurora Int'l Airport Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport Miami International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	LifeMiles
Alliance	Star Alliance
Subsidiaries	Lacsa TACA Perú Aviateca TACA Regional Isleña La Costeña Sansa
Fleet size	50
Destinations	27
Parent company	Avianca Holding S.A
Headquarters	San Salvador, El Salvador
Key people	Fabio Villegas (President) Roberto Kriete (Chairperson)
Website	www.taca.com

Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (Air Transports of the American Continent, simply known and branded as TACA International) was the national airline airline of El Salvador. The brand TACA composed 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 brand system.

History

Inauguration (1931–1980)

One of TACA’s Douglas DC-4

TACA was founded in 1931 in Honduras by New Zealander Lowell Yerex. TACA began operations with a single-engine Stinson plane. Since its beginnings, 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.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 TACA moved its headquarters to the Republic of El Salvador where it was modernized and expanded, the company then established investment groups in other Latin American countries to 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.

A TACA Air Cargo Lockheed L-188A Electra at Miami International Airport 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 December 28, 1966, TACA International entered the jet age when it inaugurated their first jet, a BAC One Eleven (which was a popular twin jet airplane at the time with other airlines in Latin America). The aircraft model was used until 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 flights to Miami, Florida.

Expansion years (1980–2009)

A TACA Boeing 737-300 in 1994

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

According to the July 1983 TACA route map, the air carrier was operating jet service to four destinations in the U.S. from Central America including Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New Orleans). The airline also made several upgrades to its fleet during the 1980s by replacing the older turboprops as well as BAC One Eleven jetliners with more efficient aircraft, such as the Boeing 737-200 Advanced, with the latter two types being members of the Boeing 737 Classic series. TACA later operated wide body Boeing 767s on its scheduled passenger services including international flights to Los Angeles and Miami.

Between 1940 and 1995, TACA bought the majority shares of the flag carrier airlines; Aviateca, LACSA, and Nicaragüense de Aviación, consolidating operations under a new brand group name, Grupo TACA.

In the 1990s, TACA International became the launch customer and principal users of the Airbus A320 in Latin America. These aircraft were substitutes 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 International Airbus A319-100 taking off from the city of Medellín, Colombia

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 took place. 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 and San Jose, the airline set an operations base at Lima, Peru, its first base in South America, causing as a consequence the founding of TACA Perú, of which TACA had 49% shares at. With this new addition, Grupo TACA began to offer a comprehensive network of routes throughout the Americas.

In 2005, TACA International 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 Airbus A321.

In 2008 the board of directors decided to revert to the original name, TACA International (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 190 in Latin America.

AviancaTACA and modernization (2009–12)

Two Airbus A320-200s from TACA International at the Juan Santamaría 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 7, 2009, it was announced that TACA International 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 International operated a combined fleet of 129 aircraft, serving over 100 destinations in several countries in America and Europe. In December 2009 approval for the merger was given by the Colombian Civil Aeronautical Agency. 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.

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

In June 2011, AviancaTACA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 51 A320 Family aircraft, including 33 eco-efficient A320neo. Once firm, the order will be the largest order for A320neo in the region and also the biggest from a single airline in the history of Airbus in Latin America.

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

Star Alliance (2010–12)

On November 10, 2010, Star Alliance announced that Avianca and TACA International were to become full members in mid-2012.

Completion of merger and final flight

Avianca and TACA completed their merger on May 21, 2013. On May 20, 2013, just before midnight (12:00 AM), TACA International 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 International Airbus and Embraer jets as well as the TACA Regional 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 flight with the TACA callsign took place on May 20, 2013. The flight was TACA Flight 566 from Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. It departed San Salvador at 7:50 pm MST and landed in New York at 2:35 am EST. The flight landed two hours and thirty-five minutes after the official re-branding of the airlines; thus, the flight departed with the TACA callsign and landed with the Avianca callsign. The final official TACA flight to have the TACA callsign was TACA Flight 520 from San Salvador to Los Angeles. This flight departed at 7:20 pm MST and landed at 11:50 pm PDT. The first flight departing operated by Avianca El Salvador took place on May 21, 2013. The flight was Avianca El Salvador Flight 561 from San Francisco to San Salvador. The flight departed at 1:25 am PDT and landed at 7:55 am MST. This was followed by Avianca El Salvador Flight 521 from Los Angeles to San Salvador. This flight departed at 1:30 am PDT and landed at 7:30 am MST.

Merger and controversy in Costa Rica (2012–13)

On October 10, 2012, it was reported in a press conference that the trade name TACA International 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. Eventually the TACA trade name wouldn't disappear from the 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. Despite the TACA name permanently retired, Avianca El Salvador still continued to use the IACA and IACO identifiers "TA" and "TAI", along with the call sign "TACA" for Avianca El Salvador Operated flights.

TACA Brands

The former airlines that made up Grupo TACA were:

• TACA International (El Salvador)
• Aeroperlas (Panama)
• Aviateca (Guatemala)
• Aviateca Regional - Formerly Inter, it operates under Aviateca's code.
• LACSA (Costa Rica)
• Isleña Airlines (Honduras)
• La Costeña (Nicaragua)
• SANSA (Costa Rica)
• TACA Perú (Peru)
• TACA Regional

The airline's hubs before Avianca merger were:

• TACA International - Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador
• TACA Perú - Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru
• LACSA - Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica ended in May 2013

Destinations

Main article: List of Avianca El Salvador destinations

TACA served 27 destinations throughout North, Latin, and South America.

Code Shares

The airline had codeshare agreements with with the following airlines:

• Aeroméxico
• All Nippon Airways
• Avianca
• Iberia
• Lufthansa
• Sky Airline
• TAME
• United Airlines
• US Airways

Fleet

The TACA fleet consisted of the following aircraft at the time of closure:

A TACA International Airbus A320-200 in the airline's final livery

A TACA International Embraer 190

TACA International fleet

Aircraft	In service	Orders	Passengers			Notes
			C	Y	Total
Airbus A319-100	9	2	12	108	120
Airbus A320-200	19	24	12	138	150
Airbus A321-200	5		12	182	190
Embraer 190	12	1	8	88	96	The airline had options for 15 more aircraft
Total	45	27

Historic Fleet

TACA International has operated the following types before its closer:

• Stinson Reliant
• Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket
• Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor
• Douglas DC-3
• Douglas DC-4
• Lockheed 18 Lodestar
• Vickers Viscount 768

• BAC One-Eleven
• Airbus A300
• Boeing 737-200
• Boeing 737-300
• Boeing 767-200ER
• Boeing 767-300ER
• Metal Aircraft Flamingo

Accidents and incidents

• March 5, 1959, Vickers Viscount YS-09C crashed shortly after take-off from Managua Airport, Nicaragua when both port engines failed. 15 of the 19 people on board were killed.
• May 24, 1988, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Boeing 737-300: TACA Flight 110: A double engine flameout due to water ingestion, a result of an in-flight encounter with an area of very heavy rain and hail. The design of the engines and FAA water ingestion certification 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 damage at the NASA Michoud assembly facility, on a grass levee. All 45 passengers were uninjured.
• April 6, 1993, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Boeing 767-200, TACA Flight 510, overran the runway after not being able to brake on flooded landing field.
• May 30, 2008, Toncontín International Airport, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Airbus A320 EI-TAF: TACA Flight 390, from San Salvador overran a rain-soaked runway in approach to Tegucigalpa Airport. There were 5 fatalities, 3 of which were occupants.

See also

• Avianca El Salvador

References

This article "TACA Airlines" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:TACA Airlines. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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