TAME (airline)

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TAME Línea Aérea del Ecuador

IATA EQ	ICAO TAE	Callsign Tame
Founded		1962
Hubs		Mariscal Sucre International Airport
Frequent flyer program		FrecuenTAME
Fleet size		9
Destinations		14
Parent company		Ecuadorian Air Force
Headquarters		Quito
Key people		Jorge Cabezas Quiroz (President)[1]
Website: http://www.tame.com.ec

TAME (Línea Aérea del Ecuador) is an airline based in Quito, Ecuador. It is the commercial branch of the Ecuadorian Air Force and operates scheduled domestic flights and international services in South America and the Caribbean.

1 History
2 Incidents and accidents
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 External links

[edit] History

The airline was established and started operations on December 17, 1962 as Transportes Aereos Militares Ecuatorianos (TAME), later Transportes Aereos Mercantiles Ecuatorianos (TAME). At first, the airline used Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6, Lockheed Electra and Avro equipment. But with the airline's growth into more domestic destinations, larger, faster jet equipment was needed. Because of this, Boeing 727's were acquired.

In the summer of 1990 TAME was converted into a separate branch of the air force by constitutional decree. In 1992, the airline's first international service, to Cali, was inaugurated from Tulcán. During much of the 1990s and early 2000s, however, the airline suffered of questionable safety standards, having had multiple fatal accidents through those periods. Also, the airline had to face stiff competition from Ecuatoriana de Aviacion.

TAME is now largely run by civilian personnel, although high-ranking air force officials still retain key management positions.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On January 28, 2002, A Boeing 727-100 crashed in the Andes Mountains on the border of Colombia while landing in Tulcán, with no survivors. There was foggy weather at the time of the accident.
On January 17, 2003, A Fokker F28 overran the runway in Quito after aborting take-off, No injuries.