Aeroperlas

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Aeroperlas (Aerolineas Pacifico Atlantico SA) is an airline based in Panama City, Panama. It is a regional airline operating over 50 flights daily to domestic destinations and to Costa Rica. It operates services as part of the Grupo TACA Regional Airlines system of El Salvador. Its main bases are Marcos Gelabert Domestic Airport, Panama City and Enrique Malek International Airport (DAV), David.

Company Logo

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 Accidents/Incidents
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Code Data

IATA Code: WL
ICAO Code: APP
Callsign: Aeroperlas ^[1]

[edit] History

The airline was established and started operations in June 1970 as Aerolineas Islas de las Perlas. It was government run from 1976 until 1987 when it was sold to private owners. In 1996 it began international operations, launching services to Costa Rica. It is owned by Apair (80%) and American Eagle Airlines (20%).

[edit] Services

Aeroperlas operates services to the following scheduled domestic destinations (at January 2005):

Bahia Pinas
Bocas del Toro
Changuinola
Chitre
Colón
Contadora
David
El Real
Jaque,
La Palma
Panama City

[edit] Fleet

The Aeroperlas fleet includes the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[2] :

[edit] Accidents/Incidents

On 18 April 1990 a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Registration N187SA had the no. 2 engine fail and the aircraft entered a descending turn which continued until impact with the sea. On board were 22 occupants (3 crew and 19 passengers). There were 20 fatalities, including the crew members.

On 5 July 1990, De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter was hijacked. The hijacker(s) demanded to be taken to Colombia. Duration of the hijacking: less than 1 day. The Twin Otter was stolen by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia on July 5, 1990 on a flight from Colón. The aircraft was destroyed in August 1990.

On 17 Marc 2000 a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, registration HP-1267APP with 2 crew and 8 passengers on board crashed. The AeroPerlas Twin Otter departed Aeropuerto Marcos A. Gelabert at 08:46 for a flight of about 55 minutes to Puerto Obaldia. The aircraft disappeared some 20 minutes prior to the ETA. En route altitude was 7500 feet and weather conditions allowed VFR. At first the aircraft was thought to have been hijacked to Colombia. On March 22 however a search party aboard HP-1355 found the wreckage on a mountainside 12.5nm from Puerto Obaldia at 11:35. The wreckage was found at the 2500 feet level of a 2790 feet high mountain. All onboard were killed.

On 9 September 2000 a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, registration HP-1276APP with 2 crew and 19 passengers on board, was damaged when it overran the runway on landing and collided with a tree. The same aircraft, flown by the same pilot, had to make a precautionary landing at Enrique Jiménez airport because of engine problems on June 12, 2000. There were no fatalities.

On 16 August 2004 a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, registration HP-1397APP with 2 crew and 5 passengers on board suffered substantial damage when An emergency landing was carried out on a small active road in the Arrajian district after an apparent engine failure. The airplane struck a tree. All on board survived.